Forward cross rolls

Forward cross rolls in both directions, joined by a crossover and a step wide onto the inside edge.

BIS Skills 2exercise 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 exercise carries a minimum of two lobes on each foot, as exercise 3 does. The sequence is unchanged and the announcement does not mention the addition.

In a cross roll the free foot swings across the body and lands on a fresh outside edge, pushed off the outside edge that was already carrying you. The lean crosses with it, between one foot and the next. That is the whole element and it is why it looks like a crossover and is not one. A crossover keeps the lobe and changes the foot; a cross roll changes both, and its push comes off an edge. A crossover pushes off the side of the blade.

What that costs is a moment of commitment. There is a point in every cross roll where the old edge has been left and the new one has not yet taken, and the body is travelling on trust. Skaters shorten the step to avoid it, which is visible immediately: the curves go flat, the rhythm halves, and the exercise stops flowing even though every foot is in the right place.

The exercise then puts a crossover and a step wide in the same run, so the two ways of changing foot sit next to each other where a judge can compare them. Getting the cross roll to look different from the crossover is most of the mark.

Elements

Left forward outside cross rollLFO to RFO: a step onto the other foot, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
Right forward outside cross rollRFO to LFO: a step onto the other foot, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
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.
Right forward inside step wideRFI to LFI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling forwards, and the lobe reverses.
Left forward inside step wideLFI to RFI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling forwards, 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.