Luke Digby Explained

Luke Digby
Country: Great Britain
Birth Date:5 February 2001
Birth Place:Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Hometown:Sheffield
Partner:Anastasia Vaipan-Law
Coach:Simon Briggs, Debi Briggs, Jason Briggs
Choreographer:Mark Pillay, Christopher Dean
Formerchoreographer:Andrew Smith
Skating Club:Skating School of Champery, Switzerland
Currenttraininglocations:Dundee
Beganskating:2007
Combined Total:159.82
Combined Date:2023 CS Autumn Classic
Sp Score:55.42
Sp Date:2023 Worlds
Fs Score:107.18
Fs Date:2023 CS Autumn Classic

Luke Digby (born 5 February 2001) is a British figure skater. He is a three-time British National champion (2022-2024) in pair skating with Anastasia Vaipan-Law.

Career

Singles career

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]

Pair skating with Vaipan-Law

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]

2021-22 season

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.

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.

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.

2022–23 season

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.

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. The pair finished in tenth place at the European Championships in Espoo, Finland. They then went on to place tenth at the 2023 International Challenge Cup.

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.

2023–24 season

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. 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.

Vaipan-Law/Digby were ninth at the 2024 European Championships. At the 2024 World Championships in March, they attempted a more difficult jump in the short program than at the European Championships. Despite a mistake on it, they qualified for the free skate, and they ended in 20th place.[5]

Programs

With Vaipan-Law

SeasonShort programFree skatingExhibition
2023–2024
2022–2023
2021–2022
[6]

Competitive highlights

Pairs with Vaipan-Law

GP: ISU Grand Prix; CS: ISU Challenger Series

International
Event21–2222–2323–24
align=left 16th 20th
align=left 18th 10th 9th
align=left 7th
align=left 7th
align=left 5th
align=left 12th 10th
align=left 8th
align=left 17th7th bgcolor=silver 2nd
align=left 10th
align=left 1st bgcolor=silver 2nd bgcolor=silver 2nd
align=left 4th
align=left bgcolor=silver 2nd
National
align=left bgcolor=gold 1st bgcolor=gold 1st bgcolor=gold 1st
TBD = Assigned, WD = Withdrew

Men's singles

International: Junior
Event16–1717–1818–19
align=left 43rd
align=left 8th
align=left bgcolor=silver 2nd
align=left 6th 4th
align=left 18th
align=left 11th
align=left 12th
National
British Champ.5th J 1st J 1st J

Detailed results

Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

With Vaipan-Law

2023–2024 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
March 18–24, 20242024 World Championshipsalign=center 20
54.69
align=center 20
98.37
align=center 20
153.06
January 8–14, 20242024 European Championshipsalign=center 8
56.79
align=center 9
102.22
align=center 9
159.01
November 16–19, 20232023 Warsaw Cupalign=center 2
61.84
align=center 3
102.50
align=center bgcolor=silver 2
164.34
October 20–22, 20232023 Skate Americaalign=center 6
50.60
align=center 7
83.24
align=center 7
133.84
October 14–15, 20232023 Tayside Trophyalign=center 3
50.70
align=center 2
107.59
align=center bgcolor=silver 2
158.29
September 14–17, 20232023 CS Autumn Classic Internationalalign=center 6
52.64
align=center 4
107.18
align=center 5
159.82
September 8–10, 20232023 CS Lombardia Trophyalign=center 6
55.32
align=center 10
87.65
align=center 8
142.97
2022–2023 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
March 22–26, 20232023 World Championshipsalign=center 17
55.42
align=center 16
97.96
align=center 16
153.38
February 23–26, 20232023 International Challenge Cupalign=center 10
41.12
align=center 10
85.81
align=center 10
126.93
January 25–29, 20232023 European Championshipsalign=center 9
49.43
align=center 10
88.06
align=center 10
137.49
December 1–4, 20222023 British Championshipsalign=center 1
55.20
align=center 1
105.76
align=center bgcolor=gold 1
160.96
November 17–20, 20222022 CS Warsaw Cupalign=center 8
48.30
align=center 7
99.56
align=center 7
147.86
November 11–13, 20222022 MK John Wilson Trophyalign=center 7
50.29
align=center 6
93.52
align=center 7
143.81
October 15–16, 20222022 Tayside Trophyalign=center 2
52.31
align=center 2
93.19
align=center bgcolor=silver 2
145.50
October 4–9, 20222022 CS Finlandia Trophyalign=center 10
40.79
align=center 10
70.89
align=center 10
111.68
2021–2022 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
January 10–16, 20222022 European Championshipsalign=center 18
51.11
align=center align=center 18
51.11
Nov. 30 – Dec. 5, 20212022 British Championshipsalign=center 1
50.49
align=center 2
91.42
align=center bgcolor=gold 1
141.91
November 6–7, 20212021 Tayside Trophyalign=center 1
57.56
align=center 1
101.37
align=center bgcolor=gold 1
158.93
October 20–24, 20212021 Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d'Azuralign=center 4
40.72
align=center 4
81.33
align=center 4
122.05
October 7–10, 20212021 CS Finlandia Trophyalign=center 13
45.79
align=center 12
86.77
align=center 12
132.56

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Biography. 2021-12-26. www.isuresults.com.
  2. Web site: Competition Results. 2021-12-26. www.isuresults.com.
  3. Web site: ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2018 - Junior Men. 2021-12-26. www.isuresults.com.
  4. Web site: Anastasia VAIPAN-LAW / Luke DIGBY. 2021-12-26. www.isuresults.com.
  5. News: Cran . Georgi . 26 March 2024 . Olympic champion Christopher Dean helps Dundee figure skaters at World Championships . The Courier.
  6. Web site: Anastasia VAIPAN-LAW / Luke DIGBY: 2021/2022. International Skating Union. https://web.archive.org/web/20220302181503/http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00110731.htm. 2 March 2022. dead.