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The toe loop jump is the simplest jump in the sport of figure skating. It was invented in the 1920s by American professional figure skater Bruce Mapes. The toe loop is accomplished by skating forward on the inside edge of the blade; the skater then switches to a backward-facing position before their takeoff, which is accomplished from a back outside edge with assistance from the toe pick on the other foot. The jump is exited on the same back outside edge as it was taken off from. It is often added to more difficult jumps during combinations and is the most common second jump performed in combinations. It is also the most commonly attempted jump.

History

The toe loop jump is the simplest of the six jumps in the sport of figure skating. It was invented in the 1920s by American professional figure skater Bruce Mapes, who might have also invented the flip jump. In competitions, the base value of a single toe loop is 0.40; the base value of a double toe loop is 1.30; the base value of a triple toe loop is 4.20; the base value of a quadruple toe loop is 9.50, and the base value for a quintuple toe loop is 14.

Firsts

Abbr.	Jump element	Skater	Nation	Event	Ref.
3T	Triple toe loop	Thomas Litz	United States	1964 World Championships
4T	Quadruple toe loop (men's)	Kurt Browning	Canada	1988 World Championships
	Quadruple toe loop (women's)	Alexandra Trusova	Russia	2018 World Junior Championships
4T+2T	Quad toe loop-double toe loop	Elvis Stojko	Canada	1991 World Championships
4T+3T	Quad toe loop-triple toe loop (men's)
	Quad toe loop-triple toe loop (women's)	Alexandra Trusova	Russia	2018 Junior Grand Prix Lithuania
4T+3T+2Lo	Quad toe loop-triple toe loop-double loop	Evgeni Plushenko		1999 NHK Trophy
4T+3T+3Lo	Quad toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop			2002 Cup of Russia
4T+1Eu+3S	Quad toe loop-Euler-triple Salchow	Alexei Yagudin		2001 Skate Canada International
4T+1Eu+3F	Quad toe loop-Euler-triple flip	Yuzuru Hanyu	Japan	2019 Skate Canada International
4T+3A+SEQ	Quad toe loop-triple Axel			2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki
4S+3T	Quad Salchow-triple toe loop	Timothy Goebel	United States	1999 Skate America
4Lz+3T	Quad lutz-triple toe loop	Jin Boyang	China	2015 Cup of China
3A+4T	Triple Axel-quad toe loop	Mikhail Shaidorov	Kazakhstan	2024 Grand Prix de France

Technique

The toe loop is considered the simplest jump because not only do skaters use their toe-picks to execute it, their hips are already facing the direction in which they will rotate. The toe loop is the easier jump to add multiple rotations to because the toe-assisted takeoff adds power to the jump and because a skater can turn their body toward the assisting foot at takeoff, which slightly reduces the rotation needed in the air. It is often added to more difficult jumps during combinations and is the most common second jump performed in combinations. It is also the most commonly attempted jump, as well as "the most commonly cheated on take off jump", or a jump in which the first rotation starts on the ice rather than in the air. Adding a toe loop to combination jumps does not increase the difficulty of skaters' short or free skating programs.

According to figure skating researcher Deborah King and her colleagues, the toe loop jump can be divided into four key events and three phases. The key events are: the toe-pick, or the moment the skater places their toepick into the ice; the take-off, or the last contact they make with the ice; the jump's maximum height; and the landing, or the moment the skater returns to the ice. The three phases are: the approach, which begins when the skater initiates the three turn entering into the jump and ends when they initiate the toe-pick; propulsion, which begins at the toe-pick and ends at take-off; and flight, which begins at take-off and ends at landing.

A skater initiates the toe loop with a forward approach on the inside edge of the blade, then switches to a backward-facing position before its takeoff, which is accomplished from a back outside edge and with assistance from the toepick of the other foot. The jump is exited from the back outside edge of the same foot.

The skater approaches the back outside edge of their skate from the landing of a previous jump when done in combination, from the back outside edge exiting from a forward three turn initiated on the inside edge, or from a forward three turn initiated on the outside edge and exited on the inside edge followed by a change of foot. After completing the three turn, the skater reaches their free leg behind them and slightly outside the direction they are traveling, much like a pole-vaulter; this is the opposite foot they will use to land. Then they place the toepick in the ice with the free leg, and they jump while pulling the take-off leg back and around and reaching forward and around with the arm and shoulder on the same side as the take-off leg, thus achieving the rotation. They draw their arms into the body for the desired number of rotations. They should face forward, with their free leg approximately parallel to their take-off foot and with their arms as close to their body as possible, which results in keeping their arms and legs close to their bodies and remain in tight rotating positions at the moment of take-off, helping them attain faster rotational velocities in the air.

King and her colleagues, when they studied quadruple toe loop jumps at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, counted 71 attempted quadruple toe loop jumps or quadruple toe-loop combination jumps. Of those, there were 33 quadruple toe loops performed not in combination with other jumps, 13 of which were landed cleanly, without a fall, without the skater touching a hand down on the ice, or without stepping out of the landing onto the other foot. They also found that "the most significant aspect" for completing toe loop jumps was the ability to increase rotational velocity while in the air. King also found that skaters who performed quadruple toe loops began to rotate their shoulders earlier than in triples, so that by the time they completed their toe-pick, their hips and shoulders were more aligned about their longitudinal axes. As a result, their hips and shoulders turned more uniformly during the propulsion phase of the jump. Vertical take-off velocity, however, was higher for both quadruple and triple toe loops, resulting in "higher jumps and more time in the air to complete the extra revolution for the quadruple toe-loop".

Gallery

• Satoko Miyahara begins a toe loop
• Stéphane Lambiel begins to take off by hitting the ice with his left toe pick
• Kévin Aymoz landing

Footnotes

1. The triple toe loop is "not definitely established" in the women's discipline.
2. Jozef Sabovcik of Czechoslovakia landed a quadruple toe loop at the 1986 European Championships, which was recognized at the event but then ruled invalid three weeks later due to a touchdown with his free foot.

References

1. ^ Park, Alice (22 February 2018). "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Figure Skating Jumps and Scores". Time Magazine. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
2. Media guide, p. 16
3. "ISU Communication 2656 Single and Pair Skating". International Skating Union. pp. 2–4. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
4. ^ Media guide, p. 17
5. "A Quadruple Jump on Ice". The New York Times. Associated Press. 26 March 1988. ISSN 1553-8095. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
6. Wilner, Barry (2 December 1999). "The Quad: Skating's Evolution is for More Revolution". CBS Sports. New York City. Archived from the original on 29 January 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
7. "Trusova (RUS) Makes History with Two Quads in Golden Performance". International Skating Union. Lausanne, Switzerland. 10 March 2018. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
8. "Trusova (RUS) continues to make history, goes for three quads in Kaunas". International Skating Union. Lausanne, Switzerland. 10 September 2018. Archived from the original on 10 September 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
9. Bussat Ingwersen, Aline; Kenny, Patrick (3 November 2001). "MasterCard Skate Canada International, Day Three". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
10. 羽生、独壇場V 新境地で自己新322・59点「自分に勝てたな」 [Hanyu single-handedly scoring a new personal best of 322.59 points in a new system "I think I beat myself"]. Sports Nippon (Sponichi Annex) (in Japanese). Tokyo. 28 October 2019. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
11. "Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) Hits Quad Toe-Triple Axel En Route to Gold in Helsinki". International Skating Union. 4 November 2018. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
12. Pucin, Diane (26 December 1999). "He's Pushing the Envelope, Not That Anyone Notices". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 2165-1736. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
13. Smirnova, Lena (2024-11-18). "Three years in the making: Mikhail Shaidorov breaks down his historic triple Axel-quad toe jump combo". olympics.com. Retrieved 2024-12-07.
14. ^ Sarkar, Pritha; Fallon, Clare (28 March 2017). "Figure Skating - Breakdown of Quadruple Jumps, Highest Scores and Judging". Reuters. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
15. ^ Kestnbaum. p. 287
16. "Identifying Jumps" (PDF). U.S. Figure Skating. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
17. "ISU Judging System Technical Panel Handbook: Singles Skating 2023/2024". U.S. Figure Skating. 8 July 2023. p. 20. Archived from the original on August 10, 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
18. King et al., p. 112
19. King et al., p. 113
20. Abad-Santos, Alexander (5 February 2014). "A GIF Guide to Figure Skaters' Jumps at the Olympics". The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
21. Kestnbaum, p. 288
22. ^ King et al., p. 121
23. King et al., p. 111
24. ^ King et al., p. 120

Works cited

• "ISU Figure Skating Media Guide 2023/24". International Skating Union. 20 September 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
• Kestnbaum, Ellyn (2003). Culture on Ice: Figure Skating and Cultural Meaning. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0819566411
• King, Deborah; Smith, Sarah; Higginson, Brian; Muncasy, Barry; Scheirman, Gary (2004). "Characteristics of Triple and Quadruple Toe-Loops Performed during The Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics" (PDF). Sports Biomechanics. 3 (1). Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2022.

• Figure skating elements
• Jumping sports
• Sports biomechanics