From Axel to Flip: The Figure Skating Jump Story

Figure skating jumps are an important and most spectacular element. The success of athletes largely depends on their quality performance. Nowadays, six types of jumps are distinguished: axel, salchow, rittberger, sheepskin coat, flip and lutz. RT talks about their differences and the athletes who made them history.

Figure skating at the dawn of its existence did not relate to jumping with such reverence as it is in our time. The pioneers of this sport believed that its basis should be rotations, spirals, various connecting elements, as well as the ability to write beautiful figures on ice. Jumping in the 19th century was considered simple childishness and was allowed only to avoid some kind of obstacle like a branch or a crack. Jumping was contraindicated for women, since they performed in long skirts, in which it was simply impossible to jump.

Over time, the importance of the element still increased. Athletes started experimenting with them and thus increased the entertainment of figure skating. Increasingly, when executing programs, a bet was made on physical strength, which could be expressed precisely through jumping. Significant role in their promotion was also played by three-time Olympic champion Sonia Heni, who was one of the first to appear in a short skirt and was able to demonstrate elements that her rivals were not capable of. Over the years, jumps came to the fore and became the basis of figure skating, and in our time it is their pure performance that brings the most points in competitions.

The development of jumps required their strict classification, which was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. The International Skating Union recognizes six types of jumps - battlements, sheepskin coats, flip and lutz, rib riberger, axel and salchow. The oiler, which is a connecting jump in cascades and until recently did not have its own designation in the protocols, stands apart.

Axel

Basic performance ratings according to ISU rules: 1.1 (single) - 3.3 (double) - 8.0 (triple) - 12.5 (quadruple).

The most difficult jump in figure skating is the axel. It is the only one executed when moving forward, and therefore it is easy to distinguish it from everyone else. When performing the axel, the skater makes an additional half-turn in the air, which makes it especially difficult compared to other elements.

Axel is named after the Norwegian Axel Paulsen, who first showed this leap in public. It happened in 1882 at a competition in Vienna. It is noteworthy that Paulsen did not win then, although he was awarded a special prize for a new element. It is also interesting that the Norwegian was known to contemporaries more as a skater, and he performed his historic jump on cross-country skates.

Although Axel is the oldest leap, the skaters have made much less progress in it than in everyone else. Axel’s successful attempts in two and a half and three and a half turns occurred much later than other double and triple jumps. The pioneers were American Dick Button in 1948 and Canadian Vern Taylor in 1978. The four-axel remains unconquered to this day, although Arthur Dmitriev had unsuccessful attempts at the competitions, and Max Aaron, Keegan Messing, Brendan Kerry and Yuzuru Hanyu tried it in training.

Axel obeyed the girls only in the 1920s, when Sonya Heni showed a jump in one and a half turns. Almost 30 years later, he was complicated by the American Carol Hayss. In 1988, the Japanese Midori Ito was the first to join the Trixelist club. Triple axel in girls is still a rather rare occurrence - in 32 years only 11 skaters performed it, most of which mastered it only in the last few years. These, excluding Lyudmila Nelidina, who changed her citizenship in 1998, include two Russians: Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Alyona Kostornaya.

Salchow

Basic performance ratings according to ISU rules: 0.4 (single) - 1.3 (double) - 4.3 (triple) - 9.7 (quadruple).

Another nominal leap is the Salchow, named after the 1908 Olympic champion Ulrich Salkhov. The year after his success in London, the Swedish skater for the first time showed a jump from the inner edge of one leg and landing on the other. Salchow can be distinguished by the characteristic swing of the right (for most skaters) legs around the body and a long glide after execution.

Salkhov is considered the simplest among all jumps and has the least value. It was from him that the era of double jumps began, but at the same time the salchow in three turns appeared a little later than the triple rittberger. The pioneer was Ronald Robertson, to whom the World Cup 1955 silver brought a new element.

The author of the fourth Salkhov was Timothy Gable, who showed a cascade with him in the final of the 1998 Junior Grand Prix. For this, the American skater was once called the "king of the four jumps." Other skaters managed to perform salchow 1440 degrees earlier, but the record was not ratified due to a two-leg landing - this is a common mistake for this jump.

The first woman who performed salchow in one turn, received considerable criticism for this. American Teresa Weld showed him at the Olympic Games in 1920, which the judges did not like, because of this, her skirt lifted above her knees. But over time, mores changed, and the double salchow of Cecilia College, shown at the European Championship 1936, was a huge breakthrough, especially since before that women did not obey double jumps at all.

Figure skating historians are debating about the first author of the triple Salkhov - ISU recognizes them as Peter Burka, who showed a jump at the Canadian Championship in 1962, but there is evidence that Czech Yana Mrazkova and Austrian Helly Zengstschmid did it a year earlier.

With the fourth salchow, the era of the quadruple jumps in women began. It was back in 2002 in the final of the Junior Grand Prix by Japanese Miki Ando. So far, only Alexander Trusov and Elizabeth Tursynbaeva have been able to repeat her achievement, although Rika Kihira made several attempts to perform this element in competitions.

Rittberger

Basic performance ratings according to ISU rules: 0.5 (single) - 1.7 (double) - 4.9 (triple) - 10.5 (quadruple).

The last edge jump is the Rittberger. In English-speaking countries it is called a “loop loop” or “loop”, while the Russian language has a name in honor of the German Werner Rittberger, who demonstrated it in 1910. When performing a “loop”, the skater pushes off the edge of the right leg and lands on it too. Due to this, the element can be used as a second jump in the cascade.

History did not preserve the name of the author of the first double rittberger, but the performer of the triple is reliably known. If in 1948, Dick Button became the Olympic champion thanks to the double axel, then four years later he repeated his success with the first triple jump in history, which became the Rittberger. By the way, the Button is the only American to win the European Championship - until 1948, the Old World Championship was open.

The fourth Rittberger was the first to chalk up Yuzuru Hanyu. This happened in 2016 - after that, only the quadruple axel remains unconquered in men. Pretty quickly in the footsteps of Hanyu went Sema Uno, Nathan Chen and Daniel Grassl.

This jump in four turns did not obey women, although Korean Yoo Young showed a successful attempt at a training session in February 2020 - it is quite possible that a historic event could have happened at the canceled World Cup in Canada. In the meantime, the girls perform only a triple rittberger, and the first German girl Gabriele Seifert managed to do it in 1968 at the European Championships.

Sheepskin coat

Basic performance ratings according to ISU rules: 0.4 (single) - 1.3 (double) - 4.2 (triple) - 9.5 (quadruple).

A sheepskin coat is universally recognized as the simplest tooth jump, whose name has nothing to do with winter clothes, which means "loop on the toe" in English. So it is considered to be a "relative" of the Rittberger. The difference between them is only that in the sheepskin coat the push does not come from the rib, but from the tooth of the ridge.

The sheepskin coat is the youngest jump - the American Bruce Mapes invented it only in 1920. It is noteworthy that he is sometimes recognized as the creator of the flip, however, both jumps received common names, since Mapes did not achieve any success as an athlete. However, in figure skating on roller skates, the sheepskin coat is still named after its creator.

Further development of the sheepskin coat turned out to be contradictory. In 1964, the American Thomas Litz first showed a jump in three turns - much later than all the others, except for the axel. However, the era of quadruple jumps began just with a sheepskin coat, and with a false start. At the 1986 European Championships, the Czech pioneer Josef Sabowczyk became a pioneer, but his jump was soon devoid of ratification due to the second foot touching the ice. It took two years before the Canadian Kurt Browning nevertheless performed the revolutionary element purely.

The pursuit of women for a sheepskin coat was not reflected in history - two and three turns entered into use too quickly for the author's name to remain fixed. But the first performer of the fourth sheepskin coat is universally recognized. This is Alexandra Trusova, who showed the jump at the Junior World Cup 2018 at the same time as the quadruple salchow. In addition to her, only Kammila Valieva was able to perform the fourth sheepskin coat purely so far. But with a short spin, the Frenchwoman Suria Bonali demonstrated several times in the early 1990s.

Flip

Basic performance ratings according to ISU rules: 0.5 (single) - 1.8 (double) - 5.5 (triple) - 11.0 (quadruple).

A more difficult leap is a flip. When performing it, it is necessary to push off with the tooth of the right leg at the moment when the skater rides back on the inner edge of the left skate. Because of this kick to the ice, the flip got its name - in translation from English, the flip means “click”.

As already mentioned, the authorship of the flip is sometimes attributed to Mapes, however, neither the date nor the place of the first jump was preserved, and he gained popularity already in the 1930s.

The first performer of the triple flip is also unknown, although at the World Cup he was first shown to the world by American Terry Kubichka in 1975. The Japanese Daisuke Takahashi tried to add one more turn at the time, but only his compatriot Syoma Uno managed to do this. At the team challenge Cup in 2016, he performed a quadruple flip, after which the jump immediately entered the arsenal of other skaters.

The authorship of the triple flip in women is shared by two German athletes at once - the skater from the GDR Katarina Witt and the representative of the Federal Republic of Germany Manuela Ruben. They simultaneously showed a jump at the 1981 European Championships, but both were then left without medals. Almost at the same time, the fans saw a quadruple flip. In the final of the 2019 Grand Prix, Alexander Trusov and Anna Shcherbakova performed this jump, but only Trusova turned out to be clean. Scherbakova, however, quickly joined her at the next championship of Russia.

Lutz

Basic performance ratings according to ISU rules: 0.6 (single) - 2.1 (double) - 5.9 (triple) - 11.5 (quadruple).

Out of the jumps, going back, Lutz is considered the most difficult. According to the execution conditions, it resembles a flip, but the skater needs to perform it from the outer edge, which is why it is first necessary to describe a large arc on ice. A rather common mistake is the transition from the outer edge to the inner one, and such a jump is jokingly called a “flutz”.

Lutz got its name in honor of the Austrian Alois Lutz, who showed a new leap in 1913 at the age of 14 or 15 years. Alas, I did not manage to achieve great success as a skater, having died at the age of 19 from pneumonia. Other athletes quickly mastered Lutz in two turns, and Canadian Donald Jackson was the first to triple jump at the 1962 World Cup. This earned him gold in his last career competitions.

Fourth Lutz chalked up American Brandon Mroz. He mastered this jump in 2011 at the dawn of his short and not too successful career, which he could not reanimate with a new element. As in the case of the Rittberger and the flip, almost immediately the Lutz began to perform the best skaters in the world.

In women, the entire history of the development of Lutz was well documented. The double jump was first shown by Czech Alena Vrzanova at the victorious World Cup 1949. After 29 years, the Swiss three-revolution version was demonstrated by Swiss Denise Bilman, after whom the rotation with a raised leg is named. The authorship of the first four Lutz is disputed by the same Trusov and Shcherbakov. Trusova showed a jump at the junior Grand Prix stage, and Shcherbakova performed it at the Russian Cup stage, but a few days earlier.