The door to history cracked open for Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson on Saturday afternoon. For a heartstopping moment in the kiss-and-cry area, it looked like they might not step through. After Italy’s Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri delivered a solid but beatable free dance – scoring 123.42 points, nearly five below their season’s best – for an overall total of 206.46, the opportunity was there. All the British pair needed was 122.61 to secure a bronze medal, a score around three points under their own top mark for the year. It might have seemed straightforward enough. It almost wasn’t.

Skating third-to-last in the final group, Fear and Gibson performed their free dance to a string of Beyoncé hits, a fan-favourite programme that has earned ovations across the circuit. After a tight, nervy first half, the crowd inside TD Garden rewarded their strong, confident finish with roars of approval before the technical panel went to work. Several elements, including the levels on their steps and one of the lifts, came under scrutiny.

The tension during the wait was excruciating. Finally, after a seemingly interminable wait, their score flashed up: 123.25 in the free dance – sixth place on the day but just enough for the podium over two segments. Their total of 207.11 gave them bronze by a margin of 0.65 points over the Italians. The crowd erupted. So did the British camp. “I can’t even describe my feelings, Fear said. “I’m still shaking. It’s a dream come true, and I’m kind of in disbelief. But I’m so grateful for the results.”

It marked Britain’s first world or Olympic ice dance medal since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s comeback bronze at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games – a 31-year drought finally broken. It was also a redemption of sorts for Fear and Gibson, who had placed fourth at the past two world championships.

It was also Britain’s first medal at worlds in any discipline since Torvill and Dean won the last of their four consecutive ice dance titles in 1984.

“This is crazy, right?” Gibson said. “It’s just unbelievable. We’ve been compared to them [Torvill and Dean] a lot, and I love it every time. It’s such an honour. I was inspired by them, and I hope so much that there are little kids out there in Great Britain seeing this and wanting to put their skates on as well.”

Despite Saturday’s sixth place in the free dance, their rhythm dance score of 83.86 from Friday – a career high – proved crucial in keeping them ahead of Guignard and Fabbri, who were fourth in both segments.

The gold medal went to the home favourites, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who dazzled once again with a confident and technically masterful free dance to their Take Five and ‘Round About Midnight medley. The flawless skate, which included a level four for the twizzles and lift and a level three for footwork, earned them a season-best score of 222.06. That sealed their place as the first team to three-peat since Russia’s Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov in the 1990s – and the first Americans ever to do it.

Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier claimed their second straight silver medal with a graceful, emotionally rich programme that earned them 216.54 points overall.

But it was the bronze that carried the most tension – and, for British skating, the most meaning. They were the last of the three teams to leave the ice after the medal ceremony, signing autographs and snapping selfies with clusters of travelling fans and expats at rinkside. As they left the ice, hand in hand, the emotion was overwhelming – a mix of joy, relief, and history made. The door opened. They walked through. And a nation followed.