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Figure skating is an ice skating sporting event where individuals, mixed couples, or groups perform spins, jumps, and other "moves" on the ice, often to music. There are international competitions for figure skating, such as the World Championships, and figure skating is also an official event in the Winter Olympics. In languages other than English, figure skating is usually referred to by a name that translates as "artistic skating".
The sport is closely associated with show business, such as "spectaculars" where performers skate unjudged, and the crowd pleasing routines at the end of competition held at many tournaments. Many skaters both during and after their competitive careers also skate in ice-skating exhibitions.
1 Equipment
Figure skates differ from hockey skates most visibly in having
a set of large, jagged teeth called toe picks (also known as "toe rakes") on the front of the blade. The toe picks are used primarily in jumping.
The figure skating blade is curved from front to back with a radius of about 2 meters.
Recently, parabolic figure skating blades have been designed to increase skaters' stability on the ice. The blade is also hollow ground; a groove on the bottom of the blade creates two distinct edges, inside and outside. In figure skating it is always desirable to skate on only one edge of the blade, and never on both at the same time (which is referred to as a flat). The apparently effortless power and glide across the ice exhibited by elite figure skaters fundamentally derives from efficient use of the edges to generate speed.
Figure skating boots are traditionally made by hand from many layers of leather. In recent years, boots made of synthetic materials with heat-moldable linings have become popular with many skaters because they combine strength with lighter weight than leather boots, and are easier to "break in". Blades are mounted to the sole and heel of the boot with screws.
2 Disciplines
International competitions in figure skating comprise the following disciplines:
- Singles competition for men and women (who are anachronistically referred to as "ladies" in the official terminology of the sport). Singles skaters must perform jumps, spins, and step sequences in their programs.
- Pairs consisting of one lady and one man. Pairs perform singles elements in unison as well as pair-specific elements such as throw jumps, in which the male skater 'throws' the female into a jump; lifts, in which the female is held above the male's head in a number of different grips and positions; pair spins, in which both skaters spin together about a common axis; and death spirals, where the man in a pivot swings the lady around him on a deep edge in a position low to the ice.
- Ice dancing, again for couples consisting of a lady and man skating together. Ice dance differs from pairs in focusing on difficult steps performed in close dance holds exactly to the beat of the music rather than acrobatic jumps, throws, and lifts. In addition to free dances to music of their own choice, ice dancers must perform compulsory dances with fixed steps and patterns to standard ballroom dance rhythms. In spite of the lack of obvious "tricks", ice dance is considered by many to be the most technical and detailed of the skating disciplines.
- Synchronized skating, for mixed-gender groups of up to 20 skaters. This discipline resembles a group form of ice dance with additional emphasis on precise formations of the group as a whole and complex transitions between formations.
Other disciplines of skating include:
- Compulsory figures, in which skaters use their blades to draw circles, figure 8s, and similar shapes in ice, and are judged on the accuracy and clarity of the figures and the cleanness and exact placement of the various turns on the circles. Figures were formerly included as a component of singles competitions but were eliminated from those events in 1990. Today figures are rarely taught or performed. The United States was the last country to retain a separate test and competitive structure for compulsory figures, but the last national-level figures championship was held in 1999.
- Moves in the field (known in the UK as field moves), which have replaced compulsory figures as a discipline to teach the same turns and edge skills in the context of fluid free skating movements instead of being constrained to artificially precise circles.
- Fours, a discipline that is to pairs as pairs is to singles. A fours team consists of two men and two women who perform singles and pairs elements in unison as well as unique elements that involve all four skaters.
- Theatre on ice, also known as ballet on ice in Europe. This is a form of group skating that is less structured than synchronized skating and allows the use of props and theatrical costuming.
- Adagio skating, a form of pair skating most commonly seen in ice shows, where the skaters perform many spectacular acrobatic lifts but few or none of the singles elements which competitive pairs must perform.
