FIGURE skater Isabella Larkin put in an impressive performance for Great Britain in Budapest to cap an impressive few weeks.

The 15-year-old finished ninth in her first junior international meeting last week, only seven days after claiming a silver medal in the British Junior Ice Skating Championships in Sheffield.

The future Olympic hopeful was one of the youngest competitors in the junior category.

Larkin was fourth after the short programme on the first night of the competition on November 26 but skated a flawless long program the following day to take the silver medal.

She went into the competition ranked tenth in the country, and mum Natasha is proud of her progress. “We were hoping for a top ten finish, so to come away second is a tremendous achievement,” she said.

“We were not shocked, but we were not expecting it, so we were all very proud. She was in a good position after the short programme so we then started to aim for the top five, which she managed to achieve.

“The girl who won was 19-year-old, and Isabella only turned 15 in October, so that shows how well she has done. She did really well in Budapest too, so she will be doing all she can to keep up her good run.”

Ten days before the British Championships, Larkin was awarded a place in Holiday on Ice, a musical show featuring the music of Barry Manilow at the Brighton Pavilions in January.

She beat more than 40 rivals for the role, which will see her dance and perform in the show choreographed by Olympic gold medallist Robin Cousins.