Figure Skating Lifts - Pair Lifts

Pair Lifts

Unlike dance lifts, pair lifts are typically over the man's head. Most pair lifts are rotational, with the man turning on the ice before setting the lady down; a carry lift, by contrast, is a lift without rotation. A lift's score may be affected by

• Type of entry – May raise difficulty by entry in spread eagle, arabesque or other position.
• Type of lift – See below.
• Speed and ice coverage – Speed and distance traveled across the ice by the man as he carries his partner.
• Quality of the lady's position – Posture, stretch, extension.
• Changes of position – May raise difficulty by changes of position during the lift or switching to one-hand hold
• Man's footwork – Clean turns and stability throughout the lift
• Dismount – Both partners on one foot as they exit the lift. May raise difficulty by one-hand dismount, a flip out, or other.
• Other features – e.g. stopping the rotation, turning a carry lift into rotational one, or reversing rotation (i.e. both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions)

Lifts are grouped by the holds involved. The ISU defines five different groups of pair lifts, with an ascending difficulty level, although levels 3 and 4 are the same level of difficulty. In ISU senior level competition, the man must rotate more than one times, but fewer than three a half. Lifts that go on longer may receive deductions. The group is determined by the hold held at the moment the woman passes the man's shoulder in the lift.

Lifts are named by either their takeoff and landing edges (in which case, they are named after the jump with the same sort of takeoff), the air position, or the method in which the lady is raised into the air.