Skaters at Deeside Ice Rink are fully behind Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle’s bid to regain her title in the new series of the ITV celebrity challenge Dancing on Ice .

The Olympic medallist, from Bunbury, appeared on the new All-Stars programme on Sunday evening, less than a year after winning the 2013 series.

The triple world champion gymnast said: “I had some messages from the team at Deeside before last week's show which were lovely to read.

“I went a bit during the summer and then had a few hours with my coach, Penny, there before I met up with Lukasz. It is such a friendly environment.”

Beth, a former pupil of The Queen’s School, won the 2013 series with partner Daniel Whiston but is having to get used to working with a new team-mate, Polish pair skater Lukasz Rozycki.

She said: “It was strange having a different skating partner at first, and learning different timings, but now we get on really well and have a great partnership and friendship.

“Lukasz has got very different strengths to Daniel and that means I can bring completely new things to the show that I didn't do before, like the above the head tiger press lift that we did in the Roar routine.”

The duo were dancing to Katy Perry’s hit single Roar.

Beth Tweddle in the Roar sequence on Dancing on Ice
Beth Tweddle in the Roar sequence on Dancing on Ice

Demon judge Jason Gardiner accused Beth of having no ‘fun side’ this time last year but now she insists fun is what she is after from her second outing on the ice.

She said: “I did Dancing on Ice last year as a new challenge and had so much fun and I want to do the same this year.

“I want to go out there and improve on last year and challenge myself and the main thing is to have fun.”

It wasn’t an easy start for the gymnast, who tore a calf muscle during training in November last year.

She said: “I had quite a few setbacks and I just wanted to be able to learn new tricks on the ice and learn to jump but I just had to be patient!

“I had a few days off over Christmas which gave it a good rest and I am now progressing well with rehab.”

The first two casualties of Sunday evening’s show were football great David Seaman and EastEnders actor Gary Lucy who were voted off the second heat of the show on Sunday evening.

Viewers were not keen on David and partner Frankie Poultney’s routine whereas it was the judges who decided to ditch Gary and his partner Katie Stainsby.