why was the backflip illegal in figure skating

February 15, 2026

Backflips were made illegal in figure skating because officials saw them as too dangerous and not in line with the sport’s basic jump rules, especially the rule that jumps should land on one foot.

Quick Scoop: Why the Backflip Was Illegal

The backflip was first done at the Olympics by Terry Kubicka in 1976, and it caused a huge stir.

In 1977, the International Skating Union (ISU) officially banned it from competition.

For decades, doing one in a program meant getting penalized, even if you landed it perfectly.

Core Reasons for the Ban

1. Safety Concerns

The biggest reason was safety.

In a backflip, a skater’s head comes very close to the ice during the somersault, so a mistake can mean head or neck injuries.

Skaters don’t wear helmets or padding in competition, so any bad fall on a backflip can be catastrophic, including paralysis in worst‑case practice accidents.

Because it’s a high‑risk, non‑essential move, regulators decided the danger outweighed the reward.

2. “One‑Foot Landing” Principle

Figure skating has a long‑standing idea that competitive jumps should land on one foot, with control and edge quality.

Traditional jumps (axel, lutz, flip, etc.) are all designed around a clean one‑foot landing.
The classic backflip usually lands on two feet, which judges saw as breaking that principle and not fitting the technical jump structure.

Even when skaters like Surya Bonaly did a stylish one‑foot landing backflip in 1998, the move still counted as an illegal element by rule.

3. Too “Showy” for Competition

There was also a philosophical side: what counts as “real” figure skating.

Officials sometimes viewed the backflip as a circus or exhibition trick, more like a show stunt than a classical skating element.

Because it didn’t have a defined base value, rotation standard, or edge requirement like other jumps, it didn’t fit well into the scoring system.

The fear was that programs would turn into acrobatic stunt shows instead of focusing on edge quality, transitions, and classic technique.

How the Rule Worked in Practice

For decades, the ISU listed the backflip as an “illegal element/movement” on judges’ sheets.

If a skater did it in competition, they could:
- Lose points,
- Get deductions,
- Or have the move simply not counted in their score.

Skaters still performed backflips in exhibitions and ice shows, where rules are looser and the focus is entertainment.

Recent Context and “Latest News”

In the last few years, there’s been renewed debate and change around the backflip.

The move stayed banned in competition for almost 50 years, but ongoing discussions, social media clips, and evolving athlete ability pushed the topic back into the spotlight.

The ISU has recently relaxed its stance, allowing backflips in certain choreographic or non‑scoring contexts, while still treating them carefully from a safety and scoring standpoint.

Even with that softening, the original reasons—risk of serious injury and conflict with core jump principles—are still the historical “why” behind the long ban.

Forum/Discussion Angle

If you read forum and fan discussions, you’ll see a few common viewpoints:

Some fans argue modern skaters who can do quadruple jumps should be trusted with backflips.
Others say the risk–reward is still off, especially since the move often doesn’t earn extra points.
Many point to Surya Bonaly’s iconic 1998 Olympic backflip as proof it’s both technically impressive and artistically powerful, even if the rules at the time penalized her for it.

“If we let people try quad axels, why not a single backflip?” is a recurring sentiment in recent online debates.

TL;DR

The backflip became illegal in figure skating because it was judged too dangerous without protective gear, conflicted with the tradition of controlled one‑foot landings, and was seen as a show stunt that didn’t fit the formal scoring system.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.