Figure Skating ⛸️
Learn more about figure skating!
Yuzuru Hanyu at the 2022 Beijing Olympics
Overview
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs,
or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport
to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics
in London. The Olympic disciplines are men's singles, women's singles,
pair skating, and ice dance; the four individual disciplines are also
combined into a team event, first included in the Winter Olympics in
2014. The non-Olympic disciplines include synchronized skating, Theater
on Ice, and four skating. From intermediate through senior-level
competition, skaters generally perform two programs (the short program
and the free skate), which, depending on the discipline, may include
spins, jumps, moves in the field, lifts, throw jumps, death spirals, and
other elements or moves.
More history on Wikipedia
Spinning
Spins are an element in figure skating in which the skater rotates, centered on a single point on the ice, while holding one or more body positions. There are three basic categories of spins:
- Upright Spin: The spin is performed on one foot, with the skating leg slightly bent or straight and the upper body upright, on an almost-vertical axis, bent to the side or arched backward. A variation of the upright spin is the layback spin, executed by holding the free leg in a back attitude position and arching the head and upper body backward so that the skater faces up towards the sky, ceiling, or further. A variation of the layback spin is the Biellmann spin, which is executed by the skater grabbing their free blade and pulling the heel of their boot behind and above the level of the head so that their legs are in an approximate full split, with the head and back arched upward.
- Sit Spin: The spin is executed on one foot, in a sitting position, with the knee of the skating leg bent in a one-legged crouch position and the free leg held in front, to the side or to the back.
- Camel Spin: The camel spin is executed on one foot, with the torso and the free leg stretched in opposite directions, parallel to the ice at hip level in a position similar to the arabesque position. The skater's skating leg is slightly bent or straight, his or her body is bent forward, and his or her free leg is bent upward or extended on a horizontal line or higher.
A layback spin variation
Jumping
The six most common jumps can be divided into two groups: toe jumps (the toe loop, the flip, and the Lutz) and edge jumps (the Salchow, the loop, and the Axel). The Euler jump, which was known as a half loop before 2018, is an edge jump. Jumps are also classified by the number of revolutions. According to the International Skating Union (ISU), jumps must have the following characteristics to earn the most points:
- they must have "very good height and very good length"
- they must be executed effortlessly, including the rhythm demonstrated during jump combinations
- and they must have good take-offs and landings.
A jump combination, defined as "two (or more) jumps performed in
immediate succession", is executed when a skater's landing foot of the
first jump is also the take-off foot of the following jump. All jumps
except the Axel are taken off while skating backward; Axels are entered
into by skating forward. Skaters add variations or unusual entries and
exits to jumps to increase difficulty. Factors such as angular momentum,
the moment of inertia, angular acceleration, and the skater's center of
mass determines if a jump is successfully completed.
A jump in progress
Pair Skating
Pair skating required elements include pair lifts, twist lifts, throw
jumps, jumps, spin combinations, death spirals, step sequences, and
choreographic sequences. The elements performed by pair teams must be
"linked together by connecting steps of a different nature" and by other
comparable movements and with a variety of holds and positions. The team
does not have to always execute the same movements and can separate from
time to time, but they have to "give an impression of unison and harmony
of composition of program and of execution of the skating".
A death spiral
Ice Dancing
Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of
figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined
the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter
Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. According to the International
Skating Union (ISU), the governing body of figure skating, an ice dance
team consists of one woman and one man. Couples and friends would skate
waltzes, marches, and other social dances. Ice dance has required
elements that competitors must perform and that make up a well-balanced
ice dance program. They include the dance lift, the dance spin, the step
sequence, twizzles, and choreographic elements. These must be performed
in specific ways, as described in published communications by the ISU,
unless otherwise specified.
Ice dancing at the PyeongChang Olympics