Forward spirals

A serpentine of closed mohawks and crossovers into a forward outside spiral on each foot, held for three seconds.

BIS Skills 3exercise 5In 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 this exercise is genuinely reworked. The toe-assisted step into the spiral becomes optional, its rotational direction becomes optional with it, and an alternative entry appears that reaches the same spiral through a forward inside edge with no hop at all. The announcement does not mention any of it.

The first element in the guide judged on the body; everything before it is judged on the blade. A spiral is a held edge with the free leg raised behind, and what is being assessed is the position and whether it is the same on both feet, which it almost never is, because one hip opens more easily than the other and three seconds is long enough for that to show.

Everything before the spiral exists to arrive at it with speed and in the right place. The closed mohawk turns the skater backwards, the crossover carries the lobe, and the whole thing runs as a serpentine so the exercise travels across the ice. A spiral entered slowly is a spiral held on a dying edge, and the position gets blamed for what the entry did.

Until 01/10/2026 the way in was a toe-assisted hop, which is the one requirement in the first three tests that asks the skater to leave the ice. Since then it is a choice, and the alternative reaches the same spiral off an inside edge with both blades staying down.

Elements

Left forward outside mohawkLFO to RBO: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
Right forward outside mohawkRFO to LBO: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
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.
SpiralA held glide with the free leg extended at or above hip height.
Right forward inside edgeRFI: the right foot travelling forwards on an inside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Left forward inside edgeLFI: the left foot travelling forwards on an inside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
Left forward outside edgeLFO: the left foot travelling forwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Right forward outside edgeRFO: the right foot travelling forwards on an outside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.

Not covered here

The toe-assisted hop into the spiral, which uses the toe pick to leave the ice. The guide has no element for it. From 01/10/2026 it is optional and there is a route to the same spiral without it.

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.