Zarah Wood and Alex Lapsky are competing in their third season together and began the 2025/26 season with a win at Robin Cousins Cup. Later in September, they’ll compete at the first of their Junior Grand Prix events but I caught up with them just after their win in Sheffield.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

This was your first competition of the season, how did it go?

It’s a good start to the season. It wasn’t perfect but good enough for the start, before the Junior Grand Prix [events] in Thailand and Poland.

It’s your second JGP season, what are you looking forward to this time around now you’ve been out internationally?

We’re still new but not so new, so having more experience and being able to enjoy the programs more. We’ve improved our elements from last season and we can focus on the choreography more now.

What do you think you’ve learned the most from last season that you’re taking into this season?

We’ve learned a lot. Even in the [free] program today, when little mistakes happen — in our first lift the exit was a bit scrambly and difficult — we’re able to pull it together and not let it affect the whole program, just take one element at a time.

What element do you think you’ve improved most on since last year?

The twist. That was a difficult element for us to learn. It’s not perfect yet but there’s a triple now so that’s good and it’s not as scary anymore. The comment we got quite a lot from last season was about the twist. It’s one of the biggest elements in pairs and what defines a team, when a twist is good it sets a good tone for the program, and that’s improved a lot from last season.

How did you both first get into pairs?

Alex: I did ice dance before. I split up with my partner then got a call from Zoe [Jones] about doing pairs with Zarah. At first I was a bit on edge about it but I realised that skating is the one thing I love in life so I decided to go for it and here we are! Obviously, every pair when you first start is a rocky road. Pairs is a very hard thing to be good at.

Zarah: You have to be good at so many things at once! Obviously, for me, my mum [Zoe Jones] did pairs, so she’s my inspiration and what I look up to, and Chris [Boyad