How to Bet on Figure Skating: Features and Effective Strategies

Figure skating is an ice sport requiring complex coordination from athletes. Betting on figure skating can be profitable over the long haul if you understand the intricacies and nuances of the discipline.

The essence of the sport involves skaters moving on ice to music, changing their sliding direction, and performing acrobatic elements - steps, spirals, spins, jumps, twists, throws, and death spirals.

The main types of figure skating are men's, women's, pairs, synchronised, and ice dancing. Competitions occur in two stages - the short program and the free skate. The tournament's outcome depends on the total points scored in both programs.

Significant events in the discipline are predominantly organised in the winter under the auspices of the International Skating Union:

• World Championship - a prestigious competition held annually in March. The leading contenders for the World Championship medals are Americans, Japanese, Koreans, Russians, Canadians, and French.
• European Championship - an annual tournament in January. Italians, French, and Russians are strong in men's skating and ice dancing. 
• Four Continents Championship - an annual non-European competition where athletes from America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania participate. The tournament is usually organised in February.

In recent years, skaters from South Korea, Japan, the USA, Canada, and China have shown the best results at the Four Continents Championships. Since 1924, the discipline has been included in the Winter Olympics program. The Russian team won the medal tally at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Russia has nurtured many talented figure skaters who have brought fame worldwide to the Russian figure skating school. For instance, Russian Anna Shcherbakova took first place in the ISU world ranking by a large margin at the end of the 2021/22 season.

The athlete's achievements include:

• "Gold" at the 2021 World Team Championship.
• 2 "Silvers" at the 2020 and 2022 European Championships.
• 3 "Golds" at the 2019, 2020, and 2021 Russian Championships.

Betting on figure skating is only available at some bookmakers. The list of competitions in the discipline includes offers only on the main results.

Winner Bet

The bookmaker offers to guess who will win the tournament. Theoretically, up to 8-10 athletes or pairs have chances to win, but no more than 2-3 participants are considered the leading contenders for the gold medal. In most competitions, one of the main favourites wins, and upsets happen exceptionally rarely.

Winner of Individual Program

The player predicts who will be the best at the end of the short program or the free skate. The likelihood of an unexpected result is higher, especially in the short program.

Medal Podium Finish

The player predicts which participants will make it into the top three. Less often, you can bet at the bookmaker's office on athletes or pairs getting into the TOP-5 or TOP-10. It's easy to place a winning bet on getting into a specific top if the player knows the chosen participant's abilities and potential well.

Total Points Betting

The betting company offers to place a bet on the number of points a participant will score, either more or less than a specific value. Unlike other types of bets, the outcome of a total points bet does not depend on the position of the skater, female skater, or pair in the overall standings.

Who Finishes Higher

The fan predicts the positions of the competition participants in the tournament table at the end of a separate program or the entire competition. It is possible to place a winning bet on the best athlete out of two if you study the technique and performance statistics of the participants in advance.

Figure skating is a predictable discipline for players who study the characteristics of skaters' performances. Sports enthusiasts analyse the level, current form, achievements, and results of working with a coach.

Great attention should be paid to athletes' psychological state and possible injuries. You can glean information about their personal lives, goals, and tasks from numerous interviews and social media posts of skaters. For example, life difficulties or injuries often negatively affect performance results.

When analysing, it is necessary to consider the work of the athletes' coaches - the duration of cooperation with the mentor, the style of skating, and the results in recent tournaments. In pair skating, the relationship within the pair plays an important role. Any conflicts and misunderstandings often negatively affect the results.

Additional analysis factors are the tournament's host country and the judges. In-home competitions, skaters usually show the best results.

When placing bets on figure skating, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the sport:

• The limited duration of the season makes it difficult to assess the current form of participants objectively.
• Lower predictability of bets on newly formed young pairs and skaters with new coaches.
• Frequent deterioration of young athletes results as they grow older, for example, due to a shift in the centre of gravity.
• Significant influence of even minor injuries and athletes' psychological state on performance results.
• Low frequency of sensations, a win by an unknown athlete in a competition is rare.

In figure skating, there can be cases of biased judging towards athletes - due to the subjective assessment of the beauty and spectacle of the performance or specific preferences of the jury.

For example, a panel of Western European judges in favour of their compatriots may lower the scores of a skater from Eastern Europe.

Possible Betting Outcomes in Figure Skating

In figure skating, you can place bets on any outcome. It's worth considering the lower predictability of the short program, where a strong mid-level skater can perform a perfect skate while a favourite might fall several times.

Betting Line and Event Outcomes in Figure Skating

Bets on the discipline are not available daily. You can bet on figure skating during significant tournaments, for example, World and European Championships, Grand Prix, and Winter Olympics.

The list of tournaments in figure skating includes offers on winners, results of individual programs, medal standings, total points, and who will rank higher.

There are no specific betting strategies for figure skating. Experienced players only place bets with prior detailed analysis.

Pros

• Figure skating is a beautiful and spectacular sport.
• The predictability of results.
• Interesting sports analysis.

Cons

• Seasonality - tournaments are held in the winter.
• Only available at some bookmakers.
• The sparse listing even for important competitions.

Figure skating is a complex sport for betting, requiring extensive analysis of the participants' form, results, and achievements. Players must consider the peculiarities of coaches' work, relationships within pairs, the psychology and motivation of skaters, the age of athletes, home ice factors, and judges' evaluations.