Although downhill skiing and figure skating are both winter sports, they are totally different. First, of all, for downhill skiing you have skis, plastic boots and poles. For figure skating, you have leather boots and steel blades. The length of downhill skis is usually from the ground to your wrist extended above your head, but skate blades aren't too much longer than your foot. Skiing is performed on snow while skating is performed on ice.
Ski boots buckle up but skates lace up.
Finally, in downhill skiing, you mainly make left and right turns down a hill. In figure skating you do figure eights, dance steps, jumps and spins. All in all, downhill skiing and figure skating are two very different winter sports. The differences between night and day are very much like the differences between black and white. Day on the other hand tends to give people a more positive outlook.