Staring with the Trophee Eric Bompard when Nobunari Oda won beating Tomas Verner it was a sign of things to come. For the 2009/2010 season Oda had a program that differed from his previous seasons in that he removed the quads. Why would someone do this for the Olympic season? Because he wanted to win and the world championships the previous March showed that with Lysacek and Chan winning Gold and Silver quads were on the way out. The system as a whole punished them severely. They just weren't worth doing with spins steps and PCS and the inherent risk of doing them in the first place. Tomas Verner started his implosion in the free skate. While Oda with his no quads was able to beat Verner and win the Gold there. In third place was Adam Rippon - an almost total COP skater who never even thinks about doing quads because doing lots of jumps after the halfway point are worth more than quads when you really add everything up.
Trophee Eric Bompard-Winner no quad/-silver medalist quad/-bronze no quad/
Rostelecom Cup- winner with quad/-silver medalist no quad/-bronze no quad
Cup of China-winner no quad/-silver medalist no quad-/bronze-with quad
NHK Trophy- winner with quad/silver with no quad/bronze no quad
Skate America-winner no quad/silver no quad/bronze with quad
Skate Canada- winner with quad/silver no quad/bronze no quad
Grand Prix Final- Winner - no quad/silver no quad/bronze no quad
Olympic Games-Winner no quad/silver quad/bronze no quad
World championships - winner No quad/silver no quad/bronze quad
19 medal performances without quads
8 medal performances with quads
COP is spelling out the death of quads
The following aren't worldwide so I don't tend to count them but I will mention them.
Euros-all medalists did quads
Four Continents-winner no quad
If you look at the breakout star of the season I believe it was obviously Michal Brezina. He is almost a purely COP skater. Everyone says he is the best jumper with a great quad. I have heard it from Paul Wylie, Scott Hamilson, Peter Carruthers and more. He did not even try one once. Why? Because he is smart and knows COP rewards jumps after the haflway point more than quads in many ways. Higher PCS being one way.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Going back to Jeff Buttle
When he won the world championship in 2008 I remember reading a lot of articles that mentioned his quadless win. Reporters seemed intent of pointing out that his skate did not have that element because from 1997 to 2007 all winners had the quad. Four revolutions in the air was big news. He could never really land quads consistently but was able to win because he really did do a lot of jumps after the halfway point. When Lysacek said he injured his foot and would not be doing quads anymore the Buttle skate was his roadmap for winning. He could do all the triples and not doing the quad meant more time to train for steps and spins. So he was able to win. Brian Joubert with all his quads had slower spins and due to the fact that quads take a lot out of a skater could be counted on to fall on something during a program. It just seems to happen all the time with skaters who did quads.
Under 6.0 system where judges just subtracted from 6.0 quads meant it was very likely you would get the least deductions unless you really were a terribly bad spinner or step skills.
So is Jeff Buttle the cause of the vanishing quad? He certainly showed how it was totally unecessary under the COP system and probably not even worth doing. In the 2006 Olympics and the world championships since 2005 people still were embracing the 6.0 mindet of quads quads quads. Now that is gone. It has totally vanished. Only Russian coaches and some skaters who started under 6.0 seem to think the quad matters.
Under 6.0 system where judges just subtracted from 6.0 quads meant it was very likely you would get the least deductions unless you really were a terribly bad spinner or step skills.
So is Jeff Buttle the cause of the vanishing quad? He certainly showed how it was totally unecessary under the COP system and probably not even worth doing. In the 2006 Olympics and the world championships since 2005 people still were embracing the 6.0 mindet of quads quads quads. Now that is gone. It has totally vanished. Only Russian coaches and some skaters who started under 6.0 seem to think the quad matters.
Future of the quad into
This is the first post of this blog and I just wanted to express my opinion on what is happening with the quadruple jump in figure skating. It was a sign of technical progress in the sport like the triple axel or any of the triple jumps. It does not seem to have a future. Why doesn't it have a futre in my view? It is because winners are not doing them. First off they are very hard to do. That is common sense but people were learning them and training for them because they thought they were necessary to win. But now with the Olympic champion and last three world champions all being quadless why bother with that jump now? COP has largely killed the jump. I think COP has killed the jump because under COP you get bonuses for jumps done after the haflway point and the fact that spins and steps have point values. You want to get the highest possible spin and step levels and what better way to do that than stop doing quads in your programs. They do take up a lot of energy and lots of people who do them have slower spins and less complex step sequences.
Look at what happened at the Olympics with Lysacek and Plushenko. Because of all of Lysaceks jumps after the halfway point he was nearly able to tie Plushenko on jumps. Plushenkos quad triple meant nothing when put up against all of Lysaceks jumps after the halfway point. They all increased in value a half point basically. Even if Plushenko's first triple axel had not been tilted in the air which caused negative GOE he still would have only beaten Lysacek by one point. COP has lead to people wiith the ability to do quad triples just barely edging out people who don't do any quads at all! Which makes it totally pointless to do if it also means slower steps and spins and to have lots of people accuse you of being an artless jumper which means lower PCS. Under COP doing a quad is the stupidest thing a skater can do if they have all the triple jumps. I feel I have to say that because of Lambiel who didn't do triple axels so really had to do quads to stay ccompetitive.
As skating goes toward the 2010/2011 season I can only see less people doing quads because of recent proposed changes in the scoring system. Just because the value of the quad looks like it is going to be increased doesn't mean it is actually worth doing. Bonuses after the halfway point plus bonuses for combos mean that any jump combo after the haflway point will be worth 2.2% more than if it was done before the halfway point.
Look at what happened at the Olympics with Lysacek and Plushenko. Because of all of Lysaceks jumps after the halfway point he was nearly able to tie Plushenko on jumps. Plushenkos quad triple meant nothing when put up against all of Lysaceks jumps after the halfway point. They all increased in value a half point basically. Even if Plushenko's first triple axel had not been tilted in the air which caused negative GOE he still would have only beaten Lysacek by one point. COP has lead to people wiith the ability to do quad triples just barely edging out people who don't do any quads at all! Which makes it totally pointless to do if it also means slower steps and spins and to have lots of people accuse you of being an artless jumper which means lower PCS. Under COP doing a quad is the stupidest thing a skater can do if they have all the triple jumps. I feel I have to say that because of Lambiel who didn't do triple axels so really had to do quads to stay ccompetitive.
As skating goes toward the 2010/2011 season I can only see less people doing quads because of recent proposed changes in the scoring system. Just because the value of the quad looks like it is going to be increased doesn't mean it is actually worth doing. Bonuses after the halfway point plus bonuses for combos mean that any jump combo after the haflway point will be worth 2.2% more than if it was done before the halfway point.
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