Ice Skating

For more than one-thousand years, people have skated on frozen lakes, rivers and other bodies of water. The first well-known ice skates were made from animal bones ground to a smooth, flat surface. These were attached to shoes with leather straps. Wooden skates with iron blades first appeared in the 13th to 14th century in the Netherlands, By the 17th century, skating was very popular in the Netherlands, where the canals were frozen over throughout much of the winter. When European settlers went to North America, they took the sport of ice-skating with them.

Steel skating blades appeared around 1860. The steel blades were stronger and thinner than the iron blades. They allowed skaters to move freely and easily, especially in skating backward. With steel blades, skaters could perform fancy figures and could glide much faster. The first skates with the blades attached firmly to the boot were made in the United States in 1864 by Jackson Haines. Better equipment helped ice-skating become an important competitive sport as well as a popular and healthful past time.

There are two kinds of ice-skating competition- figure skating and speed skating. Figure skaters perform jumps, spins and complex steps, usually to music. Speed skaters compete in race of various distances.

The first international figure-skating competition was held in Austria of the year 1882. On the other hand, the first speed-skating contest was held in Germany of the year 1885. Today, many countries already have their own figure-skating and speed-skating competitions. Annually, there are various international contests for both kinds of skating, including the Olympic games and the European and World Championship.

During the year 1924, the first Olympic winter games were held. Figure skating and men’s speed-skating were already included. In 1960, the women division for speed-skating was already approved in the games. The highest award for any amateur figure skater or speed skater is an Olympic gold medal.

Here is an amazing example of a figure skater!

The three kinds of Speed Skating

Olympic-Style Speed Skating

It is usually used for international competition. The pane is 400 meters to the lap. The tracks are divided with snow lanes about two thirds of the way around. The part not divided is called the crossover. Only two skaters race at one time and they can change lines by using the crossover at every lap. Each skater is individually timed. The world championship and any sectional or national championship are decided by an allover point total.

Pack Skating

In pack skating, a group races together to series of rounds. There are 5 racing divisions in pack skating. They are Senior Class, Intermediate class, Juvenile Class and Midget Class. Outdoor tracks are shaped oval. On the other hand, the indoor track differs when it comes to sizes. Classes have different sizes of tracks. The winner of each race is determined by a series of preliminary races which are also called heats. Usually the first and second place finishers of each heat race against each other until the winner is determined. Points are also given in pack skating. Unlike Olympic-style skating, the fastest skater in each race gets the most points. After all the races are done, the skater with the most points is the champion.

Short-Track Speed Skating

The track for short-track speed skating is shorter than an Olympic speed-skating oval and has no marked lanes. There are three kinds of speed-skating competitions that use the short track. They are individual races, relay races and pursuit races. The individual races are divided into five short events and one long event.. A series of heats determines the winner for each distance. Heats in the short group have no more than four skaters. Six skaters may race in the long race. Relay races consists of two teams of four skaters. Each team member skates until replaced by a teammate. A skater ma be replaced t any time except during the final two laps of the race.

Watch this fascinating video to see what it’s all about!