Forward 3-turns

Forward inside and forward outside 3-turns in one run, with the back edge after each turn held before the next lobe.

BIS Skills 2exercise 3In 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 exercise carries a minimum of two lobes on each foot. The sequence is unchanged; what is added is how much of it has to be shown. The update announcement does not mention this.

Both forward 3-turns in the same run, and the pairing is the point. An inside turn and an outside turn leave on opposite edges, so putting them one after the other means neither can be skated by habit: the exit of one is the edge the other would be wrong to produce.

The rise and fall of the knee is what a judge watches here, and it is what separates a turn from a scrape. The blade has to come up towards the middle of the rocker as the body rotates and settle again on the new edge, and a skater who turns with a locked knee will get round on the flat every time. The mark that leaves is shaped like a comma, with no cusp.

The other thing to watch is what happens a second after the turn. Each one lands on a back edge that has to be held with the free leg where the skater chooses to put it, and holding it is much harder than arriving on it: the rotation that carried you round is still there and wants the shoulders to keep going, and checking it is a separate skill from turning.

Elements

Right forward inside three turnRFI to RBO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Left forward outside three turnLFO to LBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Left forward inside three turnLFI to LBO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Right forward outside three turnRFO to RBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Left forward outside crossoverLFO to RFI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling forwards.
Right forward outside crossoverRFO to LFI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling forwards.
Left backward inside push backLBI to RBO: a push off the inside edge onto the other foot's outside edge, still travelling backwards, and the lobe continues.
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.

Not covered here

The step from a backward outside edge onto a forward outside one, which changes foot and direction of travel without a turn in it. The other step in this exercise, from a 3-turn's exit onto the next lobe, is a push back and now has an element; this one has none, because British Ice Skating's definitions name no step that arrives facing the other way.

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.