Ice skating is an activity which uses ice skates on ice. It can be done outdoors on frozen lakes, or indoors with artificial ice. It can be done as a recreational activity or as a sport. There is a large range of sports that involve ice skating.
Ice Skating as a sport was developed on the lakes of Scotland and the canals of Netherlands. During winter, when the waters froze, ice skating matches were held in villages all over the Fens.
Examples of ice skating sports include races, dancing and team sports.
Competitive ice skating sports include
- Long Track Speed Skating — ice skaters race head to head on a 400m oval track for a set distance, between 500 and 10,000 m.
- Short Track Speed Skating — 4 to 8 skaters racing around an oval ice track towards the finish line.
- Ice Cross Downhill — an extreme winter racing sport that involves direct racing of multiple skaters on a downhill course.
- Figure Skating — an artistic ice skating sport where athletes perform routines on an ice rink. Includes the disciplines of Ice Dancing and Synchronized Skating.
- Synchronized Skating — a sport of the figure skating discipline in which 8 to 20 skaters perform routines as a team on an ice rink.
- Ice Dancing — one of the events in figure skating, which has its roots in ballroom dancing
- Hockey sports: ice hockey, ringette, bandy
Related Pages
- Complete list of sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports