A TEENAGE ice dancer is one step closer to realising her Olympic dream after uprooting her life to train in the United States.

Leticia Marsh won gold for Great Britain in a competition in Denmark in March last year but knew she had to take advantage of the coaches and dancing partners across the Atlantic if she was to progress further.

Last autumn the 15-year-old moved from Marsh Baldon to Michigan to team up with 17-year-old skating star Anton Spiridonov.

On Friday the pair secured gold at a national competition in Sheffield on a brief return to the UK and they have recently been confirmed on the pathway towards the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Leticia said the decision to move to the United States was an obvious one.

She said: "After my former partner Elliott Crook there were not that many boys in the UK to skate with so our only option was to go somewhere else.

"This is the big step forward, I am very lucky to be able to have moved because many people cannot due to finances or family and so on.

"At first I felt a bit homesick but it was easy to make loads and loads of friends out in American.

"It is like one big family."

Anton had advertised for a new partner and received hundreds of responses before finding Leticia was the perfect fit.

The pair tried out under the watchful eye of Anton's coach Igor Shpilband who once competed for the Soviet Union.

Former Headington School pupil Leticia said: "The moment I started skating with Anton it just felt right and after working with each other for just over nine months I can honestly say he's a lovely guy and we're really good mates both on and off the ice.

"I can't think of anyone I'd rather by sharing the podium with."

The young duo train together on and off the ice for more than 30 hours a week.

Anton's brother is a former world junior champion ice dancer and both his parents are international coaches.

He said: "We are working hard together, it is a good partnership.

"We are determined to be champions of everything.

"The first time I danced with Leticia I felt we could understand each other on a really good level together.

"Sometimes you do not feel each other properly and you cannot communicate and have a different mindset.

"But it was easy and we felt we would make this happen."

In September Leticia and Anton will fly from Michigan to Lubljana in Slovenia to take part in the International Skating Union Junior Grand Prix Series.

Their selection to the national squad representing Great Britain on behalf of the UK National Ice Skating Association means they are on the path towards the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Leticia's mum Denise, who made the move to Michigan with her, said the next stage was to secure British citizenship for Anton so he can compete with her daughter in the Olympics.

She said: "The big challenge now is that we have to get Anton citizenship.

"We have meetings this weekend with the UK federation to discuss the pathway.

"There is the option for Leticia to get Russian or American citizenship to skate with Anton, but the UK is our first choice."