Backward swizzle

The same two mirrored curves, pressed out and drawn back while travelling backwards.

Also called backward lemon or backward sculling. Other names.

Not checked yet. The mechanics 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.

Both blades stay on the ice and you travel backwards: toes together, press the heels apart, then draw them back together, the forward swizzle’s lemon shape drawn the other way along. Learn to Skate USA asks for six to eight in a row at its second level, after backward wiggles at its first, and Ice Skating Australia asks for the same count. New Zealand calls it backward two-foot sculling.

The fault the Australian manual names is the skater slowing down and pressing the toe picks into the ice. Its answer is knee bend and posture: bend the knees and stay upright over the skates, so that the push comes from the blades and not the picks. Wiggles come first in all three programmes, a zigzag backwards on both feet with the upper body twisting while the head and arms stay still.

Build on

• SwizzleThe same in-and-out movement on both feet, travelling backwards. Learn to Skate USA teaches it one level later.
• Backward wigglesAll three programmes teach wiggles first. The swizzle swaps the twist for the heels pressing out and drawing back in.

Leads to

2 elements in the guide are built on this one.

• Backward half-swizzle pumpsHalf a backward swizzle, made by one foot while the other glides round a circle.
• Backward strokingIce Skating Australia teaches backward swizzles, then backward half swizzles, then backward stroking, and rules out the toe pick in all three.

Appears in