Luke Digby

Luke Digby was born in Sheffield on 5 February 2001. He began skating in 2007 at iceSheffield as a single skater.[1]

Digby participated at 2017 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival, where he finished eighth and then went on to place sixth at the 2017 Volvo Open Cup. He competed at the 2017 Junior Nationals, placing fifth.[2]

Digby also won side-to-side Junior Nationals in 2018 and 2019. Nevertheless, his best international result was second place at the 2018 Torun Cup. He also finished eighth at the 2018 Minsk Arena Ice Star and fourth at the 2018 Volvo Open Cup. His only performance at the JGP in Egna was scored in eighteenth place. He also competed at two JGP in 2018, twelfth in Slovakia and eleventh in Lithuania.[2] His last international ISU competition in single skating was the World Junior Championships. He finished in forty-third place with 40.37 points and did not advance to free skating.[3]

Following the 2018–19 figure skating season, Digby moved to pair skating, teaming up with Anastasia Vaipan-Law with Simon Briggs, Debi Briggs, and Jason Briggs becoming their coaching team.[4]

Vaipan-Law/Digby made their international debut as a team at the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy. They finished twelfth overall and recorded personal bests in all three segments of competition. The team competed at three more events throughout the fall, winning the 2021 Tayside Trophy and finishing fourth at both the 2021 Trophee Metropole Nice Cote d’Azur and the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup respectively.[5]

At their first British Championships in November, Vaipan-Law/Digby narrowly took the title ahead of the long-dominant team Jones/Boyadji. Jones/Boyadji initially received the assignment to Great Britain's single berth in the pairs' field at the 2022 European Figure Skating Championships, but after Jones recorded a positive COVID-19 test shortly before the event, Vaipan-Law/Digby were assigned to replace them.[5]

Vaipan-Law/Digby set a new personal best in the short program at 2022 Europeans but finished eighteenth in the segment and did not advance to the free skate.[5]

Vaipan-Law/Digby began the 2022–23 figure skating season with a tenth-place finish at the 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy and a silver medal at the 2022 Tayside Trophy. On the 2022-23 ISU Grand Prix, they were the host-picked pair team for the 2022 MK John Wilson Trophy in Sheffield, where they finished seventh. Following this, the pair finished seventh at the 2022 CS Warsaw Cup.[5]

Vaipan-Law/Digby went on to defend their title at the 2023 British Championships and were selected to compete at the European and World Championships.[6] The pair finished in tenth place at the European Championships in Espoo, Finland. [7] They then went on to place tenth at the 2023 International Challenge Cup.[5]

Making their World Championship debut in Saitama, Japan, Vaipan-Law/Digby qualified for the free skate after placing 17th in the short program and went on to place 16th in the free skate, finishing in 16th place overall.[8][9]

Beginning the season with two Challenger series assignments, Vaipan-Law/Digby came eighth at the 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy and fifth at the 2023 CS Autumn Classic International.[5] They received an unexpected opportunity to compete on the Grand Prix when reigning world champions Miura/Kihara withdrew from the 2023 Skate America. They finished seventh at the event.[10]

GP: ISU Grand Prix; CS: ISU Challenger Series