sentences:  Skaters were required to perform 23 compulsory figures, as well as a four-minute free skating program, and a section called "special figures", in which they had to perform moves or combinations of moves that highlighted their advanced skills.The first World Championships, hosted by the newly-formed International Skating Union (ISU), occurred in 1896, and consisted of four competitors, all men.Figure skating is the oldest winter sport contested at the Olympics, starting at the London Games in 1908.