In this video, a skater demonstrates a variation of the basic upright spin position: the upright straight spin. To gain credit for this position, the skater’s torso must be oriented straight up. There are two other variations of the basic upright spin: the biellmann spin, where the free leg is pulled higher than the skater’s head, and the upright forward spin, where the skater’s torso is leaning forward.
The skater enters the spin from a forward inside edge. Once she has centered the back spin, she grasps her free leg by slipping her fingers through the gap between her blade and her boot. This skater holds on with both hands near the toe pick of her skate, but there are several other hand positions as well. Some skaters hold on to their ankle with one hand and their blade with the other.
Next, the skater sits back with her upper body, keeping her weight over the front of her blade. She straightens both legs and holds the position for roughly seven rotations before releasing her grip and finishing with a checkout position.
A common mistake for this spin is to lean forward when pulling the free leg up; this may cause a skater’s weight to rock to the back of their blade. Instead, in this video the skater keeps her hips beneath her and leans back a little to keep her weight over the front of the blade, near the ball of the foot.
