A Figure Skater's Journey

Figure Skating Terms

Before getting into the story, this gives an idea of the figure skating terms that will be mentioned in the story for any non skater readers.

(The Triple Axel jump is usually more common in men's figure skating but now is becoming more common in women's figure skating)

(Loop Jump)

(Layback spin position)

(Catch-foot layback spin)

(Biellmann spin position)

(Spiral position)

(Skaters use the toe pick/rake to grip the ice for their jumps and is used in some kinds of footwork. The spin rocker is the part the skater spins on)

Quads are jumps where the skater has to complete four rotations and are the hardest jumps in figure skating. It is more common in men's figure skating but it's becoming more common in women's figure skating.

In pair ice dance, you don't see the spins and jumps that you usually see in single figure skating. It is more similar to ballroom dancing on the ice and usually one pair has a man and woman.


Other figure skating jumps that weren't shown in the gifs above are toe loop, salchow, lutz, and flip. 


Figure skating competitions have two different performances, the short program and the long program. The short programs only last 2 minutes and 40 seconds while the long program (also known as the free skate) is 4 minutes and 30 seconds. 


Free skate levels - there are multiple different levels of free skate where skaters learn a variety of different spins, jumps, and turns. The levels are pre-free skate, free skate 1, free skate 2, free skate 3, free skate 4, free skate 5, and free skate 6. This is different from the free skate that is also known as the long program.