Four skating is afigure skating andartistic roller skating discipline that has been primarily competed in Canada and to a lesser extent in the United States. Fours teams consist of two women and two men. The discipline is similar topair skating, with elements including overhead lifts,twist lifts,death spirals, and throw jumps, as well as the elements of single skating in unison, pairs elements in unison and unique elements that involve all four skaters.

Four skating began in Canada in about 1908 and began to be contested in theCanadian Figure Skating Championships in 1914.^[1] In its earliest years, it consisted of skaters performingcompulsory figures in unison before evolving intofree skating performances of four skaters.^[2] As insynchronized skating, unison between skaters remained important, and skaters were encouraged to do elements both in pairs and synchronized as a group as well as changing partners throughout the program.^[3]

The first figure skating competition between Canadian and American teams took place in 1913. It was also held at theNorth American Figure Skating Championships in 1923 and then again from 1933 through 1941. A fours competition was also held at the1924 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.^[1]

Four events were held annually at the Canadian Championships through 1942 and sporadically thereafter until 1984, when it was held annually again until 1997, after which it was discontinued. They were held at the US Championships for several years afterWorld War II. Fours was also included atSkate Canada International in 1989 and 1990; both years featured one American and two Canadian teams, and a West German team also competed in 1990.^[1] Sporadic events were also held in Germany and the Soviet Union.^[4] During this revival period, groups created new movements such as having one man perform a lift with one of the women and then pass her on to the other man or death spirals with the two women on different edges.^[2]

Over the years, the Four skating competitions were attended at national level by world-class skaters such as the AmericansTheresa Weld andHayes Alan Jenkins,^[2] and the CanadiansConstance Wilson-Samuel,Montgomery Wilson^[1] andIsabelle Brasseur andLloyd Eisler.

• Figure skating disciplines

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