Bekker & Hernandez close out debut senior Grand Prix season at Finlandia Trophy

Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez have rounded off their back-to-back senior Grand Prix assignments by closing out their debut senior Grand Prix season with a 10th-place finish at the ISU Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, scoring 165.60 in a world-class ice dance field. In a line-up packed with established Grand Prix and Championship medallists – and with scoring that left very little room for error – the British duo once again held their own at the highest level.

The ice dance title in Helsinki went to France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron, with Canada’s Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier taking silver and Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik of the United States winning bronze. With Finlandia Trophy serving as the sixth and final stop of this season’s ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series, the podium results in Helsinki also confirmed the full ice dance line-up for the ISU Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan.

Solid Free Dance to close out Helsinki for Bekker & Hernandez

Bekker & Hernandez opened their weekend with a Rhythm Dance score of 62.87, placing 10th after the first segment. They then delivered a committed performance of their Romeo and Juliet Free Dance, earning 102.73 to finish ninth in the Free Dance and secure a total of 165.60 points, confirming 10th place overall.

In a competition where the technical panel and judges were particularly exacting on levels and grades of execution, the British team showed strong skating skills, speed and connection, and continued to close the gap on more experienced senior couples.

Building on a busy Olympic-season start

Finlandia Trophy caps a packed opening to the 2025–26 Olympic season for Bekker & Hernandez, which has already included:

• Silver at Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur

• Fourth place at ISU Challenger Series Trialeti Trophy

• Eighth place at Skate America on their senior Grand Prix debut

  
  

These back-to-back Grand Prix outings in Lake Placid and Helsinki mark an important milestone in their progression, providing invaluable experience against many of the world’s top teams as they continue their build-up towards the rest of the Olympic season.

Looking ahead to Sheffield and Milan

With Great Britain now holding two ice dance quota places for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Bekker & Hernandez will turn their attention to the second half of the season aiming to strengthen their case for selection to what would be their first Olympics.

They will also be targeting a place on the British team for the ISU Figure Skating European Championships Sheffield 2026, where they could have the opportunity to perform in front of a home crowd at the Utilita Arena from 13–18 January.

British Ice Skating congratulates Phebe & James on completing this phase of their senior Grand Prix journey and looks forward to following their progress through the remainder of 2025–26.