Mao Asada - Jumping Technique and Signature Moves

Jumping Technique and Signature Moves

During her first two years on the international scene, Asada became known for her signature move, the cross-grab Biellmann position. She is also noted for performing the one-handed Biellmann spin in competition.

Asada landed her first triple axel jump at the age of 12, and she became the first lady to perform a triple-triple-triple combination in national competition, which was a triple flip-triple loop-triple toe loop combination. At the age of 14, Asada landed a triple axel in her free skating program at the 2004 Junior Grand Prix Final, held in December 2004 at Helsinki, Finland, becoming the first junior girl to do one in an international event. She has since been known for her triple axel jumps.

Starting with the 2007–2008 season, criteria for judging jump take-off and landing technique were made more rigorous, and Asada began to be penalized for under-rotating her jumps and for change-of-edge errors on her Lutz jump, colloquially called a "flutz."

Asada did not include salchow jumps in her junior and senior career programs until 2008. She had stated previously that the triple salchow was the first triple jump she had ever landed and that she did not have a problem landing it cleanly, but she was not comfortable using the jump in competition because it is one of her least favorite jumps. Asada added the triple salchow to her free skate program in the 2008 NHK Trophy and 2008-2009 Grand Prix Final.

Normally, Asada uses a triple loop jump as her second jump in a combination, especially after the triple flip. However, she added the toe loop to her free program as the second jump of her first triple-triple combination during the 2004–2005 season, a triple flip-triple toe loop. In the 2006–2007 season she used the double axel-triple toe, while in the 2007–2008 season she performed the triple flip-triple toe loop again.

In the 2008–2009 season she executed the triple axel-double toe loop combination in international competition, first getting full credit for it at the 2008-2009 Grand Prix Final. At that same competition, Asada became the first female skater to land two triple axels in the same program. She is also the only woman to have landed three triple axel jumps in the same competition at an ISU competition. She has a Guinness World Record for the most triple axels performed by a female skater in competition.

Asada credits training alongside Takahiko Kozuka for improving her spins. The number of rotations she is able to achieve with one kick increased from 30 to 104.

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