Backward outside & inside edges

Backward edges held to the long axis on both outside and inside, joined by crossovers on one side and a step wide on the other.

BIS Skills 2exercise 1In 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.

Skills 1 held one back outside edge and gave it a duration. This asks for four to six continuous curves and holds an edge on each of them, and the hold now happens on the inside edge as well. An inside edge is the one skaters take less seriously, because it is the edge a body defaults to when the lean is timid, and holding it on purpose is a different act from falling onto it.

The free leg position is optional, which is worth reading carefully. Skills 1 wanted an extended position with the foot turned out; here what is being looked at is the curve, and the skater may hold whatever position lets them keep it. Nothing is being made easier, since the edge has to run to the long axis either way. What has moved is the thing under assessment.

The two sides are built differently on purpose. One joins its curves with crossovers, the other stays on the foot and steps wide, and stepping wide backwards is the half that finds people out: it happens where you cannot see it, and there is a moment with the weight between two feet where the edge you were on has to still be there when you arrive.

Elements

Right backward outside edgeRBO: the right foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Left backward inside edgeLBI: the left foot travelling backwards on an inside 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.
Right backward outside crossoverRBO to LBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
Left backward outside crossoverLBO to RBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
Left backward inside step wideLBI to RBI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
Right backward inside push backRBI to LBO: a push off the inside edge onto the other foot's outside edge, still travelling backwards, and the lobe continues.
Right backward inside step wideRBI to LBI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.

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.