A history of Salchow, Toe-loop, Loop, Flip, Lutz and Axel

Anna Maria Hellborg
Department of Sport Sciences, Malmö University

Nowadays, figure skating is largely about jumps and the impressiveness of how many spins you can make in the air. However, the jumps have not always been figure skating’s most prominent feature. When did the jumps emerge, how, and why? Who invented them – if that is even possible to know? These questions are addressed in Ryan Stevens’ book Technical merit: A history of figure skating-jumps. Ryan Stevens is a former figure skater and judge from Canada. He has previously written about skating history on his blog Skate Guard, as well as published books on the subject.

Technical merit: A history of figure skating jumps goes through different types of jumps that are used in figure skating, in both single and pair skating. It is not only the six jumps that have a value according to the International Judging System (IJS) that are addressed. Jumps that are used but do not have a value on its own, like the waltz jump or banned jumps like the backflip, are also included. The IJS is the new system that was introduced in 2004 and is a point-based scoring structure were every element has a value, and the element (for example a jump) is also valued according to quality.

Every chapter is dedicated to a different jump and addresses when the jump first was seen and who was first to perform it and use it in competition, and who was first to do doubles, triples and quadruples. Stevens have used mostly written sources and states that it is hard to know who was first especially before TV coverage. Even though figure skating enthusiasts have a “thirst for firsts” (p.7), it cannot be completely verified. However, the aim is to take the available information and form a history.

In singles it ends at quadruple Axel. Stevens writes that this jump was thought of as impossible until it was landed in competition in 2022.

The six jumps in the IJS are Salchow, Toe-loop, Loop, Flip, Lutz and Axel. What comes across in the book is that every jump seems to have had many different versions of it, that may have developed at different places in the world. But also, that skaters have developed other skaters’ ideas. So, I wonder how these six jumps emerged as standard. And what happened to the other variations?

There are interesting stories presented in the book. The Axel seems to be the oldest jump with records going back to 1880’s when Axel Paulsen in competition presented a jump instead of the complex figures that usually was performed at that time.

Another interesting story is that of Donald Jackson who was ahead of his time jumping triple Lutz in the early 1960’s and his coach defended his choice by saying “He wants to do it, let him do it, he’s worked hard at it” (p.84).

About pair skating, Stevens writes that the emergence of lifts in the 1970’s inspired a size difference between the man and the woman (and possibly also an age difference?). The ISU (International Skating Union) did not like this and created a rule that penalized pairs if the imbalance in size led to a “lack of unison” (p.140). It is unclear if this had an effect.

Then there is the backflip that was banned in the 1970’s. The jump did not fit figure skating aesthetics and was considered inappropriate to include in the program, since it was more acrobatic. In the current judging system the skater receives no points for the jump and get a 2-point deduction if they perform it in competition.

At the end of the book there is a helpful table of the base value of the different jumps in the IJS, so the reader can compare different jumps. In singles it ends at quadruple Axel. Stevens writes that this jump was thought of as impossible until it was landed in competition in 2022. This raises the question of what the next step is.

The book is about a very specific part of figure skating, so who is the intended reader of this book? Maybe people involved in figure skating can get more out of this book, as well as those interested in figure skating and know something about it. If you as a reader do not have any idea about what these jumps are, it is hard to understand what kind of jump it is. Photographs or illustrations would have helped a lot; maybe you can look them up on the internet. The descriptions of the jumps are hard to visualize if you cannot recall them from watching figure skating. There are also some things that are not explained. For example, what is a “clean” jump?

For me, this was an interesting read; however, I would have liked to see a summary at the end that discusses the history of jumping. How has it changed and why has it changed? The changed status of the jumps historically is something I want to learn more about. It raises my curiosity. How come the jumps gained importance and became such a crucial performance elements and how has it affected figure skating? Has the new judging system (IJS) emphasized their importance? I guess I want to know more about the “meaning” of the jumps and how this has changed. What would be interesting as a next project is to ask skaters from different times how they look at the jumps and what strategies they use or used regarding the jumps. Additionally, the judges view on the jumps and how this has changed would also be interesting to learn.

Copyright © Anna Maria Hellborg 2023