International Skating Union

Founded in 1892, the International Skating Union (ISU) is the oldest governing international Winter sport federation. Governing all skating disciplines on ice, the organization was established at its first Congress on 23 July 1892, in Scheveningen, Netherlands, with delegates from 15 European nations, as the Internationale Eislauf Vereinigung (IEV). The federation’s name would be rebranded to the current ISU just two years later, in 1894, with the addition of Canada as a member, as it became more internationally oriented.

Figure skating is one of the disciplines governed by the ISU. The first World Figure Skating Championships (open to men only) were organized in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1896, and the first ISU Championships for Ladies Figure Skating were organized in Davos, Switzerland, in 1906. The discipline then became the first Winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, during its Summer editions at London 1908 and Antwerp 1920, with events for both genders.

One of the other disciplines governed by the ISU is speed skating. The first World Championships in the discipline (for men only) were held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1889, even before the establishment of the ISU. Both speed skating and figure skating were included in the official programme of the first Olympic Winter Games, held at Chamonix 1924, but the speed skating events included only men’s competitions. Women first competed in speed skating at the Winter Olympics in 1932 in demonstration events, and the first Speed Skating World Championships for Ladies would be held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1936. As a full medal sport, women’s speed skating did not actually begin until Squaw Valley 1960. The first ISU Sprint Speed Skating Championships for Men and Ladies would later be staged in West Allis, Wisconsin, United States, in 1970.

Short track speed skating is the more recent ISU’s Olympic discipline. The first ISU Short Track Speed Skating Championships (for Men and Ladies) were held in Solihull, Great Britain, in 1978. The discipline would be first included in the official programme of the Olympic Winter Games at Albertville 1992, with events for men and women (after appearing as a demonstration sport at Calgary 1988).

Figure skating and both speed skating formats have also been featured in the programme of the Youth Winter Olympics since the competition’s inception, at Innsbruck 2012, with events for boys and girls.

Apart from the aforementioned Olympic disciplines, the ISU also oversees synchronized skating, which is similar to figure skating but performed by large groups of skaters. The first World Synchronized Skating Championships were held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, in 2000.

As of January 2026, the ISU has 102 member federations, with two club members: the Internationaler Schlittschuh-Club Davos (SUI) and the Stockholms Allmänna Skridskoklubb (SWE). However, because several nations have both a figure skating and a speed skating member, only 80 nations are represented in the ISU. The federation’s headquarters is located in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its current president is South Korea’s Kim Jae-Yeol.