STACEY Kemp believes taking risks in the short term will have long-term benefits.

The Chorley skater and partner David King surprisingly lost their British pairs title in Sheffield to rookies Amani Fancy and Christopher Boyadji – a title they had held for the previous eight years.

But the 25-year-old insists they will be in peak condition come the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.

Kemp, a former Blackburn College student, and King tried out new routines at the British Championships that didn’t go to plan.

However, Kemp admitted it was a risk worth taking in the build-up to what will be their second Winter Olympics next year.

“We have a game plan and when you are preparing to peak at certain competitions you can’t be at the top of your game at them all,” said Kemp who learnt to skate at Blackburn Arena.

“So unfortunately, we had to use this competition as a build-up to Sochi. It was not a decision that was easy for us to make but we stuck with our plan instead of playing it safe just to win.”

Kemp and King, who got engaged after the last Winter Olympics in Vancouver, are the stand-out British pair and their place in the GB team will be confirmed when the squad is announced next week.

While Kemp was disappointed to have lost her British title, she said it will be a sacrifice worth making if they can improve on the 16th place achieved in Vancouver.

“Of course we didn’t want to give up our title, but we have to think what is best for us in Sochi,” she added.

“On a normal day there is no comparison from us to the other UK teams.

“We had a few problems in Sheffield and did not have a good competition. But this does not affect out Olympic selection as our international scores are over 20 points higher than any other British team.

“But we weren’t ready to peak in Sheffield but we will be at Sochi.

“We could have played in safe and kept out title. But we had talks with our coach and people in the Federation and they wanted us to test a few things out there. It did not work in our favour but we have to look at the bigger picture.

“We are focused on Sochi and we will be peaking for that.”