What is figure skating?
Figure skating, as its name suggests, involves skating "figures" on ice. The sport requires competitors to skate selected patterns, or figures, as part of their routines. Ice skating has developed from a practical way to get around on ice into the elegant mix of art and sport it is today.
By whom, where and when was figure skating invented?Â
The Dutch were arguably the earliest pioneers of skating. They began using canals to maintain communication by skating from village to village as far back as the 13th century. Skating eventually spread across the channel to England, and soon the first clubs and artificial rinks began to form. Passionate skaters included several kings of England, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon III and German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Two Americans are responsible for the major developments in the history of the sport. In 1850, Edward Bushnell of Philadelphia revolutionised skating when he introduced steel-bladed skates allowing complex manoeuvres and turns. Jackson Haines, a ballet master living in Vienna in the 1860s, added elements of ballet and dance to give the sport its grace.
What are the rules of figure skating?
Skaters must perform a set number of jumps in each routine in singles and pairs events and follow a set theme in ice dancing. Falls and other penalties are penalised with points deductions. The total score counts for the overall result.
How is figure skating scored?
There are two key parts to a figure skating score under the current ISU Judging System: technical elements (TES) and program components (PCS). In simple terms, TES measures the routine's technicality (such as jump difficulty and how well-executed each element—jumps, spins, et cetera—is performed) and PCS measures the routine's performance (such as music and choreography). The two parts combined determines the score for the segment (short program, rhythm dance, free skating, or free dance). A skater's final overall score is made up of the two different segment scores.
What are the different jumps in figure skating?
Single, double, triple, and quadruple jumps have been performed in figure skating. The jumps are: Axel, Euler (only single jumps, also known as a half loop), flip, loop (also sometimes called a Rittberger), Lutz, Salchow, and toe loop.
Figure skating and the Olympics
Figure skating is the oldest sport on the Olympic Winter Games programme. It was contested at the 1908 London Games (in summer) and again in 1920 in Antwerp (also in summer), pre-dating the first Olympic Winter Games. Men’s, women’s and pairs were the three events contested until 1972. Since 1976, ice dancing has been the fourth event in the programme, proving a great success.
Sonja Henie made her Olympic debut in Chamonix in 1924, aged just 11, and was so nervous she had to ask her coach what to do midway through her routines. However, she won gold in the next three Olympic Games and developed a huge legion of fans. She later moved into films, where she greatly increased the popularity of her sport.
Dick Button and Hanyu Yuzuru are the only men to have won back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the sport.
Best figure skaters to watch
Ilia Malinin is the only skater, male or female, to have successfully landed the most difficult jump—the quadruple Axel—in competition, and is always a hot ticket at any event. Japanese stars such as Uno Shoma, Kagiyama Yuma, Sakamoto Kaori, and Mihara Mai are also popular in singles, while Italian skaters have also begun to make their mark in men's singles, pairs, and ice dance.
Figure skating competition rules and event format at Milano Cortina 2026
Each of the four individual events—men's and women's singles, pairs, and ice dancing—will see skaters compete in the short program or rhythm dance, after which only the top few athletes (usually 24 in singles and fewer in pairs and ice dancing) progress to the free skating/dance.
There will also be a team event, where points are awarded to each team based on their skaters' finishing position in each segment.
