Discover The History Of Figure Skating!

Learn all about the fascinating world of figure skating history with Skate Guard Blog. Explore a treasure trove of articles on the history of figure skating, highlighting Olympic Medallists, World and National Champions and dazzling competitions, shows and tours. Written by former skater and judge Ryan Stevens, Skate Guard Blog also offers intriguing insights into the evolution of the sport over the decades. Delve into Stevens' five books for even more riveting stories and information about the history of everyone's favourite winter Olympic sport.

Coming In 2023!

Some exciting news to share with all of you! While I will continue to be sharing new blogs on Skate Guard each week, my main focus this year is the development of a fourth book, which will be released in late 2023. It will be an in-depth biography of Jackson Haines. 

As many of you know, much has been written about this fascinating figure skating pioneer over the years. Some of it is correct; a lot of it is really not. The good news is that the facts about Jackson Haines' life and career are far more interesting than the myth.

My strategy for writing this book has been to pretty much completely disregard everything that has been written about him in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The research for this book has relied almost completely on nineteenth century primary sources... and let me tell you, some of the things I have managed to track down are truly remarkable. 

You might recall that I did an in-depth piece on him several years ago. For the time being, that is not available. It will be back online in some revised form as supplementary material to the book once it is released.

I will be sharing updates on this project periodically over the coming months and I sincerely could not be more excited for you to read the finished book later this year!

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.