Finland – The world’s first skaters are likely to have taken to the ice about 4,000 years ago on the frozen lakes of Finland, according to a UK-based research team. 

They seem to have used skates made out of horse bones, Dr Federico Formenti of Oxford University, said. His team tested replicas of bone-skates from the British Museum over several years. He said the skates were fun to use and compared well with modern equivalents. 

"From our study it seems that [the skating] happened particularly in the southern area of Finland where there are many small lakes," Dr Formenti said. People found it much easier to travel between towns by skating or walking across the ice.

These early skaters would, he believes, stand on two horse bones and propel themselves with a stick. The bones have very low friction compared to modern metal blades because of the residual fat on the bones. 

The research team attained an average speed of about 8km/h (5mph) compared to modern speed-skaters whizzing by at speeds of up to 60km/h (37).