British Figure Skating Championships - a guide to the action

Zoe Jones and Chris Boyadji have the field to themselves in the pairs event

The 2019 British Figure Skating Championships are taking place in Sheffield this weekend.

There are four separate national senior titles being competed for - men's, women's, pairs and ice dance.

The competitors will look to follow in the skate marks of GB legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (champions 1979-84), John Curry (1971, 1973-76) and Robin Cousins (1977-80).

The event will be streamed on the BBC website, app and connected TV.

Short and free programmes, figure skating and ice dance - the definitions

Competitors take part in a short and free programme in each event. The short programme is more technical and requires the performance of certain selected moves.

The free programme allows more flexibility to showcase their creative strengths within a longer routine.

The scores of both routines are combined to give competitors an overall result.

Ice dance features couples skating to contemporary music and having to stay within two arms' lengths and perform complicated - often synchronised - moves. There are no jumps in ice dance.

Graham Newberry is the reigning British men's champion

Marks are deducted for falls, interruptions, failing to synchronise with the music and creativity.

Pairs, by contrast, are choreographed to classical music and judged on the skaters' ability to perform lifts, side-by-side jumps and throws.

The main events in Sheffield

The majority of the action in the senior competitions takes place over the weekend, with the two components of the four main categories taking place in the last two days of competition in Sheffield.

Men's

Sheffield's own Peter Hallam will be looking to home advantage to go one better than last year, when he won silver, and he will be buoyed by his win in the Tayside Trophy in August.

The man he has to beat is 2018 champion Graham Newberry, who won his first title in 2017 and whose father Christian was crowned British champion 30 years ago.

Entries: James Horrocks, Graham Newberry, Peter Hallam, Harry Mattick, Elliott Thompson.

Women's

Dundee's Natasha McKay has won gold for the past three years and won the most recent of her five international tournaments at the Tayside Trophy.

McKay's main contender, fellow Scot Karly Robertson, has just turned 30 and was 18 when she first won the British title in 2007. She added a second title in 2014 and has finished second 10 times since that first win.

Entries: Genevieve Somerville, Victoria McMahon, Kristen Spours, Danielle Harrison, Katie Powell, Nina Povey, Bethany Powell, Natasha McKay, Karly Robertson.

Pairs:

Zoe Jones and Chris Boyadji have dominated the event for the past three years, winning it each year. Jones won the individual title in her early 20s and Boyadji has won the British pairs title five times in the last six years. They are the only listed entrants for this event.

Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson are favourites for the ice dance title

Ice Dance:

The strong favourites will be Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who competed for GB at this year's European Championships and World Championships, coming 16th and 13th respectively. British champions two of the last three years, the pair are gaining a reputation internationally and won bronze in the Skate Canada Grand Prix event last month.

Lilah's 17-year-old sister Sasha will be aiming for a fourth title in the junior event and a third with partner George Waddell.

Last year's runners-up, Robynne Tweedale & Joseph Buckland, have European-level experience and have been in the mix for the past three seasons.

Entries: Eleanor Hirst & Anthony Currie, Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson, Shannon Jahrling & Luke Russell, Jodie Russell & Aaron Freeman, Rebecca Clarke & Frank Roselli, Robynne Tweedale & Joseph Buckland, Jessica Marjot & Jan Nordman.