Axel jump

An Axel jump is a jump in figure skating. It is the most famous and recognizable skating jump. It starts with the skater going forward. It is the only jump that does and that helps people know that the jump is an Axel jump. Because all skating jumps are landed going backwards, the Axel jump has an extra half rotation (full circle) in the air than all other skating jumps.

A single axel from start to finish

Step 1: the preparation

Step 2: the kick up into the Axel

Step 3: the rotation in the air

Step 4: the landing

History

The jump was named after Axel Paulsen of Norway, who invented the jump.

Performances

The first skater to do a double Axel in competition was Dick Button, and Carol Heiss Jenkins was the first woman to do it. The first skater to do a triple Axel in competition was Vern Taylor. The first woman to do it was Midori Ito.

The first pairs skater to do a throw triple Axel (he helps her with the jump) were Rena Inoue & John Baldwin. It is not known who did the first throw double Axel.

Methods

The Axel can be a single Axel (1 and a half rotations in the air), a double Axel (two and a half rotations in the air), or a triple Axel (three and a half rotations in the air). Most junior men and and senior skaters can do a double Axel.

Many senior-level male skaters do a triple Axel. As of January 2025, only one person, Ilia Malinin, has landed a quadruple axel (four and a half rotations in the air) in competition ^[1]

As of January 2025, 25 female figure skaters have completed a ratified triple axel (with positive GOE for those performed under the new judging system). This jump was first performed in the 1988 by Midori Ito (the first one to do it) followed by Tonya Harding in 1991. Over 10 years later, Yukari Nakano and Ludmila Nelidina performed the jump, followed by Mao Asada (the first one to land three triple Axels in one competition), Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Rika Kihira, and Mirai Nagasu ^[2] Since then, Alysa Liu, Alena Kostornaia, Young You, Kamila Valieva, Hana Yoshida, Rinka Watanabe, Anastasiia Shabotova, Varvara Kisel, Mana Kawabe, Sofia Akateva, Amber Glenn, Mao Shimada, Inga Gurgenidze, Ami Nakai, Yuseyong Kim, Yujae Kim, and Sophie Joline Von Felton have landed the jump successfully in international competition^[3]

Values

According to the International Judging System, the base value of a triple Axel jump is 8.0, and that of a double Axel is 3.3.

Confusion

Because the Axel is the most famous skating jump, many people make a mistake and call all skating jumps as Axel jumps. This has led to many mistakes in sports reporting of figure skating, for example a report in 2006 saying that Miki Ando was the first female skater to land a quad Salchow in an international competition, which is a different jump.