The history of figure skating stretches back to prehistoric times, when archaeological evidence of the activity has been found. Figure skating is one branch of ice skating, which has divided itself into several separate sports since its prehistoric beginnings, figure skating being one of them. Ice skating has been a popular sport for hundreds of years, figure skating has its roots in late-1700s Britain, where skaters performed “compulsory figures,” the practice of carving specific figures into the ice. Figure skating as we know it can be traced only to the 1860s, when an American skater and ballet dancer, Jackson Haines, set his routine to music, melding traditional ice skating with ballet steps,

Haines’ take on figure skating was not well received in the US, and he left the States to try his luck in Vienna, where his method – known as the “International Style” – took off, prompting a series of skating championships and leagues to be formed in the 1890s. At first, the only skaters who competed were men – a far cry from today’s skating field, which is brimming with talented girls and ladies. In 1902, the first woman to compete in the World Championship, Madge Syers, took home second place.

Modern figure skating is divided into four parts: single skating events for both sexes, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating.

The most important championships are the Olympic Games and the World, European and Four Continents Championships. The Grand Prix Series consists of 6 senior international events, including Skate Canada (first staged in 1973). Skaters earn points at 2 of the Grand Prix events to qualify for the Grand Prix Final. The North American Championships (last held in 1971) were also a top-ranked event. In the World Championships and Olympic Games, the number of entries is determined by results at the previous World Championships, with a maximum of 3 entries per nation for each event.

Figure skating received its name from the prescribed precision patterns, or figures, that were a required component of competitions until the early 1990s. The sport began to evolve after 1742, when the Edinburgh Skating Club was established. In the 1880s the centre of the activity became St Moritz, Switzerland, where skaters from Great Britain developed more figures and established a graduated system of figure tests. Meanwhile, free skating was being promoted by the "Viennese" school, a more theatrical approach that incorporated elements of dance with jumps and spins. Jackson Haines, an American ballet master, introduced music to the ice in the 1860s, producing the style that became free skating.

Organized ice dancing dates from the 1880s in Vienna, and the waltz was danced on ice in Halifax as early as 1885. The first official world championship in figure skating for men was held in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1896. Separate women's championships began in 1906, with pairs starting 2 years later. Ice dancing was added to the World Championships in 1952.

Some of the top figure skaters included Americans Richard Button (who was the first skater to complete both the double axel jump and a loop jump with three rotations), Hayes Alan Jenkins, David Jenkins, Tenley Albright, and Carol Heiss; and Canadians Barbara Ann Scott and Donald Jackson.

Modern figure skating is divided into four parts: single skating events for both sexes, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating.

Men's solo figure skating has been dominated by U.S., Canadian, and Russian skaters, including Brian Orser, Brian Boitano, Alexander Fadeev, Viktor Petrenko, Kurt Browning (World champion 1989-1991), Elvis Stojko, Alexei Yagudin, and Evgeni Plushenko.

Ladies' single skating has had a more internationally varied competitive field. East German figure skater Katarina Witt was considered the world's best female figure skater as she won the gold medal in the 1984 Winter Olympics and successfully defended it at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Some of the other great female figure skaters recently have included Michelle Kwan, Midori Ito, Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, Chen Lu, Maria Butyrskaya,Irina Slutskaya, Shizuka Arakawa, and Yu-Na Kim.

Pairs' figure skating, which emphasizes both partners and includes jumps where the female skater is thrown by her male partner, has been won almost exclusively by pairs from the Soviet Union, and later Russia. Recently, the most successful pair, that of Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, have won four European championships and two World championships, as well as the pair skating competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Canadian pair skaters: Frances Dafoe & Norris Bowden, World champions 1954 and 1955; Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul, World champions 1957-1960 and Olympic champions in 1960.