EYOWF: McKay leaving Liberec with new best skate

From Ben Baker, Sportsbeat, in Liberec

FIGURE skater Natasha McKay admits she's caught the Olympic bug after setting a new personal best at the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival and hopes her five-ringed appearance in Liberec won't be her last.

ALL SMILES: Natasha McKay skated her way to a new personal best in the Czech Republic and now has the taste for more Olympic events

McKay, 16, had a dream outing in the Czech Republic as she followed up a short programme personal best on Monday with a solid free skate 48 hours later.

Despite not moving up the standings after her second outing, finishing 22nd overall, McKay racked up a score of 95.75, beating her previous personal best by 4.24 points.

Russia's Polina Agafonova and Belarus' Ira Vannut were placed first and second respectively after the short programme and kept their spots on the podium but Slovakia's Monika Simancikova stole bronze from France's Leanelle Gilleron-Gory.

And although she wasn't involved in the tussle for medals, McKay admitted to being over the moon with her Czech performance but declared the hard work is only just beginning.

"It feels amazing to achieve a new personal best and to do it here in Liberec in my biggest competition is such a boost for me," she said.

"I was definitely feeling confident heading into the free skate as that is my strongest part of my skating and I had a really clean routine and just loved every minute of it.

"I've been practising so much and training every day for this competition so it's great that I've pulled it off, but it definitely makes you hungry for more success in the future.

"To get a personal best out here whilst representing Great Britain is a dream come true and I couldn't really have asked for anything more than that.

"I've obviously set the bar pretty high now so I really hope I can keep improving and when I get back home I'll keep training hard so I can carry on getting better and improve my personal best even further."

Also out on the Svijanska Arena ice was Jamie Whiteman who jumped from tenth to seventh with his free programme to end the competition with 118.37 points.

Meanwhile, there were mixed emotions in the girls' slalom as Natalie Beattie failed to complete her first run while Emily Evans finished 31^st with a time of 1:37.12 minutes.

Calum Irvine and Scott Dixon were also in action in their 7.5km biathlon sprint race with Irvine finishing 52^2nd in 24:29.0 minutes and Dixon 66th in a time of 25:06.2 minutes.

And after a disastrous EYOWF debut for 16-year-old Dixon yesterday - finishing 81st in the 12.5km race after a fall that required medical attention, the son of six-time Winter Olympian Mike was all smiles after ending his Czech journey on a high.

"I am absolutely delighted with the sprint race, especially after my first event and I saw a big turnaround for me so I am just ecstatic," Dixon said.

"After the disappointment of yesterday I am so glad to actually come away with a good result as I hit nine of the ten targets so I have a smile back on my face."

The British Olympic Association prepares and leads the ‘Best of British' at the summer, winter and youth Olympics. It supports Team GB and National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success and is responsible for championing the Olympic values. www.olympics.org.uk