Fear and Gibson are not the only British team to progress to the finals, after the young duo of Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez produced a name-making display on the international stage.
Aged 20 and 24 respectively, Bekker and Hernandez earned 11th place with a season-best score of 71.64 with a routine, to Freedom by George Michael, full of fun and energy and which was exceptionally popular with the flag-waving home crowd.
The pair, who will also be competing at the 2026 Olympics, said they were able to use both the crowd and comparatively lower pressure to their advantage.
“I was the least nervous I have ever been,” Bekker said afterwards. “There was almost no pressure, we had nothing to prove to the crowd.
“Our coach said we are here to enjoy it and the score doesn’t matter. It was exciting pressure.”
“We were so focused on each other, but we were aware of the noise,” added Hernandez. “You couldn’t ignore all the flags, all the people cheering.
“We let the muscle memory take over and when we hit the end pose it was like, oh wow, we did it.”