Special figures

Tracing of elaborate patterns on the ice was a characteristic of the American and British schools of figure skating.

By the early 20th century, this had been largely displaced by the "International Style" of free skating which utilized the entire ice surface and featured more athletic movements set to music.

According to figure skating historian and writer Ellyn Kestnbaum, the body movements required to execute the design were unpleasant to watch, jerky, and did not use the flow of the blade across the ice, but the pattern Langer traced across the ice was aesthetically pleasing and demonstrated a great deal of skill and control.

Nikolai Panin held a gold medal in this special figures skating and was unbeaten through 1952 when the Olympic Committee removed the event due to the fact this was considered too difficult to perform.

One challenger of Nikolai Panin saw the complex geometric pattern he had performed and instead of trying to recreate it he forfeited.