Slalom

Power changes of edge down the length of the rink, forwards on two feet and one, and backwards on two.

BIS Skills 1exercise 4In the syllabus both before and after 01/10/2026

Not checked yet. The requirements 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.

Changes on 01/10/2026. From 01/10/2026 the forward side becomes a choice: the two-foot sequence on its own, or the two-foot sequence with the one-foot section inside it as before. Until then the one-foot section was required. This is a relaxation, and the update announcement does not mention it.

A change of edge is the one element in this test with nothing to see. The blade does not pivot, the foot does not change, the tracing does not come to a point. The edge crosses from one side of the blade to the other and the curve goes the other way. That is the whole difficulty of it, and the reason this guide draws it as a roll with no join in it.

What makes it a power change is the knee. The exercise is looking for rhythm and for speed that survives the length of the rink, and the only source of either is the rise and fall of the skating knee timed to the change. A slalom done with a stiff leg slows down, and no amount of edge quality rescues it.

The forward side asks for it on two feet and then on one, and the one-foot section is the harder half by a distance: on two feet the change can be shared between the blades, and on one there is nowhere for it to go but the ankle. The backward side stays on two feet throughout, which is the only reason it sits in Skills 1 at all.

Elements

Two-foot change of edgeBoth blades rolled from one set of edges to the other, in one movement, without a step.
SlalomBoth blades held parallel and swung side to side, drawing a wave down the ice.
Backward slalomThe same wave, drawn travelling backwards.
Right forward inside change of edgeRFI to RFO: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
Right forward outside change of edgeRFO to RFI: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
Left forward inside change of edgeLFI to LFO: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
Left forward outside change of edgeLFO to LFI: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
Left backward inside edgeLBI: the left foot travelling backwards on an inside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Right backward outside edgeRBO: the right foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Left backward outside edgeLBO: the left foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
Right backward inside edgeRBI: the right foot travelling backwards on an inside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.

This page lists which elements the exercise calls for and what it is working on. It does not reproduce British Ice Skating's sequence, pattern or wording. For the exercise as published, go to their own document.