Loop Jump - Loop History

Loop History

The loop can also be done as a double or triple, with two or three rotations, respectively. Dick Button performed the first triple loop jump at the 1952 Winter Olympics. The first female skater known to be able to perform a triple loop was Gaby Seyfert in 1968. No skater has yet successfully performed a quadruple loop in competition.

Since the loop takes off the edge that is used as the landing edge for most jumps, it is often seen as the second element of a jump combination. In this case, it is necessary for the skater to keep the free leg (the left leg for a counterclockwise rotator) and the same shoulder forward on the landing of the preceding jump, instead of bringing it backward in the normal check-out or for a toe loop jump. The timing for loop-based combinations is thus much quicker than toe-loop-based combinations.

Éric Millot of France was the first skater to perform a triple loop/triple loop combination, in 1996. In the years since, doing triple loops in combination has become considered somewhat hazardous, since a number of skaters including 1998 Olympic champion Tara Lipinski have suffered serious hip injuries from practicing them.