The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Netherlands, in July 1892, making it one of the oldest international sport federations. The ISU was formed to establish standardized international rules and regulations for the skating disciplines it governs, and to organize international competitions in these disciplines. It is now based in Switzerland. As of April 2022, the ISU has 102 members from 80 nations. It is affiliated with the IOC. Jae Youl Kim serves as the president of the ISU.

History

The International Skating Union (ISU) was founded in 1892 in the Dutch seaside town of Scheveningen. The meeting was attended by 15 men, as the national association representatives from the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany/Austria, and two clubs from Stockholm (Sweden) and Budapest (Hungary). The ISU was the first international winter sports federation to govern speed skating and figure skating, as it laid down the rules for speed skating, shortly followed by figure skating. In 1895, the organization streamlined its mission to deal only with amateur competitors, not professionals, and hosted its first amateur skating championship in February 1896 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The United States and Canada formed a competing organization, the International Skating Union of America (ISUA), in 1907. Over the next two years, 12 European nations had joined the ISU, while the ISUA had only its original two members. The ISUA folded in 1927.

European and North American figure skaters rarely competed against each other because of differences in their styles of skating. The ISU had "systematized and arranged" the sport of figure skating, with competitions including "a selection of ten or twelve numbers from the ISU programme, ... five minutes' free skating to music, ... [and] special figures" on one foot. According to figure skating historian James R. Hines, the ISU was formed due to the necessity of establishing a schedule of compulsory figures and to adopt the international style of figure skating used outside of North America and Great Britain. In 1911, Canada joined the ISU, leaving the United States as the only major competitor to not be a member. This changed in 1923, when the United States Figure Skating Association joined the ISU and in 1926, the Japanese sport governing body followed to acquire ISU membership.

The first ISU competitions to emerge were the World and European Speed Skating and Figure Skating Championships. Both disciplines were included in the official program of the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924. The discipline of ice dancing was introduced at the Innsbruck Games in 1976. After 1945, the ISU slowly continued to grow with accession of members from other countries in Europe, Oceania, and (Southern) Africa.

The ISU celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1967, when they published 75 Years of European and World Championships. The organization was unable to celebrate its 25th and 50th anniversaries in 1917 and 1942 due to the two world wars. In 1991, the ISU celebrated its 100th anniversary.

In 1967, the ISU adopted short track speed skating. The first official ISU World Championships in speed skating took place in 1981. Short track speed skating became part of the official Olympic program in 1992. The earliest speed skating competitions hosted by the ISU, between 1976 and 1980, were held under different names but have retrospectively received World Championship status. The discipline was known as "indoor speed skating" at first, until being renamed "short track speed skating" when indoor rinks for the longer speed skating events were introduced.

By 1988, 38 nations had joined the ISU. Over the next few years, the organization abandoned one of its long-held practices, eliminating the use of mandatory figures in the singles' figure skating competitions and reducing their use in ice dancing. During the 1970s and 1980s, several Asian countries joined the ISU, followed in the early 1990s by many new countries emerging from the breakup of the USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. In 1994, synchronized skating was formally recognized as a separate discipline, and the first ISU World Championships were held in 2000 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

After the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, the ISU implemented changes to many of its events. The ISU approved the use of video replay, when available, to review referee decisions. The rules for judging figure skating were also overhauled as a direct result of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal. According to Ottavio Cinquanta, former president of the ISU, "'Something was wrong there,' ... 'Not just the individual but also the system. It existed for 70 years. Now we are trying to replace one system with another.'" A new judging system for figure skating took effect in 2005, replacing the 6.0 system of "perfect" scores and instead giving points for various technical elements.

Since the 2000s, the ISU has experienced a new wave of expansion, with several countries in Asia and Latin America joining the organization. In 2019, skating federations from Chile, Peru, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam acquired membership to the ISU.

ISU Members

Regions List of 80 Countries (102 Associations, Some nations have 2 organization member) in 5 Zones (Updated at 7 May 2025):

Four Continents (4C) (non-European countries): 35 Members European Countries: 45 Members

Number Region Countries Four Continents (4C)1 Africa 32 Asia 213 Oceania 24 Americas 9European5 Europe 45Total World 80

Year of Membership

Africa: - 2022 - 1938/1938 - 2011 Asia: - 1956/1956 - 1983 - 2013 - 2003 - 1926 - 1992 - 2022 - 2014 - 1948 - 2009 - 1960 - 2004 - 1957 - 2014 - 2008 - 1988 - 2019 - 1983 - 2013 - 1992 - 2019 Oceania: - 1932/1957 - 1964/1983 Americas: - 2004/2006 - 2002 - 1894/1947 - 2019 - 2015 - 2021 - 1987 - 2019 - 1923/1965

Europe: - 1995 - 1994 - 1995 - 1993 - 1979/1979 - 1994 - 1992 - 1967 - 1992 - 1995 - 1923/1991 - 1913 - 1956 - 1928 - 1908/1960 - 1908 - 1892 - 1992 - 1950/1950 - 2015 - 1908 - 2008 - 2000 - 1992 - 1927 - 1926 - 2014 - 1980/1980 - 1971/1996 - 2014 - 2017 - 2003 - 1892 - 1894 - 1925/1987 - 2021 - 1933 - 1896 - 1992 - 2006 - 1896/1911 - 1993/1998 - 1892/1905/1946 - 1990 - 1992/1992

ISU Championships

In addition to sanctioning other international competitions, the ISU designates the following competitions each year as "ISU Championships": Long track speed skating World Allround Speed Skating Championships (1893–) World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships (1996–, held only in non-Olympic years, except for in 1998) World Sprint Speed Skating Championships (1972–) World Junior Speed Skating Championships (1974–) European Speed Skating Championships (1893–) Asian Speed Skating Championships (1999–2014) North American and Oceania Speed Skating Championships (1999–2014) Wereldkampioenschap schaatsen allround kwalificatie (Noord-Amerika & Oceanië) Four Continents Speed Skating Championships (2020–) Figure skating World Figure Skating Championships (1896–) World Junior Figure Skating Championships (1976–) European Figure Skating Championships (1891–) Asian Figure Skating Championships (1912–1998) North American and Oceania Figure Skating Championships (1912–1998) Four Continents Figure Skating Championships (1999–)

Short track speed skating World Short Track Speed Skating Championships (1976–) World Short Track Speed Skating Team Championships (1991–2011) World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships (1994–) European Short Track Speed Skating Championships (1997–) Asian Distance Speed Skating Championships (1994-2015) Asian Short Track Speed Skating Championships (2007-2014) ? Asian Short Track Speed Skating Trophy (2019-) ? Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating Championships (2020–) Synchronized skating World Synchronized Skating Championships (2000–) World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships (2013–)

Veteran World Veterans Figure Skating Championships World Veterans Speed Skating Championships World Veterans Short Track Speed Skating Championships

Olympic

The events such as the Olympic Winter Games and the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating are not ISU Championships. However, they do count towards Personal Best scores.

ISU Cups and Grand Prixs ISU Speed Skating World Cup - 1985 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup - 1998–2024 ISU Short Track World Tour - 2025 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating - 1995 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating - 1997

First world championships

Dates and locations of first world championships in various disciplines held under the auspices of the ISU: 1893: Speed skating (men only), Amsterdam 1896: Figure skating (men only), St. Petersburg 1906: Figure skating (ladies), Davos 1908: Figure skating (pairs), St. Petersburg 1936: Speed skating (women), Stockholm 1952: Figure skating (ice dance), Paris 1970: Sprint speed skating, West Allis, Wisconsin 1978: Short track speed skating, Solihull, UK 2000: Synchronized skating, Minneapolis

Medals (Figure Skating) Source:

Overall Medals (Stage 1 + Stage 2) Medals awarded to the skaters who achieved the highest overall placements in each discipline.

Small Medals The short program, along with the free skating program, is a segment of single skating, pair skating, and synchronized skating in international competitions and events for both junior and senior-level skaters.S&P/ID 2022, p. 9SS Rules 2022, p. 6 It has been previously called the "original" or "technical" program.Kestnbaum, p. 12 The short program was added to single skating in 1973, which created a three-part competition until compulsory figures were eliminated in 1990. The short program for pair skating was introduced at the 1963 European Championships, the 1964 World Championships, and the Olympics in 1968; previously, pair skaters only had to perform the free skating program in competitions. Synchronized skating has always had two competition segments, the short program and free skating.

Small Medals awarded only at ISU Championships since probably 2009:

Stage 1 = Small medals awarded to the skaters who achieved the highest short program or rhythm dance placements in each discipline.

Stage 2 = Small medals awarded to the skaters who achieved the highest free skating or free dance placements in each discipline.

Small Medals awarded only at ISU Championships:

World Figure Skating Championships World Junior Figure Skating Championships European Figure Skating Championships Four Continents Figure Skating Championships

Small Medals not awarded in:

Figure skating at the Olympic Games ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating or any other international competitions

Cooperation with other sports The ISU has an agreement with the Federation of International Bandy to use the same arenas. The cooperation between the two federations is increasing, since both have an interest in more indoor venues with large ice surfaces being built.

Organization

The ISU is an international sport federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the body globally administering figure skating and speed skating sports with the following disciplines: Speed skating, Single & Pair skating, Ice dance, Short track speed skating, and Synchronized skating. Whereas the individual national associations administer these sports at the national level, all international matters are under the sole jurisdiction and control of the ISU. The ISU has been headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, since 1947. Also in 1947, English was adopted as the ISU's official language.