Buckland desperate to do ‘mentor’ Dean justice on the ice

Nick Buckland is taking inspiration from Nottingham’s most famous Winter Olympian as he heads to Pyeongchang.

Buckland and partner Penny Coomes are heading to their third Games this weekend with a helping hand from Christopher Dean.

Dean, who famously won gold with Jayne Torvill at the 1984 Games in Sarajevo, has been working with the couple to sharpen their choreography as they seek to improve on their tenth place finish four years ago.

And he’s even let them put their own spin on one of his most famous routines.

“We are recreating a routine that Torvill and Dean used when they won the bronze medal in 1994 and that’s very special,” said Buckland, 28, pictured, who is at his third Games.

“It’s a really iconic routine in the skating world and we’ve modernised it and I’m so excited to perform it.

“It’s just a huge privilege to work with him, hours seem like minutes when we are working together, it’s so fun bouncing ideas off him.

“To work with him and for him to sanction us to skate a

piece they’ve previously performed at the Olympics, I can’t think of a greater honour. We just feel a great responsibility to do it well.

“We are huge Torvill and Dean fans and they’ve done so much for the sport, I’ve watched all their routines so many times online, I think we know them better than they do because we’ve seen them so many times.”

However, Buckland stops short at recreating the famous Bolero routine which scored a string of perfect sixes, with 24 million people watching on television, at the 1984 Games.

“You don’t touch Bolero, it’s just too perfect, but this routine is probably their second most famous routine in the skating world, you couldn’t do it without his blessing and I know they’ll both be watching very closely,” added Buckland. Four years ago the pair arrived in Sochi having claimed their first major medal with a bronze at the European Championships a few weeks earlier. Since then Coomes has battled with a knee injury that threatened her entire career, forcing Buckland to train on his own in America while she underwent rehab in the UK.

They admit they were disappointed by their seventh

place at the recent European Championships but have rung the changes to their routines ahead of the Olympics.

“We’ve made lots of changes and we’re really excited about it,” added Buckland.

“There is new music, new choreography and I think it’s probably my favourite programme we’ve done and that makes us feel very confident.

“It’s been a tough four years but we’ve worked so hard.”

Watch Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland compete in the Ice Dance short dance next Monday at 1pm on Eurosport 1. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to www.eurosport.co.uk