LITTLE Gabrielle Yeo is queen of the ice, snatching a trophy from the blades of much older skaters.

Proudly holding the tall Basingstoke Ice Skating Club Coaches Cub, the nine-year-old from Corfe Mullen beat 10 other youngsters aged up to 16.

“Second was a 15-year-old boy,” said proud mum Lauren Yeo. “It was quite amazing, she beat everyone.”

The Allenbourn Middle School pupil’s 1½ minute programme had to include jumps, two spins and a spiral and her routine to music, coached by Jenny Woolford from Poole, proved award winning.

The devoted skater was on the ice in Jenny’s arms at two weeks old and had skates as soon as she could walk, starting lessons at the age of four. She took after her mum who also skated and competed from an early age and now they share the early morning trip to the rink.

“We get up at 4am on Thursday and Saturday mornings,” said Lauren. “She is on the ice from 5.30am to 7am and then I whizz her back to school.”

They travel for an hour to get to Basingstoke to practice, as Lauren did from the age of 10, and Gabrielle also skates as often as she can at the small rink in Poole Park.

“It is a long way to go,” said Lauren. “We need a bigger rink in Poole. We have got talented skaters here.”

She added: “I still skate for exercise and fun really. We do skate together, it’s brilliant.”

Son Leo, three, looks to have inherited the family talent and is keen to do hockey skating.

As for Gabrielle, her ambition is to skate in the Olympics. “She absolutely loves competing,” said her mum.

“I want to enter as many competitions as I can and I want a shelf full of trophies,” said Gabrielle.