Figure Skating: The basics (Part 1, the jumps)

Do you find yourself watching figure skating and having no idea how commentators determine which jumps are being performed? Or do you already know and just want to read about figure skating because you're having withdrawal after the end of US Nationals/Euros? Never fear-read on for some (hopefully) educational information about figure skating jumps, and bonus commentary.

Before we get into the jumps-one thing that's important to note is that the difference in all of them is the take off. The landings for each jump is the same, so I won't focus on that. There are also a couple jumps not listed here, like a waltz jump, a wally, an Euler etc. The reason is really just that those jumps don't have a base value in and of themselves-they serve to connect jumps done in a sequence or to add some spice and pizzaz to a routine.

You might also see skaters these days throwing 1 or both arms overhead while they're in the air for their jumps. The 1 arm overhead was done first by Brian Boitano and was referred to as the 'Tano variation. Similarly, 2 arms overhead was first done by Adam Rippon and is the Rippon variation (sorry Adam, 'Pon sounds silly). Boitano (and Rippon to some extent) did it for style and today it is still done partially to add a stylistic flair, but it can also help the skater jump higher, and it helps skaters rotate quicker in the air since there's a smaller moment of inertia (word to my AP physics teacher). On top of that, if done well it can boost the grade of execution (GOE), which as you may suspect is the main motivation for skaters.

Ok and with that let's get into it. 

The edge jumps

 The Axel

This jump was invented in the 1800s by Axel Paulsen, a Norwegian man. His Wikipedia page is woefully short for someone who dominated at both figure skating and speed skating. And big ups to someone doing jumps before indoor rinks and zambonis were invented. 

This is the only jump where the skater faces forward during takeoff-making it the easiest to identify. However, this also makes it harder for skaters in that all jumps are landed backward, and the ISU does not round up when counting jump rotations. Put another way, a single Axel jump is actually 1.5 rotations in the air. This is also the reason the Axel is the only jump where the quad has never been performed (successfully)-because it would actually take 4.5 rotations in the air. Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) has attempted it in competition-and I'm sure that means he has successfully landed it with a reasonably high percentage in practice. However, his competitive attempt was downgraded to a triple. I think we may see it in competition soon-the rules of figure skating reward the attempt too highly for gifted jumpers to resist.

The Salchow

Invented by Ulrich Salchow (pronounced sow-cow), a Swedish skater in 1909. His Wikipedia page is also woefully short for someone who holds (along with Henie and Rodnina) the record for most world titles (10). This jump takes off on the back inside edge, and is landed on the outside edge of the opposite foot. 

Since this jump takes off on the inside edge of one foot, the free foot is used as extra leverage to propel skaters up and into the rotations. You use that free leg to swing around your body and up into the air. Some skaters touch the ice with the free leg-kicks up some ice and can almost make it look like a pick jump. See an example here at the 1:52 mark (yes I picked a Michelle Kwan performance for this). You can see that free leg actually touches the ice lightly. This is not a mistake-more a difference in training and technique. You can see a more extreme example here at the 1:01 mark (Andrei Mozalev at last week's Euros). You can see he actually looks like he using that free leg as support in the takeoff of the jump. I slowed it down below so you can really see what's going on with his feet:

Ok, here we go-you can clearly see his left leg is the support leg (and you can see that inside edge he's using on his blade) and his free leg is up there-about to start that swinging motion.

And here-in the middle of the swinging motion with that free leg. 

And here is where the technique changes a little-you can see what was the free leg swinging around, has now become the support leg. 

It's even clearer in this still that right leg is now the support and the left leg is blurred because its already moving faster to initiate that rotation. 

This is the end of the takeoff pretty much-just driving home the point as above that the right leg is the only one not blurred by his motion. 

Per my review of the GOE guidance (I can't find the 2021-2022 version, so used last year's guidance), there are barely any rules about reducing GOE for the entrance to a jump (there are a couple points about differentiating between a flip and lutz which we will get to). There is one note about marking down for "poor takeoff" though there is no clarity given for what "poor" might mean, and judges may give -1 to -3 for a poor takeoff. It's therefore unlikely that Mozalev in the above example received any penalty for his difference of technique, given that for this quadruple salchow he earned GOE scores ranging from 1 to 3. Likely any reduction in GOE (from a max of 5 from the judges) was in his little wobble on the landing. 

The Loop

This jump was invented by German figure skater Werner Rittberger (and lest I bore you with the same complaint again, his Wiki article is basically a stub). This jump takes off on the back outside edge of the support leg and lands on the same leg (outside edge as always). Most skaters will have the other leg right in front of the support/landing leg during take-off, which makes this jump easier to spot (see image).

However, to increase the difficulty and hopefully receive higher GOE, a skater may perform footwork into the jump and then takeoff with only their support foot touching the ice. This also means that skaters can do the jump in combination (1 right after the other) without any in-between steps or half-jumps, unlike the salchow or axel. It's not as easy to do in combination as the toe loop, and therefore not as popular. Case in point, in the free skate at last week's European championships only 1 skater on either the men's or women's side opted to do a loop jump as the second jump in a combination (Anna Shcherbakova). 

3 lutz-3 loop, base value (after halfway point, when scores receive 10% bonus) is 11.88 

3lutz-3 toe loop, base value after halfway point is 11.11

You can see from the above, while it's more difficult to do in combination, the loop jump doesn't offer enough incentive for most skaters to perform the it in combination.

The toe pick jumps

The toe loop

According to Wikipedia, this is the "simplest jump in figure skating.". Invented by Bruce Mapes in 1920, this jump takes off from an outside edge. The toe picks in behind and at an angle from the other leg. This angle is crucial as combined with the pick it allows the skater to gain power and speed for the jump. This is also one of the most "cheated" jumps in figure skating-as skaters can kind of get away

with doing a lot of the turning on the ice before they even take off. Some of this is due to that pick action-if you pick into the ice and begin the jump rotations, your toe pick may still be touching the ice for a bit of time before leaving the ice completely. But as we saw above, the ISU doesn't give a lot of guidance for downgrading jumps on entry.

The Flip

This jump has an unknown inventor (very cool and mysterious). The entry to this jump is from a back inside edge with the toe pick tapping in almost directly behind. It's crucial for this jump that the edge not be too deep-essentially the skater going in a straight line back then tapping (extending that straight line) before going into the jump. Curving too much before picking in, or angling the pick too much is a common mistake. This also helps differentiate it from the toe loop-where the angle is key (not to mention takeoff edge).

The Lutz

The flip and lutz jump are 2 sides of a coin and the lutz jump. The only difference between them is the edge on which the skater takes off. Of course that difference is all the difference. The lutz is generally thought of as the hardest in figure skating. In the old days of the 6.0 scoring system, skaters often "flutz-ed" their lutzes, or simply intended to do a lutz, and at the last moment changed their outside edge take-off to an inside edge. This will cause the judges to make an "edge call" and give a negative GOE.

It's quite understandable why a skater would do that. For a lutz jump you're skating backwards on your outside edge, take-off and then immediately start rotating in the opposite direction. If done correctly, your toes are pointing at each other-not exactly comfortable. It's not surprising that a skater naturally wants to make it easier on themselves by switching to an inside edge to start the rotation. That push and pull is what makes the lutz the hardest jump in figure skating. 

See what I mean below:

Looking at this closeup-you can see really clearly that outside edge (Queen Yu Na does not flutz darling). If you then go back up to that image of the flip jump you can see the difference in entry edge.