Salchow Jump - History

History

Ulrich Salchow invented the jump that bears his name in 1909. Theresa Weld was the first female skater to perform it, at the 1920 Summer Olympics; she was reprimanded for attempting anything so "unladylike", but that did not stop other female skaters from performing jumps.

Double Salchows were first performed by Gillis Grafström for men in the 1920s, and Cecilia Colledge for women in the late 1930s.

The first triple Salchow was landed by Ronnie Robertson at the 1955 World Figure Skating Championships.

Petra Burka has been credited as being the first woman to land a triple salchow jump (and also the first triple jump of any type by a woman), in domestic competition at the 1962 Canadian Championships and in international competition at the 1965 World Championships. However, according to a contemporary report on the 1961 European Figure Skating Championships, both Helli Sengstschmidt and Jana Mrazkova did triple salchows at that event, predating Burka's earliest claim.

Timothy Goebel is recognized to have landed the first quadruple Salchow at the 1998 Junior Series Final. Goebel's jump, however, used the aforementioned controversial two-footed Salchow technique. The first (and, so far, only) female skater to have landed a quadruple Salchow in competition was Miki Ando at the 2002 Junior Grand Prix Final.

The first throw quadruple Salchow pair element in international competition was performed on November 17, 2007 by Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent of the United States at the 2007 Trophée Eric Bompard competition.