What you need to know to watch figure skating at the Olympics
Okay, remember when I suggested (threatened) that I might make a figure skating primer for the Olympics? This is part one of that!
This primer is in five parts. Below are the absolute basics, so that someone who has never watched figure skating before can learn what’s going on and what to look for. I will also be making four posts about what's going on currently in each discipline, and I'll edit the links in here as I make them:
MEN | WOMEN | PAIRS | ICE DANCE
(DISCLAIMER: I’m simplifying a lot so this all makes as much sense as possible and no one gets overwhelmed. If you are a figure skating fan reading this and you’re tempted to be like "well ACTUALLY you forgot—" please know I’m just trying my best to not info-dump for six hours here.)
THE BASICS
The sport of figure skating consists of four disciplines: men’s singles, women’s singles, pairs and ice dance. Men's and women's singles consist of elements like jumps, spins and step sequences. Pairs combines these elements (side-by-side jumps and spins that must be done in sync) with pairs elements such as throw jumps, overhead lifts and twists. Ice dance, while consisting of teams of two people like pairs, is a completely different discipline that is closer to ballroom dance than singles skating. Ice dance is judged based on skating skills and choreographic elements.
EVENTS
Every figure skating discipline has two events, the short program (or rhythm dance, in ice dance), and the free skate (or free dance). The score from both programs is added together and the cumulative score determines the final standing. Short programs (and the rhythm dance) are all 2:30, free skates (and the free dance) are all 4:00.
TEAM EVENT
This is a competition that happens only at the Olympics, where all the athletes from each country get to compete together as a team to try and earn a medal for their country. Only ten countries will compete in the team event: Canada, China, France, Georgia, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Korea, and the USA. USA and Japan are the heavy favorites for gold, so whichever loses will likely get silver. Bronze is probably between Italy and Georgia. Every member of the top three teams receives an Olympic medal, so skaters who are not likely to medal in their individual discipline will be hungry to get on the podium here.
SCORING
Figure skating scores are additive, not subtractive. There is no “perfect” score. Every element has a “base value,” a number assigned based on the difficulty of the element. Points are added or subtracted to the base value based on how well the element was performed (“grade of execution,” or GOE). For example, the base value of a triple axel is 8 points. But the maximum score you can get for a PERFECT triple axel, with the highest possible GOE, is 12 points. If you fall on a triple axel you will get the maximum negative GOE and receive only 4 points, and an additional one-point deduction for falling. The sum of the points you received (base values with GOE added or subtracted) for all your elements is known as the technical elements score (TES).
However, TES is only about half your score. Skaters are also judged on three subjective criteria: skating skills, performance and composition. Judges rate each of these categories out of ten, and the scores are averaged together and multiplied by a certain factor to get the program components score (PCS). Basically the point of PCS is to reward fundamental skating quality and artistic talent, so that people can’t just go out there, do big jumps and win without caring about the rest of the skills. (Ask a figure skating fan if PCS does this effectively and block out the next 40 minutes on your calendar to hear the answer.)
Anyway, TES + PCS (- any deductions for falls or rule violations) = total score.
THE TECH BOX
When you watch figure skating, this little guy will be in the top left of the screen:
This tells you which elements are being performed, the base value, and the GOE in real time. So this is super helpful for understanding what’s going on! You can watch the skater’s TES rise as they complete their elements, and compare it to the TES of the current leader. (In this case, Kulish was skating and Kessler was in the lead.)
These little boxes will light up green for positive GOE (element performed well!) and red for negative GOE (element performed badly). Neutral GOE (0.00) is gray, and invalid elements have a little X. This is a quick shorthand to see how well the program is going. Skating fans affectionately refer to the sequence of boxes as “the wordle”.
JUMPS
There are six standard jumps. In order of difficulty from lowest to highest, we have: toe loop, salchow, loop, flip, lutz, axel. It’s very easy to explain why the axel is the hardest: all jumps land backwards, but only the axel takes off forwards. That means it’s a half-rotation more than the other jumps. A triple axel is 3.5 rotations, a double is 2.5, etc. That’s why a triple axel is so much more difficult than the other triple jumps. The triple axel is standard in men's skating, but still a bit rare and special in women's skating (though not as rare as it once was).
A quadruple jump, or quad, is very difficult and it's worth a massive amount of points. Most of the men at the highest level of competition will have at least one or two quads in their arsenal, usually salchow and/or toe loop. Very few women compete quads. (More on all of this in the posts on men's and women's skating.)
If you're interested in learning the mechanics of the jumps, I'd recommend looking up a youtube video (like this one) or checking out this excellent guide with gifs.
ROTATION
You are supposed to finish your rotations in the air. If the skate is still rotating when it hits the ice, it’s not a “clean” jump. If you land with a quarter of the rotation left to go, the jump is given a "q" call, which will lower the GOE. If you land 90-180º under, the jump is “underrotated" and the base value is reduced. More than 180º (half a rotation) under and your jump will be fully “downgraded," which means a triple will be reduced to the base value of a double (or a quad to a triple, etc). This is important to know because you might see a program with no falls or obviously shaky landings and THINK it’s a perfect clean program, but these rotation calls can murder the technical score. Especially in the women’s events, which are very close, rotation is likely to make a BIG difference in the standings.
OTHER ELEMENTS
Many non-jump elements (such as spins, step sequences, lifts, twists… lots of things) are rated on difficulty from 1-4, and the base value increases with the level. So when you’re like “this spin looked good… but this spin also looked good!” and they score really differently, it may be because one is a level 2 and one is a level 4. The criteria for earning levels are complicated and often difficult to spot unless you are a figure skating judge, so no need to learn them. Just know there are levels of difficulty and they go up to 4.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
So, besides not falling, how can you tell if a skater is GOOD?
Speed: They should be able to generate a lot of speed with little effort. Generating and maintaining speed through complex steps (like one-foot turns) is harder than generating speed with forward or backward crossovers.
Edges: "Deep" edges (which are what you want) are when the skater is leaning deeply into curves and their skate is tilted, not straight up and down.
Knee bend: The more knee bend the better, especially on jump landings.
Flow/running edge: Each move should flow effortlessly into the next. A "running edge" is when the skater holds a long smooth edge out of a jump, and it's the sign of a controlled landing.
Stamina: You get a 10% bonus for jumps in the second half of a program, so the best skaters will save their highest-scoring jump combinations for the second half. (Which is much harder to do since your legs are tired.)
Spins: For spins, they should be fast and CENTERED (not wobbling or "traveling" across the ice). Also, skaters need to hit a lot of different spin positions to get levels.
Difficult entry/exit: Doing footwork or choreographic elements directly into a jump increases the difficulty and is rewarded in GOE. Difficult entries and exits for spins increase the level.
Musicality: Timing elements well to the music is rewarded in GOE. (And should factor into PCS.)
And of course, landing those jumps.
THOSE ARE THE BASICS! If you want to learn more and really get into the nitty gritty, I highly recommend the guides on So You Want to Watch Figure Skating, an invaluable resource.
