Britain's last figure skating medal came 15 years ago

Sinead and John Kerr claimed bronze for Britain's first medal in 15 years at the European ice dance championships in Helsinki, Finland.

The Scots pipped France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat to the podium to win their first major medal.

Russia's Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski won their maiden European title ahead of Italy's Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali.

"It was worth coming," said an emotional John Kerr.

Britain's last figure skating medal was won by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean at the 1994 Euros.

The triumphant Russians amassed 196.91 points, more than 10 points ahead of Italians Faiella and Scali (186.17), with the Scottish pair scoring 185.20.

"This gold medal is only the beginning, but it was a big step for us," said Khoklova, who with Novitski was third in the European and world championships last year.

Khokhlova and Novitski dominated the competition - top-scoring in all three dances - in the absence of world champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France and last year's European champions Oxana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia.

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