Special figures were a component of

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like

compulsory figures Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, and gave the sport its name. They are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". For ...

, special figures involved tracing patterns on the ice with the blade of one

ice skate Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates ...

. This required the skater to display significant balance and control while skating on one foot. While compulsory figures were standard patterns derived from the figure 8, the special figures were elaborate patterns of the skaters' own invention. These designs included rosettes, stars, crosses, and other elaborate curlicues. The building blocks for special figures included not only the elements of the standard compulsory figures, but shapes known as beaks, spectacles, and cross-cuts. Tracing of elaborate patterns on the ice was a characteristic of the American and British schools of figure skating. By the early 20th century, this had been largely displaced by the "International Style" of free skating which utilized the entire ice surface and featured more athletic movements set to music. Special figures was an event in the 1908 Summer Olympic Games.

Nikolai Panin Nikolai Aleksandrovich Panin-Kolomenkin (russian: Николай Александрович Панин-Коломенкин; – 19 January 1956) was a Russian figure skater and coach. He won the gold medal in special figures in the 1908 S ...

of Russia won the event. Nikolai Panin held a gold medal in this special figures skating and was unbeaten through 1952 when the Olympic Committee removed the event due to the fact this was considered too difficult to perform. One challenger of Nikolai Panin saw the complex geometric pattern he had performed and instead of trying to recreate it he forfeited.

References

* ''The Official Book of Figure Skating''. . * Irving Brokaw: ''The Art of Skating''. American Sports Publishing Co., 1928. * Benjamin Wright: ''Skating in America''. United States Figure Skating Association, 1996. {{figure skating Figure skating elements

See also

References