When I first saw this movie 20+ years ago, I thought the toe pick was for stopping but having just watched it again, I got the impression that Kate was using it to go faster during the training but at one point it looks like she uses it to stop.
So what is it actually used for?
Figure skates differ most visibly from hockey skates in having a set of large, jagged teeth called toe picks on the front of the blade. The toe picks are used primarily in jumping and footwork, and should not be used for stroking or spins.
shareWhat about a scratch spin?
The toepicks also work quite well for stopping while skating backwards (with a gradual shifting of the skater's weight forward). I used to be able to perform it easily on one foot.
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It is primarily used for moves like pivots and jumps. It can also be used for starting a forward move, instead of splaying their feet like a hockey player or cross country skier. The toe pick allows the figure skater to push forward much like a dancer running across a stage.
"The toe pick allows the figure skater to push forward much like a dancer running across a stage."
No. Toe picks are not used for pushing forward (stroking), except by people who don't know how to skate properly, such as a random kid at a rink wearing rental or department store skates. Figure skaters push forward the same way that hockey players do, except that hockey players can do it more aggressively due to being able to extend each stroke all the way to the front of the blade, while figure skaters have to stop short of the front of the blade on each stroke due to the toe picks. This is why someone wearing hockey skates will always beat someone wearing figure skates in a straight-line race, all else being equal. Hockey skates beat speed skates in a straight-line race too, for that matter.
In addition to that's been said, it makes those huge twirling jumps possible. When a skater wants to do a triple Lutz jump or whatever, they work up some speed, then kick downward snd slam the toe pick into the ice.
I'm sure a physicist could explain exactly how this works, but the toe pick being jammed into the ice stops the skater's forward momentum and makes them go straight up instead of across the ice.