Nathan Chen, an Olympic gold medalist, will be joining the Stars on Ice tour with most of the US Olympic team. The tour will start on 1st May at the UBS Arena at Belmont Park. Fans in attendance will surely be looking forward to Chen’s famous airborne acrobatics at the shows.

“Backflips are certainly not OK in competition, but we’re allowed to do a little bit more fun moves in shows. Backflips are easier than quads,” says Chen.

While certainly much easier than putting four rotations in a jump, backflips on the ice hold a degree of difficulty. A rotation of a full 360 degrees along your parallel axis mid-air is not quite as easy to do wearing ice skates as it might be standing on solid ground. When skaters are suspended upside down during the jump, their legs form a split before they land again on their feet.

An illegal move in competition

According to the ISU Judging System (IJS), jumps that involve your legs going over your head are banned. It is a common misconception that the move was banned following French figure skater Surya Bonaly’s backflip at the 1998 Olympics. The truth is that backflip had been banned in the rulebook much earlier.

The first and last skater who could perform the backflip legally in the Olympic competition was Terry Kubicka. Kubicka included the move in his free skate at the 1976 world championships and the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck. Shortly after, the move was banned.

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In the ice dance discipline, the list of illegal moves is a tad bit longer. These include sitting on a partner’s head, standing on a partner’s shoulders, and the headbanger. The headbanger involves a skater being picked up by the ankle and spun around by their partner.

Nathan Chen and his affinity for backflips

Chen has racked up several skating titles. With every medal comes a spot to perform at the exhibition gala. Now galas are not governed by the rules of competition. Nathan Chen is famous for easily pulling off a backflip or two in his gala programs. The same goes for ice shows where skaters are allowed to have a little fun with the moves they perform on the ice.

Following the tour’s stop at the Elmont venue, the group will head to 14 more cities, including Chen’s hometown of Salt Lake City on May 18, before wrapping the run on May 29 in Portland, Oregon. Surely fans will be able to see the skaters put up fun performances throughout the tour.

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