Libby Clegg has spoken extremely highly of her Dancing on Ice partner Mark Hanretty, and even revealed that he had to change his method of training to better accommodate her needs. The Paralympian, who is registered blind, stunned judges on Sunday's show after she took to the ice with a leaderboard-topping performance that included a total of seven lifts. Libby and Mark's performance even left judge Christopher Dean with a tear in his eye.
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Speaking after her performance, Libby, who was watched from the crowd by her fiancé Dan Powell and their nine-month-old son Edward, told The Scotsman that she had thoroughly enjoyed herself in the rink, and added that she wouldn't have been able to do it without the patience of Mark.
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Libby and Mark during training
The doting mum explained: "When Mark started training me for this, I was so bad. He has been brilliant. He even had to change the way he teaches ... where he used to be able to demonstrate the moves, he now has to be more descriptive. Without Mark, I’d be absolutely screwed, to be honest."
Libby added that she had a fabulous time in the rink, saying: "That really was too much fun ... I really enjoyed myself. The aeroplane spin was actually the easiest lift of them all, it just looks really scary. It all went really brilliantly. It shocked quite a lot of people, but none of them more than myself."
The 29-year-old suffers from Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy disease, a deteriorating eye condition that has left the athlete with only slight peripheral vision in her left eye.
When speaking to The Daily Mail, Libby described her eyesight as being like "like looking at a pixelated computer screen or a scrunched-up firework". She added: "I have some peripheral sight – barely any – and with what little sight I do have I was able to use to follow the lines on the track."
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