Death spiral (figure skating)

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Death spiral is an element of pair skating performed with the man in a pivot position, one toe anchored in the ice. Holding his hand, the woman circles her partner on a deep edge with her body almost parallel to the ice.

This is a common but dangerous move for many pairs skaters. Unassisted Death Spirals can be performed by singles skaters.

Death spirals can be performed in all four variants of inside/outside and forward/backward edges. The outside edge death spirals are considered more difficult than the inside edge variants, with the forward outside death spiral the most difficult of all.

The backward outside death spiral was invented in the early 1900's by Charlotte Oelschlagel, although it was first performed with the skaters holding both hands and the lady not fully lowered towards the ice. The current one-handed version was developed in the 1940's by the Canadian pair Suzanne Morrow and Wallace Diestelmeyer. The other death spiral variants were invented by Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov in the 1960's.