| | ABC Sports Online report
ABC Sports skating analyst and Olympic silver medallist Peter Carruthers took some time to answer some of your questions during the World Figure Skating Championships. Mr. Carruthers will be stopping by from time to time to answer user questions about figure skating. So if a question you have wasn't answered this time around then feel free to fire off a question to him now.
ABC Sports: What is the first jump that skaters must learn to master? And how does a skater first attempt to initiate this jump?
Peter Carruthers: The different triple jumps are the triple salchow, triple loop, triple toe loop, triple flip, triple lutz and the triple axel. The differences in these triple jumps are in three areas of skating:
Whether or not a jump takes off forwards or backwards.
What edge the jump is taking off on, and whether it is an inside edge or outside edge, which could also be backwards or forwards.
Whether or not it is an edge jump or a toe pick assist. The axel is the only jump that takes off going forwards. When a skater jabs the foot in with a toe pick, that is considered a toe jump.
ABC Sports: What is the first jump that skaters must learn to master? And how does a skater first attempt to initiate this jump?
Carruthers: Typically, skaters learn to do single jumps first. Then the first jump that goes beyond a single rotation is the axel. The key to all of this is that the single jumps are all done well before adding rotations. In the case of the axel, which is only a one-and-a-half rotations, you want to make sure that you have a good waltz jump.
Usually, the instructor would demonstrate at a slow speed, then you would imitate the movement. Sometimes, looking at videotapes of other skaters is helpful. This way you get a feeling for the mechanics that are involved.
ABC Sports: Considering Irina Slutskaya's triple-triple combinations at the Grand Prix Final, which was never done by a woman, what jumps are more difficult for women compared to men and why?
Carruthers: Well, gender really doesn't have anything to do with this. The question really is what jump you are comfortable doing. Each skater, male or female, has a preference. The triple axel is commonplace in men's figure skating, as is the quad. Usually the ladies will jump up through the triple lutz and that is as far as they go. So it is mostly rotation that sets the men and women apart.
However, Midori Ito and others have done triple axels. It is not as though the ladies have not done triples, it is simply not commonplace.
ABC Sports: How difficult is a quad really and how is it executed?
Carruthers: That is a great question because if we could answer it then everyone would be doing quads. It's difficult for a number of reasons. First, performing a quad demands a great athlete with terrific, explosive power. The skater would need strong basic fundamentals of that jump in which they are trying to complete four rotations.
One must have a lot of things going right to successfully land that quadruple jump. Typically, for the quad to be executed, you need a strong triple at first and then the skater learns what they need to do to increase the rotation. This involves everything from adding height to the jump, pulling the arms and the legs tightly together and then a very abrupt check out at the end to stop the rotation for a successful landing backwards on one foot on a nice edge.
It all happens within a second and it is very intense. Split-second timing is very critical.
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