The Czech figure skating federation held the second Junior Grand Prix this season, which was exciting to watch. I had the chance to be there to record a few triple axle and quad toe loops (4T). Let’s talk about Mao Shimada from Japan. The first analysis highlights the toe-pick leg, how Mao moves her leg, and makes contact with the ice. It was shot during the official training.
Mao Shimada is a Japanese figure skater with a decorated career. She is also the 21st and second Japanese woman to land a triple Axel jump and quadruple toe-loop in competition.
The first analysis highlights the toe-pick leg, how Mao moves her leg, and makes contact with the ice. It was shot during the official training. The launch angle combines the skater’s vertical and horizontal velocity at the take-off. Having ice contact with the entire blade influences the launch angle a lot. To make it short ( I planned to explain the importance of the launch angle in another blog), the skater is getting off the ice to fly as long as possible.
During the 6-minute warm-up, Mao succeeded in one quad-toe loop, but unfortunately, there was no video. From the Free Skating (FS) ISU broadcast, we can get this view to understand better why Shimada moves her free leg like this. In every jump, preparation is the most important; here, it’s the 3-turn.
During the two feet part of the preparation, we can see that her body weight is not correctly on her right axis. The next move is the foot change, meaning she should anticipate this and transfer her weight to the right leg. It explains why she is changing her edge (inside->outside).
For a triple toe, it’s not so important; it’s recommended to do a quick change of edge but for a quad. Each aspect of the preparation must be optimized.
Her inside backward edge is making her unbalanced. The main consequence is opening the left hip to tap the ice too much. On this attempt, her Center Of Mass (C.O.M., noted with the blue arrow below) is almost aligned with her toe picks. However, the vertical velocity direction is ineffective (red arrow).
This stromotion is done from the video I filmed from the audience, a profile view to add more value to the ISU video.
The preparation is long. Mao takes from the moment she is backward to tap the ice 1,478 seconds (On average, 0,768 seconds). The approaching speed with a start backward and then a turn generates a compelling angular momentum. Mao doesn’t use this effect so much.
In this picture, we can see that she holds a lot of her head.
The result is a landing called < (Under-rotated). That’s why she fell.
This jump had a more extended flight time (Ft) than was recorded during the training. 0.638s in the air instead of 0.604s. The snap's angular velocity (when the skater takes off to the final air position) is almost the same in both studied jumps ( around 28 radians per second).