Toe loop jump

Figure skating element
Element name:	Toe loop jump
Scoring abbreviation:	T
Element type:	Jump
Take-off edge:	Back outside
Landing edge:	Back outside
Inventor:	Bruce Mapes

The toe loop is one of the simplest jumps in figure skating. It is usually the second jump learned after the Salchow. It is a toe pick-assisted jump that takes off and lands on the same backward outside edge.

The most commonly taught entrance to a toe loop is straight-line approach into a right forward inside 3 turn. The skater then vaults into the air from the right back outside edge with an assist from the left toe pick, planted well behind the right foot, before rotating counterclockwise in the air and landing on a right back outside edge. For a clockwise jump, left and right are reversed.

Another common entry to the toe loop is from a forward outside 3 turn with a step to the back outside edge on the other foot just before the pick. The toe loop is also often used as the second jump in jump combinations, because it takes off on the same edge on which most jumps land.

In a toe loop, the skater must be careful not to pre-rotate the upper body prior to or during the toe pick action, as this is considered a serious flaw in technique. A pre-rotated toe loop, where the skater has turned to jump forward off the toe pick instead of backward, is nicknamed a toe Axel because it is essentially an Axel jump.

There are two half-rotation jumps in figure skating which use a toe loop takeoff:

Another toe loop variant is the one-and-a-half toe loop. As the name implies, this is a 1.5 rotation jump that lands forward, like the ballet jump. Up until the 1970s it was quite commonly used as an element of jump sequences, but is almost never performed today because of the emphasis on triple and quadruple jumps.

The toe loop was invented in the 1920s by Bruce Mapes, an American professional show skater.

Toe loops can be done as singles (one revolution is completed in the air), doubles, triples, and even quadruples. Thomas Litz was the first skater to land a triple toe loop, which he accomplished at the 1964 World Figure Skating Championships; Grzegorz Filipowski of Poland was the first skater to perform a triple-triple toe loop combination in competition, in 1980. Jozef Sabovcik of Czechoslovakia landed a quadruple toe loop at the 1986 European Championships which was recognized at the event but then ruled invalid three weeks later due to a touchdown with his free foot. At the 1988 World Championships, Kurt Browning of Canada landed the first quad toe loop which has remained ratified.

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