The idea of designing your own figure is something that goes way back in figure skating. Late nineteenth-century competitions in the International style invited skaters to create their own patterns on the ice, called special figures. Many of these were published in books like Holletscheck’s Kunstfertigkeit im Eislaufen. Some were actually what we’d call freestyle elements today, like Axel Paulsen’s famous jump. Special figures were included in the 1908 Olympics.
An interesting survival is on the current US Figure Skating Adult Gold Figure test. The test is a sampler; the skater selects six figures from different categories:
One forward paragraph eight
One double three
One bracket
One change bracket
One loop
One change loop
The seventh figure is a creative figure. The compulsory figures rules (not linked here because they’re hidden behind the Members Only login screen) don’t have much to say about it—just that it’s required. Or skaters can choose to do any other figure from the test structure.
The Adult Gold Figure test seems to have come into existence at about the time figures began to be phased out of competition. It’s first mentioned on Skating‘s “Laurels” page in April 1991 (though nobody passed it then). The creative figure requirement goes back to the beginning; it’s listed in my 1992/93 Rulebook. The only change I’ve found is the deletion of TR 2.022 in 1997.
TR 2.022
To qualify for any Adult Figure Test, the candidate cannot have passed the Fourth Test or higher.
“Report of Action of the Board of Directors,” p. 29.
This may have been part of a scheme to keep figures going. Skating records the announcements of competitions held in Vail, CO in June, 1989 and in 1992, that included creative, original, new era, and team figures. It’s unclear how many people entered these events, but I suspect the number was small, because not many were offered. Creative figure events have been a staple of ISI competitions for years, and still are, though finding the details can be a bit tricky as the website says to refer to the printed Handbook.
The Adult Gold Figure Test is still on the books, though not many skaters have passed it. Digging around in the Skating Magazine Archive, I found only these 11 skaters:
Maureen Hughes, Peninsula FSC, May 1992
Laura Dully, The Skating Club of Boston, November 1992
Cynthia Brett, Warwick Figure Skaters, November 1993
Lori Nelson, St. Moritz ISC, Inc., November 1993
Lynne Maker Kuechle, Roseville FSC, November 1993
Pamela Medeiros, Smithfield FSC, August 1997
Miki Marciniak, Fraser FSC, January 1998
Elaine Livingston, Binghamton FSC, August 1998
Margaret Szymanski, North Jersey FSC Inc., August 1999
Dawn M Peterson, Sun Valley FSC, Inc., October 1999
Alicia DeLalio, North Jersey FSC Inc., October 2007
(Dates refer to the issue the test was published in, which may be several months after it was passed.)
I passed it last week, so I’m on the list now too.
References
“Calendar of events.” Skating, June 1989, p. 41; May 1992, p. 21.
“Report of action of the board of directors.” Skating, August 1997, pp. 22–42.
United States Figure Skating Association, The 1992–93 Official USFSA Rulebook. Colorado Springs, CO: USFSA, 1992.
In 1972, Irwin J. Polk published an article in Skating, the USFSA’s official magazine, predicting what skating competitions would be like in 1991. It describes a skater doing figures with lights affixed to her skates and an overhead camera recording every move. The figures are scored by a computer based on the video. Skaters with high enough scores get to do freestyle, which “is much the same as it was back in the 1970’s”—but the judges can use instant replays and watch in slow motion if they like.
Perhaps the greatest benefit is to the skaters. They take to the ice secure in the knowledge that the impartial computer is judging the figures and that, win, lose or draw they have the best judging that modern society and technology can provide.
Polk 1972, 59.
A note at the top of the article reports the use of such technologies in judging even before it was published. Still, Polk would have been surprised to see what actually happened. In 1991, the figures requirement was dropped entirely, and instant replays took somewhat longer to be incorporated into the judging system. I wonder what he would think of the new ISU judging system.
The Curtis star was a specialty of Callie Curtis, American champion from 1969 to 1874. Instructions for skating it are given in The Skaters Text-Book (with a diagram that seems backwards to me). In the third edition of A System of Figure Skating, Vandervell and Witham quote the description with this note:
It is performed by using one foot as a pivot and the other as a scraper to cut the necessary lines… The standing on one foot and scraping lines with the other can hardly be called skating…
These two great skaters met in competition in Rochester, N. Y., March 15, 1869.
Frank Swift was then Champion of America, having won the Diamond Medal the previous year at Allegheny City, Pa,, Feb. 6, 1868. Twice he had successfully defended his title, but the Chicago boy was too much for him and he had to bow to his superior. When Mr. Curtis was declared the winner by a score of 47 points to 41, Mr. Swift took his defeat manfully and skated up to Mr. Curtis and pinned the Diamond Medal on his breast. The picture [below] was taken at that time.
Mr. Curtis successfully defended the medal for five years against all comers, and took it with him when he went to Europe in 1874. He never returned to America.
Fitzgerald 1916, 46
Frank Swift and Callie Curtis. Fitzgerald 1916, 46.
References
Julian T. Fitzgerald. 1916. Skaters History on Ice and Roller Skating. Chicago: Julian T. Fitzgerald. Reprinted in 2011 by the National Museum of Roller Skating, Lincoln, NE.
Henry Eugene Vandervell ends The Figure Skate with a challenge: to skate a hypocycloid.
The hypocycloid is the most difficult of three curves he describes: the epicycloid, the cycloid, and the hypocycloid. All three are the designs made by a point on the edge of a circle being rolled along a line. For the epicycloid, the line is curved and the circle rolls along the outside. For the cycloid, it’s straight. For the hypocycloid, it’s curved and the circle rolls along the inside.
The three curves. From Vandervell 2020, 74.
The first of these is simply the double three known in compulsory figures and on the juvenile and intermediate moves tests. The second two are more challenging. Vandervell concludes with a section called “The paradox”:
The way to attempt this figure is to start with the intention of making, say two turns and three curves (none less will show it), but to endeavour to make the contour of the group a straight line, instead of curved as in the epicycloid.
If this is done cycloid curves will be the result. This may be called the first stage, and no further progress can possibly be made until it is attained.
Vandervell 2020, 77
Here’s what I managed:
Skating a cycloid
The first stage being accomplished, and proceeding on the same principles, the skater must now start again, and endeavour to bend or curve the contour of the group of turns past and beyond that of the cycloid, until such contour becomes outwards, and thus exactly the reverse of the epicycloid.
If this can be done the paradox will be resolved.
Vandervell 2020, 77
And here it is done, more or less:
Skating a hypocycloid
Reference
H. E. Vandervell. 2020. The Figure Skate: A Research into the Form of Blade Best Adapted to Curvilinear Skating. Edited by B. A. Thurber. Evanston, IL: Skating History Press. First published 1901.
I was hoping to travel to the World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships held in Plattsburgh, NY, on 12/31/2020 and 1/1/2021, but with all the public health officials advising against travel due to the pandemic, it didn’t seem like a good idea. Instead, I skated the championship at home, mostly on my backyard rink.
The ice was new and very thin in spots, and the temperature was iffy—hovering around freezing when the ice needed sustained cold for proper maintenance. This meant I had little opportunity to practice and ice that left much to be desired. It’s probably a good reflection of what the first figure skating competitions were like.
Update, 1/1/2021: I made the videos of sets 1 and 2 on the 29th, before the Championship started, because a snowstorm followed by 40-degree F weather were on the way. A cold night on the 30th meant I could skate a little on the 31st, but the ice was very rough. On New Year’s Day, it was slightly better, and I did sets 3 and 4 on the right day. The ice was still bad, and the wind didn’t help, but back in the day, that’s how competitions were. It was fair because everyone had the same terrible ice. The practice videos of sets 3 and 4 and the fancy skating segment were filmed on the 28th (with better ice). The skating surface at the alternate rink that I used for fancy skating was unsuitable after the snowstorm.
The competition took place on August 28 and 29, following a Figure Festival from the 25th to 27th, on ice that had been painted black with white lines demarcating patches. Initially, entrants had to have passed US Figure Skating’s 8th test or an international equivalent, or have competed in the World Championship or Olympics before 1992. Later, this requirement was relaxed to the 6th test or equivalent. The entry fee was set at $500 ($485 early bird, $650 late). List numbers of competitors, figures, scoring info.
The first World Figure Championship was sanctioned by the ISI (endorsement #3-2552-2015). All skaters and judges were enrolled as ISI members by Peak Edge Performance, Inc. It did not use the ISI’s standard judging criteria or format; instead, skaters completed each set of four figures while the judges were absent. A time limit was set for each figure. Skaters commenced as a whistle blew and had until the next whistle to complete the six required tracings; the time allotted was quite generous. A referee watched each skater to note penalties (e.g., if the skater put a hand or foot down, fell, crossed a patch line, or exceeded the time limit), if necessary. Then, the judges examined and ranked the marks left on the ice without knowing who had skated them. Following the ISI system, each judge focused on a particular component: turns, edges, tracing, center, and alignment. Skaters received ordinal marks, which were combined with any penalties to produce a points core for each figure. This system remained in place for subsequent years of the event.
Figures
Figure
Name
1.1
Paragraph Double 3
1.2
Counter
1.3
Rocker
1.4
Change Loop
2.1
Paragraph Double 3
2.2
Change Bracket
2.3
Change Bracket
2.4
Paragraph Loop
3.1
Paragraph Double 3
3.2
Counter
3.3
Rocker
3.4
Change Loop
4.1
Paragraph Double 3
4.2
Change Bracket
4.3
Change Bracket
4.4
Paragraph Loop
Tie breaker
RFOI-LFIO Paragraph Loop
Figures skated at the 2015 Championship. The starting feet have been lost to time.
Results
Place
Ladies
Men
1
Jill Ahlbrecht
Richard Swenning
2
Sandy Lenz-Jackson
Shepherd Clark
3
Mandy Sisson-King
Stephen Thompson
4
Jan Calnan
Dmitri Peshkilev
5
Pamela Giangualano-Roberts
Christian Hendricks
6
Maggie Licata Brothers
7
Brooke Pitman
8
Nancy Blackwell-Grieder
9
Tiffani Healey
10
Tracey Mulherin
11
Kami Healey-Netri
12
Jennifer Tieche
13
Doris Papenfuss
14
Kim Millette Verde
Results of the 2015 Championship.
Other Achievements
The Championship was accompanied by a Figure Festival that included workshops and informal competition. This continued in subsequent years.
The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Jennifer Tieche. This award “is granted to a person who positively furthers World Figure Sport’s mission by expressing congeniality, dedication, and service to the outreach, promotion, and development of Figure & Fancy Skating, as exemplified by the life of Richard Dwyer,” according to the Hall of Fame page.
2016 Toronto
The competition was held on December 20-21, with practice on the 19th and the Figure Festival on the 22nd and 23rd. This was after rescheduling; it had originally been announced for August 23-27. The competition format remained essentially the same, but no sanction was mentioned in the announcement. Prospective competitors were initially asked to submit videos of their skating, but this requirement was dropped in favor of a description of their skating background. This year marks the inclusion of the first special figure (the Swiss S) and a creative figure.
Inclusive Skating events were added to the Figure Festival. They’ve been an annual feature since then.
The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Karen Courtland Kelly.
2017 Vail, CO
This year’s event, held from September 28 to October 1, was called the “World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships” and sanctioned by “WorldFigureSport.org.” Skaters were allowed to participate by skating individual figures, in which they were ranked, but were not considered championship competitors unless they completed all segments. Two men and four women took advantage of this. Instead of charging entry fees, competitors were encouraged to raise $1500 for the organization.
Figures
Figure
Name
1.1
RFO-LFO Circle Eight
1.2
RFO-LFO Loop
1.3
LBOI-RBIO Serpentine
1.4
LBOI-RBIO Change Loop
2.1
RBI-LBI Double Three
2.2
LFI-RBI Counter
2.3
RFI Maltese Cross
2.4
LBI Swiss S
3.1
RFI-LFI Circle Eight
3.2
RFI-LFI Loop
3.3
RFO-LBO Rocker
3.4
LFOI-RFIO Change Loop
4.1
RFOI-LFIO Paragraph Loop
4.2
LFI Maltese Cross
4.3
RBI Swiss S
4.4
Creative Figure
Figures skated at the 2017 Championship.
Results
Place
Ladies
Men
1
Nancy Blackwell-Grieder
Shepherd Clark
2
Jennifer Lupia
Richard Swenning
3
Julie Schott-Lipsky
Christian Hendricks
4
Heather Zarisky
5
Sarah Jo Damron-Brown
6
Stephanie Chace Bass
7
Liz Schmidt
8
Kim Millette Verde
Results of the figures event at the 2017 Championship. Only skaters who completed all requirements are included.
Other Achievements
The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Deborah Hickey.
“Fancy skating” (freestyle with an artistic orientation) was offered as a separate event with two competitors in the men’s category and four in the women’s.
The Junior Championship for competitors aged 21 years or under was inaugurated.
The World Figure Sport Society offered exams in individual figures during the Festival for the first time. Skaters are scored on a scale of one through six. I posted about taking some of these exams.
2018 Vail, CO
The 2018 competition was held from September 27 to September 30. It followed the pattern of the 2017 event. There were a total of 13 skaters in the ladies’ event and seven in the men’s event, but not all received overall rankings.
Figures
Figure
Name
1.1
RFO-LFO Circle Eight
1.2
RFO-LFO Loop
1.3
LFOI-RBOI Change Three
1.4
LFOI-RFOI Change Loop
2.1
RBO-LBO Double Three
2.2
LFI-RBI Counter
2.3
RFI Maltese Cross
2.4
LFO Swiss S with Diamond Coutners
3.1
RBO-LBO Circle Eight
3.2
RBO-LBO Loop
3.3
LFO-RBO Rocker
3.4
RBOI-LBOI Change Loop
4.1
LFOI-RFIO Paragraph Loop
4.2
RFO Swiss S with Diamond Counters
4.3
LFI Maltese Cross
4.4
Creative Figure
Figures skated in the 2018 Championship.
Results
Place
Ladies
Men
1
Brooke Pitman
Shepherd Clark
2
Lisa Elmore
Marc Fenczak
3
Jill Ahlbrecht
Matt Snyder
4
Heather Zarisky
5
Nicole Lemanski
6
Shannon Cattaneo
7
Sarah Jo Damron Brown
8
Beth Woronoff
9
Jamie Chandler
10
Kim Millette Verde
11
Elisa Koshkina
Results of the 2018 Championship. Only skaters who completed all requirements are included.
Other Achievements
The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Richard Stansberry posthumously.
The Maribel Vinson Trophy Lifetime Achievement award was inaugurated to reward “individulas [sic] who, throughout their life, have had a distinguished legacy within the skating world.” It was presented to Slavka Kouhout Button.
The Edinburgh 8 Record for the most skaters (18) skating on a single forward outside eight was set after the competition ended.
The first perfect 6 on an exam was given to a forward outside eight tested at the Festival.
2019 Vail, CO
The 2019 World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships, held from September 26 to September 29, featured a new requirement: a fancy skating segment replaced the first figure of the second set. Additionally, this year, skaters shared strips instead of having a whole strip to themselves, which enabled the competition to run more quickly as all skaters in the ladies’ event were able to compete at the same time. The division of each set of figures into two flights was unnecessary. This was possible because the figures were much smaller than usual, none larger than a standard two-circle figure from the ISU schedule.
A total of fourteen women and five men competed in at least one figure. Six women and four men received overall rankings.
Results of the 2019 Championship. Only skaters who received overall rankings are included.
Other Achievements
The Richard Dwyer “Spirit of Skating” Award was presented to Jonathan Chausovsky.
The Maribel Vinson Trophy Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Donald Jackson.
At the end of the event, skaters were offered the opportunity to set records. Lisa Elmore skated the Maltese cross 16 times on one foot, without touching down.
2020 Plattsburgh, NY
This competition will be held from December 30, 2020, to January 2, 2021.
Figures were once the backbone of figure skating on ice (hence the name in English), but experienced a steep decline in popularity after they were dropped as a competitive requirement in 1991. Today, ice skaters rarely do them. In roller skating, in contrast, figures continue to thrive—on quad skates. They don’t really work on inlines.
Roller figures in 2011.
In roller skating, figures and freestyle were combined (as they were in ice skating) in the 1940s, but in 1949, American competitions separated them. For a decade or so after that, American skaters were known for having great jumps but poor skating skills (Pickard 2010, 116). This is exactly what happened on ice in the 1990s.
This separation had another effect in roller skating that seems to have been missing from ice skating:
The RSROA’s separation of figures and free sakting events in 1949 encouraged dance skaters to spill into figure skating as a second event by the elimination of the acrobatics formerly required in combined event [sic] with free style.
Pickard 2010, 133
Some roller skaters continued to do both figures and freestyle, and the influx of dancers helped keep figures going. The singles event remained combined (requiring both figures and freestyle) in the world championship until 1980, when they were separated there, too (Pickard 2010, 116). Yet roller skaters continued to skate figures. Even now, 40 years later, roller skaters still do figures, and figures events are common and competitive. In contrast, on the ice, on the rare occasion that a figures event is offered, the number of competitors is very low.
Why have figures done so well in roller skating and so poorly on the ice?
References
David H. Lewis. 1997. Roller Skating for Gold. London: Scarecrow Press.
George Pickard. 2010. Titans and Heroes of American Roller Skating. Lincoln, NE: National Museum of Roller Skating.
I’ve written about Spuren auf dem Eise before—it’s one of the founding texts of figure skating. Two editions were published, the first in 1881 and the second in 1892. The second edition is substantially revised to include an expanded section on artistic skating. One interesting change comes in the section on theory. The first edition includes the sentence
Die Marken auf dem Eise sind das unauslöschliche Sündenregister, welches die Schlittschuhseele des Eisläufers, sein Schwerpunkt, auf dem Gewissen hat. (p. 132)
(The marks on the ice are the indelible register of sins, which the skate-soul of the skater focuses on consciously.)
Spuren auf dem Eise (1881), p. 132. Translation my own.
The second edition, in contrast, says
Die Spuren auf dem Eise sind das unauslöschliche Sündenregister, welches die Schlittschuhseele des Eisläufers, sein Schwerpunkt, auf dem Gewissen hat.
(The tracings on the ice are the indelible register of sins, which the skate-soul of the skater focuses on consciously.)
Spuren auf dem Eise (1892), p. 89. Translation my own.
The only difference is that “Marken” (marks) changed to “Spuren” (tracks). I’ve translated “Spuren” as tracings since that’s what the marks left by skates on the ice are called today. This change emphasizes the control skaters were developing and the goal of producing a visible design: marks can be any random imperfections, but tracings are left on purpose. This change signals the development of figures as a discipline of skating that contrasts with the visual spectacle of dancing on ice.
Both editions have “Spuren” in the title, which shows that this idea was present from at least 1881. The change in the second edition shows that the emphasis on tracings became even stronger. Both editions go on to say
Hervorragende Eisläufer erkennt man an ihren Spuren auf dem Eise.
(One recognizes outstanding skaters by their tracings on the ice.)
Spuren auf dem Eise (1881), p. 133; (1892), p. 89. Translation my own.
References
D. Diamantidi, C. von Korper, and M. Wirth. 1881. Spuren auf dem Eise. Vienna: Alfred Hölder.
D. Diamantidi, C. von Korper, and M. Wirth. 1892. Spuren auf dem Eise. 2nd ed. Vienna: Alfred Hölder.
Back when all competitive skaters did both figures and freestyle, everyone who had reached a certain level had two pairs of skates, “patch skates” for figures and freestyle skates. The main difference was that freestyle skates have a larger toe pick and are sharpened to a smaller radius of hollow. Patch skates were often old, worn-out freestyle skates with the toe picks removed and blades sharpened to produce a much flatter hollow.
Dick Button, winner of the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, had a third pair. These skates were optimized for loops, figures based on circles with a diameter approximately equal to the skater’s height. Other circles were three times as large. Here’s what Dick had to say about using special skates for loops:
Dick Button skates a forward change loop.
These figures are so much smaller than the larger, conventional eights that a different radius along the length of the blade enables one to sink lower into knee action going into the figure without digging sharply into the ice. I cut the bottom toe pick of these skates even further than those for other figures since there is no need for a toe in any loop while they can be very much in the way.
Button (1955, p. 185-186)
Dick’s decision to use blades with a smaller rocker radius—meaning more curvature from end to end—is consistent with results obtained by Henry Vandervell in the previous century:
I have had very considerable experience of the effects of radii, viz., from 20 feet to 2 feet. The extreme I fix for combined skating is 9 feet, and for single figures of the epicycloid variety, such as loops, crosscuts, etc., is 3 feet. If, now, you average the two kinds you get to 6 feet for all-round purposes.
Vandervell (1901, p. 24)
Today’s figure skating blades have rocker radii of seven or eight feet, rather more than you want for loops. No blades with smaller rocker radii are currently on the market.
References
Dick Button (1955). Dick Button on Skates. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
H. E. Vandervell (1901). The Figure Skate: A Research into the Form of Blade Best Adapted to Curvilinear Skating. London: Straker Brothers.
Creative figures are getting popular because they’re in the World Figure Championship. These patterns of tracings designed by skaters are nothing new.
Back in the day, creativity in figures was expected. Special figures have a prominent (though brief) place in every book on figure skating history. Each one has a creative skater behind it. Books like Spuren auf dem Eise expect skaters to learn the building blocks and use them to make new figures.
Special figures disappeared, but creative figures have reappeared a few times. In an opinion piece in Skating, the official magazine of US Figure Skating, Per Cock-Clausen proposed adding them to competitions—in 1965!
From the present four groups prescribed by the ISU from which one is drawn for International Championships, the first figure should be eliminated. Each skater should then compose a creative figure containing certain prescribed elements such as rockers, brackets or others. The figure should be developed in such a manner that it can be performed in a graceful style. (Not as the old Starfigures.) The figures should be executed only once. Form A as well as Form B should be skated (right and left feet).
Per Cock-Clausen (1965)
Cock-Clausen’s suggestion wasn’t taken up by the USFSA, but a couple of USFSA competitions offered them around when figures were dropped. Searching for “creative figure” in the online archive of Skating brings up the following events:
“July 14-16: Vail Invitational Figure Skating Championships, sponsored by the SC of Vail and Rocky Mountain FSC, at the Dobson Arena, Vail, CO. Creative Figures, Juvenile thru Senior Final Round Freestyle, Pre-Preliminary thru Pre-Juvenile Free Skating, Preliminary thru Intermediate Compulsory Moves, Intermediate thru Senior Original Program, Pairs (all levels), and Precision Teams events. For in information contact: Debbie Wordekemper, 303-252-8528, or Debby Warner, 303-949-5315.” (Skating, July 1989)
“July 10-12: 1992 Troy Summer Skate, sponsored by the Troy SC, at the Hobart Arena, Troy, OH. Figures, Compulsory, Free Skating, Dance, Solo Dance, Pairs, Showcase, Similar Pairs, New Era, and Creative Figures events. Badge through Senior Levels. For more information contact: Dianne Hartmann, 1815 Shaggy Bark Rd., Troy, OH 45373, 513-335-5267.” (Skating, July 1992)
The first occurred in 1989, the second in 1992. Creative figures didn’t catch on in the USFSA. It’s an interesting coincidence that the first of these two competitions was in Vail, at the rink where the World Figure Championship has been held for the last three years.
A creative figure has also been an option on the USFS Adult Gold figure test since its inception in about 1990 (as inferred from searching through Skating and my 1987/88 and 1992/93 Rulebooks). Skaters can choose to do a creative figure (after giving a sketch to the judges) or any other figure from the test structure. And the ISI has been offering creative figure events in competitions for years.
References
Per Cock-Clausen, 1965. “In my opinion 60/40.” Skating December 1965.
The 1992-93 Official USFSA Rulebook and The 1987-88 Official USFSA Rulebook. Colorado Springs: United States Figure Skating Association.
