Figure skating, explained plainly
Figure skating looks effortless from the stands. Underneath it is a sport of edges, rotations and a scoring system precise enough to separate two skaters by a fraction of a point.
Edges before everything
Every figure skating blade has two edges, inside and outside, separated by a shallow groove called the hollow. Almost every movement on the ice — a turn, a spin entry, a jump takeoff — is defined by which edge the skater is on and which direction they travel.
That is why early lessons spend so long on stroking and simple edges. A jump that looks identical to a spectator can be a different element entirely because it leaves the ice from a different edge.
What you will find here
Explanations of how skaters usually progress, how the six standard jumps differ, how the international judging system turns a program into a score, and what matters when choosing boots and blades.