Figure skating, a captivating sport at EYOF, blends athleticism and artistry on ice. Young skaters perform intricate routines with grace and precision, showcasing jumps, spins, and elegant footwork. Embrace the beauty and challenge of figure skating, and express yourself in this enchanting winter sport!

Figure skating is divided into 2 events: boy’s and girl’s singles event.

There are two rounds in the boy’s and girl’s competitions: a short program with mandatory technical elements, and a free program with mandatory technical elements but more freedom in the execution.

Both programs are set to music chosen by the skaters themselves.

The scores for the event are decided by a panel of judges, which determines the level of execution of the technical element performed by the skater, the quality of execution and other artistic elements, such as interpretation.

The sum of the scores of the short and free program determines the winner.

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.  

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 revolutionized skating when he introduced steel-bladed skates allowing complex maneuvers 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.

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 determine 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.

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 is the oldest sport on the Olympic Winter Games program. 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 program, 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.

(source: https://olympics.com/en/sports/figure-skating/).