- Joined
- Feb 14, 2018
No, that’s just the mechanics of -3Lo combos. (If she’d two-footed the Lutz, she couldn’t have added the loop.) For a -Lo combo, instead of allowing the free leg to pass through and extend behind the skater on the landing of the first jump, the free leg must be kept in front of the landing leg. With the landing foot on a BOE, the skater immediately initiates the rotation for the loop by drawing the body in and lifting the free leg upward. If you watch the combination in slow motion, you can see that Shcherbakova lands with her legs in the distinctive X-position that signifies a loop takeoff but keeps her free leg forward and her upper body tense — she can’t relax the upper body on the landing because she has to take off for the loop as she lands the Lutz.
Loop combos are unforgiving and require that the landing of the first jump be reasonably clean. There’s much more leeway when adding a -T, as the free leg is pushed through, which gives the skater time to bring the body back into position in the event something went wrong on the first jump. As long as there isn’t a transfer of weight or steps beyond 2-3 3-turns on the landing, a skater can initiate the toe loop whenever they want, though obviously there’s a GOE reduction for loss of rhythm. For loop combos, you either pull into rotational position for the loop immediately upon landing or you forfeit the loop as the second jump in combination.
