Figure skating lifts

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Figure skating element
2018 Winter Olympics - Gala Exhibition - Photo 237.jpg
Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir perform an ice dance lift.
Element nameLift
Scoring abbreviation Li
Disciplines Pair skating
Ice dance

Figure skating lifts are required elements in two disciplines of figure skating: pair skating and ice dance. There are five groups of lifts in pair skating, categorized in order of increasing level of difficulty. Judges look for the following when evaluating pair lifts: speed of entry and exit; control of the woman's free leg when she is exiting out of the lift, with the goal of keeping the leg high and sweeping; the position of the woman in the air; the man's footwork; quick and easy changes of position; and the maintenance of flow throughout the lift. Twist lifts are "the most thrilling and exciting component in pair skating". [1] They can also be the most difficult movement to perform correctly. They require more strength and coordination than many other pair elements, and are usually the first or second element in a program. According to the International Skating Union (ISU), "the Woman must be caught in the air at the waist by the Man prior to landing and be assisted to a smooth landing on the ice on a backward outside edge on one foot" [2] during a twist lift. A pair lift and twist lift is required in the short program of pair skating; a well-balanced free skating program in pair skating must include lifts.

The ISU defines dance lifts as "a movement in which one of the partners is elevated with active and/or passive assistance of the other partner to any permitted height, sustained there and set down on the ice". [3] Dance lifts are delineated from pair lifts to ensure that ice dance and pair skating remain separate disciplines. After the judging system changed from the 6.0 system to the ISU Judging System (IJS), dance lifts became more "athletic, dramatic and exciting". [4] There are two types of dance lifts: short lifts, which should be done in under seven seconds; and combination lifts, which should be done in under 12 seconds. A well-balanced free dance program in ice dance must include dance lifts.

Pair skating

Pair lifts

There are five groups of pair lifts, determined by the hold at the moment the woman passes the man's shoulder. The man's lifting arm or arms are required for Groups 3—5. [5]

There are three types of positions performed by the woman: upright, or when her upper body is vertical; the star, or when she faces sideways with her upper body parallel to the ice; and the platter, or when her position is flat and facing up or down with her upper body parallel to the ice. [8] Pair skaters experience the most injuries of all figure skating disciplines. [9]

Carry lifts are defined as "the simple carrying of a partner without rotation" [10] and do not count as overhead lifts; instead, they are considered as transition elements. They occur when the man makes at least one continuous revolution, although only the first carry counts towards their score. [10]

Twist lifts

Skate Canada calls twist lifts "sometimes the most thrilling and exciting component in pair skating". [1] They can also be most difficult movement to perform correctly. [1] Twist lifts require more strength and coordination than many other pair elements, and are usually the first or second element in a program. [11] According to the ISU, the "Woman must be caught in the air at the waist by the Man prior to landing and be assisted to a smooth landing on the ice on a backward outside edge on one foot" [8] during a twist lift. Pair teams begin a twist lift after "barreling down the ice backward"; [11] the man then places both hands on his partner's waist, and she places both hands on his wrists. [12] She begins the takeoff by jamming her toe pick into the ice, which launches her into the air. He attempts to get underneath the momentum of her jump, boosting her beyond where she would be able to reach on her own, without his assistance. [11]

In their short programs, both senior and junior pair teams can perform two or three rotations in the air, but the woman can only perform either a flip or a Lutz during her take-off. [13] In the free skate, there are no limits on the number of revolutions pair teams can perform, and the woman's take-off can include the Lutz, flip, toe loop, or Axel. [14] [15] (The toe loop and Axel are less common.) [12] The woman completes the twist at the top of the twist lift by pulling her arms close to her body, crossing her legs together, and rotating freely in the air, high above her partner's head. During her rotations, he turns half a turn to catch her at the waist as she lands on the ice on the backward outside edge of one foot. [11] [12]

Judges look for the following when evaluating twist lifts: the speed at entry and exit; whether or not the woman performs a split position while on her way to the top of the twist lift; her height once she gets there; clean rotations; a clean catch by the man (accomplished by placing both hands at the woman's waist and without any part of her upper body touching him); and a one-foot exit executed by both partners. Pair teams can earn more points if the woman executes a split position (each leg is at least 45° from her body axis and her legs are straight or almost straight) before rotating. They also earn more points when the man's arms are sideways and straight or almost straight after he releases the woman. They lose points for not having enough rotations, one-half a rotation or more. [1] [16] According to former pair skater Archie Tse, stronger teams emphasize the delay between the man throwing the woman up in the air and reaching up to catch her by putting his hands down by his sides while she is in flight. [11]

The first quadruple twist lift performed in international competition was by Russian pair team Marina Cherkasova and Sergei Shakhrai at the 1977 European Championships. [17]

Dance lifts

The ISU defines dance lifts as "a movement in which one of the partners is elevated with active and/or passive assistance of the other partner to any permitted height, sustained there and set down on the ice". [18] Dance lifts are delineated from pair lifts to ensure that ice dance and pair skating remain separate disciplines. [19]

After the judging system changed from the 6.0 system to the ISU Judging System (IJS), dance lifts became more "athletic, dramatic and exciting". [4] American ice dancer Charlie White states that lifts have become "increasingly difficult", [20] requiring teams to, like pair skaters, work with acrobats to develop their lifts. They have also become more acrobatic, despite the fact that they do not get as high as pair skating lifts because ice dance lifts cannot be supported over the man's shoulder. [21] Dance lifts have also become more dangerous, resulting in more falls and injuries. [4]

There are two types of dance lifts: short lifts, which should be done in under seven seconds; and combination lifts, which should be done in under 12 seconds. There are four types of short lifts: the stationary lift, the straight-line lift, the Curve lift, and the Rotational lift. There are three types of combination lifts: two Rotational lifts in different directions, two Curve lifts performed in a serpentine pattern, and different two types of short lifts performed together. [18] [22]

Since dance lifts cannot be as high as pair lifts, a common dance lift is the standing lift, which occurs when the woman stands on her male partner. Injuries and falls occur, especially during training, but they tend to be minor because skating blades are thick, 0.15 inches to 0.25 inches in width, so the woman's weight, which should be balanced in the center of her blade, is distributed over a larger area of her partner's body. Ice dance teams practice lifts off the ice at first, and then women use blade guards and men wear foam guards under their clothing when they move to working on lifts on the ice. Eventually, the man's body adapts; he develops tolerance and calluses on his thighs and other body parts. Since ice dance lifts are shorter than pair lifts, the actual time the woman stands on the man tends to be about three seconds. Standing lifts are also easier than the more complex, acrobatic ice dance lifts. [23]

Footnotes

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 "Skating Glossary". Skate Canada. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
    2. ↑ Tech panel, p. 26
    3. ↑ S&P/ID 2021, p. 126
    4. 1 2 3 Brannen, Sarah S. (13 July 2012). "Dangerous Drama: Dance Lifts Becoming 'Scary'". Ice Network. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
    5. ↑ S&P/ID 2024, p. 116
    6. ↑ S&P/ID 2024, p. 116
    7. ↑ Tech panel, p. 22
    8. 1 2 S&P/ID 2024, p. 117
    9. ↑ Fortin, Joseph D.; Roberts, Diana (2003). "Competitive Figure Skating Injuries". Pain Physician. 6 (3): 313–318. doi: 10.36076/ppj.2003/6/313 . PMID   16880878. Cited in Vescovi & VanHeest (2018 , p. 36).
    10. 1 2 S&P/ID 2024, p. 123
    11. 1 2 3 4 5 Tse, Archie (14 February 2018). "That Time I Broke My Nose Trying to Do a Triple Twist". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
    12. 1 2 3 Rulebook, p. 217
    13. ↑ S&P/ID 2024, p. 120
    14. ↑ S&P/ID 2022, p. 120
    15. ↑ S&P/ID 2024, p. 124
    16. ↑ Tech Panel, p. 26
    17. ↑ Hines (2011), p. 57
    18. 1 2 S&P/ID 2022, p. 130
    19. ↑ Reiter, Susan (1 March 1995). "Ice Dancing: A Dance Form Frozen in Place by Hostile Rules". Dance Magazine. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
    20. ↑ Blakinger, Keri (19 February 2016). "Two Olympic Champs Explain Why Ice Dancing Is Not Boring". New York Daily News. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
    21. ↑ Zuckerman, Esther (14 February 2014). "A Quick GIF Guide to Ice Dance". The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
    22. ↑ Rulebook, p. 249
    23. ↑ Praderio, Caroline (19 February 2018). "Here's How Figure Skaters Can Stand on Their Partners without Hurting Them". Business Insider. Retrieved 8 August 2022.

    Works cited

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