Lutz Jump - Lutz History

Lutz History

In the "old days" of skating, some skaters carried the idea of the Lutz's counter-rotated entry to an extreme by doing this jump in the opposite direction than their other jumps. For example, Sonja Henie did clockwise Lutz jumps and the remainder of her jumps and spins in a counterclockwise direction. This practice disappeared with the development of multi-rotation jumps.

Today the Lutz is often done in double or triple versions. Alena Vrzáňová of Czechoslovakia was the first woman credited with a double lutz, performed at the 1949 World Championships. Donald Jackson of Canada was the first skater to execute a triple Lutz jump in competition, at the 1962 World Championships; Denise Biellmann of Switzerland is credited as the first woman to do so, at the 1978 European Championships. Brandon Mroz of the United States is credited with landing the first quadruple Lutz jump in a sanctioned competition at the 2011 Colorado Springs Invitational, a club competition sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating; Mroz's jump was subsequently ratified by the International Skating Union after video review. On November 12, Mroz landed it in the short program at 2011 NHK Trophy, becoming the first skater to land it in an international competition.