Takahito Mura: "I also tried some quad Axels"

[Sandpiper]

I would agree that 4A is near impossible in a competitive program, unless you just want to do it for its own sake. There's no way you'll have enough

Have you seen any of these men said that they can land the 4A, but that they practice it only?
Best 3A goes to Kulik, he trained the 4A as well and he had to give it up because his body couldn't handle it.

Among the other challengers: Alexei Yagudin has also allegedly trained quad axel. Plushy discusses it here, and says he has tried it.

I think back then, during the Stojko-Kulik-Yagudin-Plushenko years, people thought anything was possible. The sport was advancing so fast. But then it hit a wall. I think that's when 4As and quints started looking like dreams.

I'm impressed Mura is actually trying these things, but I don't think it'll be added to competition (nor will it be rewarded should he try).

 

[Wo|flax]

I think Artur Gachinski said he rotated it but never landed it

and of course because it's always worth bringing up whenever 4As come into discussion, Yagudin said he stopped because he was afraid he would break his freaking neck
(as I understood Kulik only tried it off-ice?)
I didn't know Plushy tried it; but that makes, as far as we know, what 6 people in all time to try it in practice.

 

[Red Helicopter]

Realistically, there is no need to train for 4A. It is not worth the energy expended during training or during the program itself such that you would sacrifice other elements in your program.

As I said before, the same reason was quite popular to explain why most of the skaters don't wish to perform quads in their programs. But now we see that they perform quads and manage to perform also the rest of the program somehow
In fact there's no huge difference from energy point of view between 4T and 4A - surely 4A takes more energy but not BY FAR more. That's why I'm almost sure that it'll start being common for top skaters in next 10 years.

 

[shiroKJ]

As I said before, the same reason was quite popular to explain why most of the skaters don't wish to perform quads in their programs. But now we see that they perform quads and manage to perform also the rest of the program somehow
In fact there's no huge difference from energy point of view between 4T and 4A - surely 4A takes more energy but not BY FAR more. That's why I'm almost sure that it'll start being common for top skaters in next 10 years.

Its not just a matter of how much energy it takes that makes 4A extremely difficult. Forget just this quad, in the history of men's figure skating, there are only a few dozen men who have truly mastered the 3A. Its the mechanics of the jump that makes it so dangerous and hard to master. Look the state of the men right now; plenty of skaters have a good or decent 4T/4S but not the 3A. The career of an amateur figure skater is relatively short. There's only so much time a person has to be able to master a technique, and even if they do skate into their 30's like some of the Russian men, it may not be enough time. We still have yet to see a consistent 4L/4Lz/4F. I'm more optimistic about a 5T than a 4A in the future, though I hope no one puts it in their programs cause then it'll really only be about the jumps.

 

[Sandpiper]

As I said before, the same reason was quite popular to explain why most of the skaters don't wish to perform quads in their programs. But now we see that they perform quads and manage to perform also the rest of the program somehow
In fact there's no huge difference from energy point of view between 4T and 4A - surely 4A takes more energy but not BY FAR more. That's why I'm almost sure that it'll start being common for top skaters in next 10 years.

For a while, yes, the innovations kept coming. From 1984 to 2002, we got Brian Orser pushing the 3A, Boitano ironically defeating him by doing two 3As, Browning's quad, Stojko's 4T-2T and 4T-3T, Plushenko's two-quad LPs and 4-3-2/4-3-3 combinations, and Goebel's three-quad LPs. And then... it stopped. Even went backwards for a while. Now it seems like the rules are encouraging more rotation (at the expense of landing and combinations), but we still haven't gotten back to where we were in Salt Lake City.

Perhaps it's just COP. Perhaps we got the wrong crop of skaters from 2006-2010. But I'm not optimistic about quad axel happening, let alone being common, within ten years. We haven't gotten anywhere for the past twelve years in terms of jumps, and the current crop of skaters (with the exception of Hanyu) don't exactly have the best axels.

 

[ice coverage]

^The samurai and the gladiator! Maybe following the way of the Japanese ice shows, they can carry that quad battle to the actual exhibition and give the fans a real treat.

Wasn't aware of a great follow-up tweet about Max Aaron and Takahito until this late date:

Beverley Smith @BevSmithWrites

And they are high-fiving each other. Wonderful to see.
11:14 AM - 2 Nov 2014
https://twitter.com/BevSmithWrites/status/528988507843608576​

 

[MalAssada]

I'm being honest when I say I would much rather a 3Lz3Lo than a 4A. I just combos with loops and it would be worth a nice amount of points if clean.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I'm being honest when I say I would much rather a 3Lz3Lo than a 4A. I just combos with loops and it would be worth a nice amount of points if clean.

Can't find it, but I remember Jayson Denommee used to do 3A+3L combos! (he did it at Nationals 2001)

Here's Alexander Abt doing one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqxQ6lzb-4I&t=5m14s

 

[Maria Victoria]

Wasn't aware of a great follow-up tweet about Max and Takahito until this late date:

Beverley Smith @BevSmithWrites

And they are high-fiving each other. Wonderful to see.
11:14 AM - 2 Nov 2014
https://twitter.com/BevSmithWrites/status/528988507843608576​

Awww...The fraternity of the quad. :yay:

 

[ice coverage]

Beverley Smith
‏@BevSmithWrites

Max Aaron and Takahito Mura doing duelling quads in exhibition practice. Language no barrier to respect. #SCI14
10:24 AM - 2 Nov 2014
https://twitter.com/BevSmithWrites/status/528975887493259264​

...

Beverley Smith @BevSmithWrites

And they are high-fiving each other. Wonderful to see.
11:14 AM - 2 Nov 2014
https://twitter.com/BevSmithWrites/status/528988507843608576​

Video of Aaron and Mura's SBS jumping was posted today by Tom Zakrajsek :

@MaxTAaron and @takahito3211 demonstrate the best side by side jumps in figure skating. Video shot at the Skate Canada exhibition by Team USA coach Alex Chang. Enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=669195833179141 (eight seconds of video)​