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British ice dancers Mark Hanretty and Christina Chitwood have seen their hopes of competing at next year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver left hanging by a thread due to bureaucratic red tape.

Hanretty, 24, and American-born partner Chitwood finished 18th in the European Championships in Finland in January, earning qualification to the World Championships in Los Angeles.

But the National Ice Skating Association was forced to rule the pair could not compete because Chitwood did not have a UK Visa, throwing their Olympic dream into doubt.

And Hanretty was left raging at the behind-the-scenes politics that could now stand between them and Vancouver 2010.

He said: "It's a really frustrating situation for us now because of Christina being from America we were then told that we weren't allowed to go the World Championships in Los Angeles.

"We skated really well to finish 18th at the European Ice Skating championships in Finland so to then be deselected for the World Championships was hard to take.

"We really feel now that we have to not only be skating well but to make sure that we are by far and away the best pairing so that the governing body can't afford not to let us in."

Chitwood, 19, is due to get married to a British citizen in August but even then her citizenship won't be assured, meaning the pair could continue to be left in limbo.

"Christina is getting married in August to Tom Parkin but even that won't let us get citizenship because she is under 21 so her marriage won't guarantee her a visa," he added.

"It is a very complicated situation for us and we are taking legal advice and trying to work it out but we are just stuck in limbo at the moment.

"We are stuck having to concentrate on our skating but also at the same time having to fight this political battle which is really difficult."

More Than The Games / Eurosport