Slalom

Both blades held parallel and swung side to side, drawing a wave down the ice.

Also called forward slalom or two-foot slalom. Other names.

basic

Not checked yet. The mechanics on this page are a first draft by a non-expert, and no coach has seen them yet. Read them as a starting point and check them with a coach. Corrections are very welcome.

The mark this leaves on the ice, both blades. A straight line is a claim as much as a curve is: it says the blade is flat, and a blade that is not flat is an edge and a different element.

shoulder to hip —on the —

both blades on the ice and close together, curving side to side and changing edge together. Negative twist means the shoulders are held back against the hips, which stores rotation before a takeoff and checks it on a landing.

Both feet stay on the ice, close together, and you skate short half-circle curves from side to side, as in skiing. The blades change edge together at each change of curve. Learn to Skate USA has the forward slalom at its third level. In British Ice Skating Skills 1 it is a repeated two-foot power change of edge, and the test lists its learning objectives as correct edges, rhythmic knee action and keeping the speed up.

Ice Skating Australia says where the power comes from: pressure on the outside edges, with both knees bent through each curve and rising at the change, for six to eight curves. That rise and fall is the rhythmic knee action the British test names, and the feet stay close together the whole way. Skills 2 then asks for the same movement on one foot.

Build on

Two-foot change of edgeBritish Ice Skating's Skills 1 slalom is this change, repeated as a two-foot power change of edge.

Leads to

One element in the guide is built on this one.

Backward slalomThe same wave drawn travelling backwards, which British Ice Skating Skills 1 asks for as the second side of its slalom.

Appears in

BIS Skills 1BIS · level 1

Where it sits in one country's grades is on that country's copy of this page: UK, USA, Australia or New Zealand.

BIS Skills 1, exercise 4: SlalomPower changes of edge down the length of the rink, forwards on two feet and one, and backwards on two.