The boot

A figure boot holds the ankle upright over a narrow blade and still lets the knee and shin bend forward. Most of what matters about one is how well it does both for you.

Fit

The heel should sit firmly at the back of the boot and stay there when you bend your knee and rise again. The toes should be able to move, but the foot should not slide forward. Skating boots are often sized differently from street shoes, so a fitting at a skate shop is worth more than the number on your trainers. A boot that is too big is the usual mistake, made so that a growing skater can grow into it, and it costs balance long before it fits.

Stiffness

Boots come in a range of stiffness, matched to the skater's weight and to what they skate. A boot that is too soft for the skater folds at the ankle and lets the edges go. One that is too stiff is the opposite problem and just as common: the shin cannot lean forward far enough, so the knee cannot bend, and every element that lives on a bent knee suffers. The figures in this guide assume a boot that lets the shin lean about 28 degrees forward, and a skater in a boot that allows much less cannot make the shapes they show.

A stiffer boot is not a better boot. It is the right boot once the skater's jumps and weight need it, and a coach or a fitter can say when that is.

Breaking in and lacing

New boots are stiff and take some sessions to soften where the ankle bends. Some can be heat-moulded to the foot when they are fitted. Lace firmly across the foot and the ankle, so the heel stays down, and a little looser over the top hooks, so the shin can still lean forward. Laces pulled tight all the way to the top make even a soft boot too stiff.

The blade on the boot

Blades are bought separately on most boots beyond the first, and mounted by a technician. Where the blade sits under the boot, a few millimetres either way, changes how the skater balances over it, which is why the mounting is worth having done by someone who does it often. The blade page has the shape of the blade itself.