Figure skating lifts

Figure skating element
Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir perform an ice dance lift.
Element name	Lift
Scoring abbreviation	Li
Disciplines	Pair skating Ice dance

Figure skating lifts are required elements in two disciplines of figure skating: pair skating and ice dance. There are five groups of lifts in pair skating, categorized in order of increasing level of difficulty. Judges look for the following when evaluating pair lifts: speed of entry and exit; control of the woman's free leg when she is exiting out of the lift, with the goal of keeping the leg high and sweeping; the position of the woman in the air; the man's footwork; quick and easy changes of position; and the maintenance of flow throughout the lift. Twist lifts are "the most thrilling and exciting component in pair skating".^[1] They can also be the most difficult movement to perform correctly. They require more strength and coordination than many other pair elements, and are usually the first or second element in a program. According to the International Skating Union (ISU), "the Woman must be caught in the air at the waist by the Man prior to landing and be assisted to a smooth landing on the ice on a backward outside edge on one foot"^[2] during a twist lift. A pair lift and twist lift is required in the short program of pair skating; a well-balanced free skating program in pair skating must include lifts.

The ISU defines dance lifts as "a movement in which one of the partners is elevated with active and/or passive assistance of the other partner to any permitted height, sustained there and set down on the ice".^[3] Dance lifts are delineated from pair lifts to ensure that ice dance and pair skating remain separate disciplines. After the judging system changed from the 6.0 system to the ISU Judging System (IJS), dance lifts became more "athletic, dramatic and exciting".^[4] There are two types of dance lifts: short lifts, which should be done in under seven seconds; and combination lifts, which should be done in under 12 seconds. A well-balanced free dance program in ice dance must include dance lifts.

There are five groups of pair lifts, determined by the hold at the moment the woman passes the man's shoulder. The man's lifting arm or arms are required for Groups 3—5.^[5]

• Group One: Armpit hold position
• Group Two: Waist hold position
• Group Three: Hand to hip or upper part of the leg, including the buttocks, (above the knee) position
• Group Four: Hand to hand position (Press Lift type)
• Group Five: Hand to hand position (Lasso Lift type)^[6][7]

There are three types of positions performed by the woman: upright, or when her upper body is vertical; the star, or when she faces sideways with her upper body parallel to the ice; and the platter, or when her position is flat and facing up or down with her upper body parallel to the ice.^[8] Pair skaters experience the most injuries of all figure skating disciplines.^[9]

Carry lifts are defined as "the simple carrying of a partner without rotation"^[10] and do not count as overhead lifts; instead, they are considered as transition elements. They occur when the man makes at least one continuous revolution, although only the first carry counts towards their score.^[10]

• 
  Canadians Evelyn Walsh and Trent Michaud perform a pair lift at 2018 Skate Canada.
• 
  Sofiia Nesterova and Artem Darensky from Ukraine at the 2020 European Championships.
• 
  French skaters Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur at the 2010 Winter Olympics
• 
  Americans Rena Inoue and John Baldwin Jr., 2004 Four Continents Championships
• 
  Chinese skaters Pang Qing and Tong Jian, 2007 Skate America
• 
  Canadians Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay, 2006 Skate America
• 
  Germans Eva-Maria Fitze and Rico Rex, 2006 German Figure Skating Championships
• 
  Miu Suzaki and Ryuichi Kihara from Japan at 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki.

Skate Canada calls twist lifts "sometimes the most thrilling and exciting component in pair skating".^[1] They can also be most difficult movement to perform correctly.^[1] Twist lifts require more strength and coordination than many other pair elements, and are usually the first or second element in a program.^[11] According to the ISU, the "Woman must be caught in the air at the waist by the Man prior to landing and be assisted to a smooth landing on the ice on a backward outside edge on one foot"^[8] during a twist lift. Pair teams begin a twist lift after "barreling down the ice backward";^[11] the man then places both hands on his partner's waist, and she places both hands on his wrists.^[12] She begins the takeoff by jamming her toe pick into the ice, which launches her into the air. He attempts to get underneath the momentum of her jump, boosting her beyond where she would be able to reach on her own, without his assistance.^[11]

In their short programs, both senior and junior pair teams can perform two or three rotations in the air, but the woman can only perform either a flip or Lutz during her take-off.^[13] In the free skate, there are no limits on the amount of revolutions pair teams can perform, and the woman's take-off can include the Lutz, flip, toe loop, or Axel.^[14] (The toe loop and Axel are less common.)^[12] The woman completes the twist at the top of the twist lift by pulling her arms close to her body, crossing her legs together, and rotating freely in the air, high above her partner's head. During her rotations, he turns half a turn to catch her at the waist as she lands on the ice on the backward outside edge of one foot.^[11][12]

Judges look for the following when evaluating twist lifts: the speed at entry and exit; whether or not the woman performs a split position while on her way to the top of the twist lift; her height once she gets there; clean rotations; a clean catch by the man (accomplished by placing both hands at the woman's waist and without any part of her upper body touching him); and a one-foot exit executed by both partners. Pair teams can earn more points if the woman executes a split position (each leg is at least 45° from her body axis and her legs are straight or almost straight) before rotating. They also earn more points when the man's arms are sideways and straight or almost straight after he releases the woman. They lose points for not having enough rotations, one-half a rotation or more.^[1][15] According to former pair skater Archie Tse, stronger teams emphasize the delay between the man throwing the woman up in the air and reaching up to catch her by putting his hands down by his sides while she is in flight.^[11]

The first quadruple twist lift performed in international competition was by Russian pair team Marina Cherkasova and Sergei Shakhrai at the 1977 European Championships.^[16]

• 
  Valentina Plazas & Maximiliano Fernandez of the United States at the 2024 World Championships
• 
  Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China at the 2019 Cup of China
• 
  Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise of Italy at the 2019 Cup of China
• 
  Alina Ustimkina and Nikita Volodin of Russia at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics
• 
  Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii of Italy at the 2024 World Championships
• 
  Animated GIF (click picture to see) of North Korean pair skaters Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik performing a twist lift, 2018
• Video of Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby performing a triple twist lift

The ISU defines dance lifts as "a movement in which one of the partners is elevated with active and/or passive assistance of the other partner to any permitted height, sustained there and set down on the ice".^[17] Dance lifts are delineated from pair lifts to ensure that ice dance and pair skating remain separate disciplines.^[18]

After the judging system changed from the 6.0 system to the ISU Judging System (IJS), dance lifts became more "athletic, dramatic and exciting".^[4] American ice dancer Charlie White states that lifts have become "increasingly difficult",^[19] requiring teams to, like pair skaters, work with acrobats to develop their lifts. They have also become more acrobatic, despite the fact that they do not get as high as pair skating lifts because ice dance lifts cannot be supported over the man's shoulder.^[20] Dance lifts have also become more dangerous, resulting in more falls and injuries.^[4]

There are two types of dance lifts: short lifts, which should be done in under seven seconds; and combination lifts, which should be done in under 12 seconds. There are four types of short lifts: the stationary lift, the straight-line lift, the Curve lift, and the Rotational lift. There are three types of combination lifts: two Rotational lifts in different directions, two Curve lifts performed in a serpentine pattern, and different two types of short lifts performed together.^[17][21]

Since dance lifts cannot be as high as pair lifts, a common dance lift is the standing lift, which occurs when the woman stands on her male partner. Injuries and falls occur, especially during training, but they tend to be minor because skating blades are thick, 0.15 inches to 0.25 inches in width, so the woman's weight, which should be balanced in the center of her blade, is distributed over a larger area of her partner's body. Ice dance teams practice lifts off the ice at first, and then women use blade guards and men wear foam guards under their clothing when they move to working on lifts on the ice. Eventually, the man's body adapts; he develops tolerance and calluses on his thighs and other body parts. Since ice dance lifts are shorter than pair lifts, the actual time the woman stands on the man tends to be about three seconds. Standing lifts are also easier than the more complex, acrobatic ice dance lifts.^[22]

• 
  Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
• 
  Canadians Kharis Ralph and Asher Hill, 2010 Canadian Championships
• 
  Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev of Russia performing a curve lift
• 
  Americans Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, 2010 Winter Olympics
• 
  French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron performing a curve lift at the 2018 European Championships

• Hines, James R. (2006). Figure Skating: A History. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07286-4.
• Vescovi, Jason D.; VanHeest, Jaci L., eds. (2018). The science of figure skating. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-22986-0.
• "The 2022-23 Official U.S. Figure Skating Rulebook". (Rulebook) Colorado Springs, Colorado: U.S Figure Skating. July 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
• "Special Regulations & Technical Rules Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance 2022". International Skating Union. 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022 (S&P/ID 2022)
• "Special Regulations & Technical Rules Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance 2024". Lausanne, Switzerland: International Skating Union. Retrieved 27 July 2025 (S&P/ID 2024).
• "Technical Panel Handbook: Pair Skating 2022–2023" (PDF). (Tech Panel) International Skating Union. 15 July 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.

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