STACEY Kemp was left to put on a brave face after another fall cost her and figure skating partner David King dear at the Winter Olympics in Russia.

The eight-time British champions were disappointed with the short programme in last week’s team figure skating event, when Chorley’s Kemp also fell, but vowed to put it right on their return to action at the Iceberg Skating Palace.

However, their routine – set to the music Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – again failed to win over the judges.

Once again Kemp fell after a throw and they scored 44.98, only a slight improvement on the 44.70 from last week and well down on their 51.33 season’s best from last year's Nebelhorn Trophy.

It meant the pair ranked 19th – down three places on their performance four years – and didn’t make the top 16 cut that go on to skate again tonight.

Kemp tried her best to put a brave face on the result, especially after working so hard to overcome the injury worries of last season, when she ruptured her posterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

“It was whole lot better than last week and we got similar scores and that’s really tough,” said Kemp.

“We were feeling good. It’s part of our sport, you have to take it as it comes but it's not easy.”

Despite the one point deduction for Kemp’s fall, the duo believed they had been punished too harshly for the technical elements of their routine.

And, while the choice of a legendary Russian composer for their music won over the crowd, those with the scorecards were unmoved.

“There was only one mistake and it seemed to cost us a lot of marks,” added King who along with Kemp attended Blackburn College and trained at Blackburn Arena.

“Our levels were loads better and I don’t know why got such big deductions.

“Our lift was better, our twist was better, our death spiral was better, our axel was better – everything was an improvement but Stacey went down and it seemed to cost us a lot of points and it's frustrating.”

King added that he knew the score would not be enough to see them qualify for the medal round today.

He added: “As soon as we saw those scores we knew it was going to be tough.

“You always want to skate the free and we’ve put a lot of work into that programme, so it’s just a big shame for everyone.

“We were feeling good and since the team event we’ve been doing everything right in practice.”

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