There are many different categories of sport skating. The most common include speed skating, short track speed skating and figure skating. In speed skating, competitors race one another in an indoor ice rink or outdoors on ice-covered lanes. Balance and coordination are important in skating sports.

In speed skating, participants begin skating in pairs, in two lanes, around a 400 metre skating oval, and are then ranked according to time. The first to cross the finish line is the winner. In short track speed skating, participants wear helmets, gloves and knee protectors, since the competitors often come into physical contact during the race. Figure skating is a skating sport in which individuals or duos perform jumps, pirouettes, and other exercises in an ice rink. This is usually accompanied by music.