Artistic roller skating

Artistic roller skating

A competitor during Artistic Skating World Championship
Highest governing body	Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports
Nicknames	Roller skating
Characteristics
Team members	Individuals, duos, or groups
Mixed gender	Yes
Equipment	Roller skates

Artistic roller skating is a sport similar to figure skating but where competitors wear roller skates instead of ice skates. Within artistic roller skating, there are several disciplines:

Artistic roller skaters use either quad or inline skates, though quad skates are more traditional and significantly more common. Generally quad and inline skaters compete in separate events and not against each other. Inline figure skating has been included in the world championships since 2002 in Wuppertal, Germany.

The sport looks very similar to its counterpart on ice, and although there are some differences, many ice skaters started in roller skating or vice versa. Famous champion ice skaters who once competed in roller skating include Brian Boitano, Tara Lipinski, and Marina Kielmann. Roller figure skating is often considered to be more difficult because the ice allows the skater to draw a deep, solid edge to push off from when performing jumps such as a lutz or an axel. Also, roller skates are generally heavier than their ice equivalents, making jumping harder; and do not leave behind tracings.

In the figures discipline, skaters trace figure circles painted on the skating surface. This is different from skaters of compulsory figures on ice, who skate on blank ice, and draw their own circles on the ice as they skate. The official dimension of plain figure circles, measured at their diameter along the long axis, is 6 meters (19 feet, 8¼ inches). The official dimension of the smaller loop figure circles measured similarly is 2.4 meters (7 feet, 10½ inches). Circles are typically painted in "serpentines"—sets of three circular lobes.

The basic figures skated are typically referred to by numbers, the same as those skated by ice skaters, ranging from simple circle eights through serpentines (figures using one push for a circle and a half), paragraphs (figures using one push for two circles), and loops (smaller circles with a teardrop-shaped loop skated at the top of the circle). There is one category of very simple figures (111 and 112) that are unique to roller skaters; these are serpentines that begin with a half circle skated on one foot, then change to the other foot, for the next circle, then change back to the other foot for another half circle. Some of the more basic figures are numbered 1, 2, 1B, 5A, 5B, 7A, 7B, 111A, 111B, 112A, and 112B, in which the letter B means you start on your left foot. These figures are often taught as beginning figures for those just starting. They include simple circle eights, circle eights with [three turns], and serpentines. The harder figures include counters, brackets, rockers, etc. and they are number 19, 21, 22, 26, etc.