Backflips were banned in competitive figure skating in 1977 and only became officially allowed again starting with the 2024–2025 season, after the International Skating Union (ISU) removed them from its list of illegal “somersault type jumps.”

When Were Backflips Allowed in Figure Skating?

The short timeline

  • 1976: American skater Terry Kubicka performs a backflip at the Innsbruck Winter Olympics; at that moment, it is still legal, though highly controversial.
  • 1977: The ISU bans backflips (and similar somersault jumps) in competition, calling them too dangerous and contrary to the rule that jumps must land on one foot.
  • 1977–2024: Backflips remain illegal in competition but are still performed in exhibitions and shows, becoming a kind of rebellious “signature move” for a few skaters like Surya Bonaly.
  • June 2024: At the ISU Congress in Las Vegas, delegates vote to remove somersault-type jumps, including backflips, from the restricted (illegal) list.
  • 2024–2025 season onward: Backflips are officially allowed again in figure skating competition, though they generally do not give extra points in scoring.

So if you’re wondering “when were backflips allowed in figure skating?” there are two key dates:

  • First allowed (briefly): 1976, when Kubicka did his Olympic backflip before the ban.
  • Allowed again: Starting in the 2024–2025 season, after the ISU lifted the long-standing ban.

Why they were banned so long

The ISU’s original rationale had two main points:

  • Safety concerns: Inversions and head-over-heels rotation on ice carry a high risk of serious injury if mistimed.
  • “One-foot landing” principle: Traditional figure-skating jumps are supposed to land on one blade; backflips typically land on two feet, clashing with that aesthetic and technical standard.

Despite this, the move became legendary because skaters still used it in shows and, occasionally, as a rule-breaking statement in competition (for example, Surya Bonaly’s famous one‑blade backflip at the 1998 Olympics, which still drew a deduction but entered skating lore).

The modern comeback

By the 2020s, attitudes had shifted:

  • Skaters were performing ever more difficult quadruple jumps, showing the sport had evolved athletically.
  • Some officials felt that banning somersault jumps no longer made sense, calling them “very spectacular” and arguing it was “not logical anymore” to keep them illegal.
  • The 2024 ISU Congress decision opened the door for skaters like Ilia Malinin to land the first fully legal backflip under the new rules in major events, turning a once-forbidden stunt into a headline moment again.

Forum-style takeaway and “latest news” angle

If you saw recent clips or forum discussions about a skater landing a “historic” backflip, those are almost certainly reacting to:

  • The ISU’s 2024 rule change making backflips legal again.
  • High-profile skaters adding backflips to programs in 2024–2025 as a showpiece element, even if it doesn’t boost base value much.

In other words: for nearly 50 years, the backflip was the ultimate “cool but illegal” move in figure skating—now it’s officially back, but used mostly as a spectacular crowd-pleaser rather than a points weapon.

TL;DR: Backflips were briefly legal and performed at the 1976 Olympics, banned in 1977, and then allowed again starting with the 2024–2025 season after the ISU removed somersault-type jumps from the illegal elements list.

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