There are six figure skating jumps: three edge jumps (the axel, loop, and Salchow) and three toe jumps (the toe loop, flip, and Lutz). You can tell them apart by watching the takeoff: which direction the skater is facing, which edge of the blade they're on, and whether the toe pick stabs the ice first. Once you know those cues, a Lutz and a Salchow stop looking like the same blur.
Key takeaways
- Every jump is either an edge jump (axel, loop, Salchow) or a toe jump (toe loop, flip, Lutz).
- From easiest to hardest, and lowest to highest base value: toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip, Lutz, axel.
- The axel is the only forward takeoff, so it carries an extra half rotation: a triple axel is 3.5 turns.
- The flip and Lutz look alike; the flip takes off from a back inside edge and the Lutz from a back outside edge.
- Second-half jumps earn a 10% bonus, but only the last jump pass of the short program and the last three of the free skate qualify.
You're watching the Olympics, and a skater launches into the air, spins what looks like a million times, and lands on one foot. The commentator yells "TRIPLE LUTZ!" and the crowd goes wild, while you're sitting there thinking, "How is that different from the last one?"
You're not alone. Figure skating jumps all look pretty similar when a skater is spinning at 300+ RPM in the air, and the differences between them are subtle. Once you know what to look for, though, you'll never watch skating the same way again.
The two categories: edge jumps vs. toe jumps
Every figure skating jump falls into one of two categories based on how the skater gets into the air. Edge jumps take off using only the curve of the blade's edge, with no toe pick involved; think of springing off a bent knee. The three edge jumps are the axel, the loop, and the Salchow.
Toe jumps start with the skater planting the jagged toe pick at the front of the blade into the ice and vaulting into the air, kind of like a pole vault. The three toe jumps are the toe loop, the flip, and the Lutz. If you're shopping for your first pair of figure skates, toe picks and all, our guide to the best figure skating boots and blades for adult beginners walks through the options.
The easiest way to spot the difference in real time is to watch the free leg right before takeoff. If it swings up and forward, it's likely an edge jump. If it reaches back and stabs the ice, it's a toe jump, and from there the takeoff edge tells you which one.
The six jumps, ranked by difficulty
The ISU (International Skating Union) officially ranks the six jumps from easiest to hardest, and that ranking sets their base value in the scoring system, so harder jumps are worth more points. The table below is the cheat-sheet version, and the sections after it go jump by jump, from the easiest to the hardest.
| Jump | Type | Takeoff | Toe pick | Landing | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toe loop | Toe | Backward, outside edge | Yes | Same foot | A reach back to tap the ice; often the add-on jump in a combination |
| Salchow | Edge | Backward, inside edge | No | Opposite foot, backward outside edge | A three-turn, then a scooping "D" swing of the free leg |
| Loop | Edge | Backward, outside edge | No | Same foot, backward outside edge | A one-foot glide, then a takeoff like rising out of a chair |
| Flip | Toe | Backward, inside edge | Yes | Opposite foot, backward outside edge | A deep knee bend on an inside edge, then a toe-pick stab |
| Lutz | Toe | Backward, outside edge | Yes | Opposite foot, backward outside edge | A long, gliding entry and rotation against the curve (counter-rotation) |
| Axel | Edge | Forward, outside edge | No | Opposite foot, backward outside edge | The only forward takeoff, with the free leg kicking up and forward |
1. Toe loop (easiest)
The toe loop takes off from a backward outside edge with a toe-pick assist, and the skater lands on the same foot they started on. To spot it, watch for the skater gliding backward, reaching back with the free foot to tap the ice, and taking off. Because it's the easiest jump to tack onto another jump's landing, the toe loop is the most common second jump in combinations, so you'll usually see it as the "add-on" at the end.
2. Salchow
The Salchow is an edge jump from a backward inside edge, landing on the opposite foot on a backward outside edge. The skater turns from forward to backward (usually with a three-turn), then swings the free leg forward in a scooping "D" shape to launch, with no toe pick involved, just edge and momentum. It's named after Ulrich Salchow of Sweden, a 10-time world champion who first performed it in 1909. And yes, it's pronounced "SAL-kow," not "sal-CHOW."
3. Loop
The loop takes off from a backward outside edge and lands on the same foot, also on a backward outside edge. The skater glides backward on one foot in a curve and, without using a toe pick, springs off the edge, almost as if sitting into a chair and launching out of it. In Germany and most of continental Europe it's called the "Rittberger," after German skater Werner Rittberger, who first performed it in 1910.
4. Flip
The flip is a toe jump from a backward inside edge, landing on the opposite foot on a backward outside edge. The skater glides backward with a deep knee bend on an inside edge, reaches back with the free leg, stabs the toe pick into the ice, and vaults up. It was originally called the "tulip jump," supposedly because the skater's body in midair resembles a tulip. It's also the jump most often confused with the Lutz, and the difference is the takeoff edge: inside for the flip, outside for the Lutz.
5. Lutz
The Lutz is a toe jump from a backward outside edge, landing on the opposite foot on a backward outside edge. Look for a long, gliding entry, often from one corner of the rink: the skater is on a backward outside edge, reaches back to tap the toe pick, and then rotates in the opposite direction from the curve of the entry. That counter-rotation is what makes the Lutz so difficult. It's traditionally credited to Alois Lutz of Austria, who is said to have first performed it in 1913.
If a skater is supposed to be on an outside edge but cheats onto an inside edge at takeoff, commentators and fans call it a flutz (flip plus Lutz). Judges can and do deduct points for wrong-edge takeoffs, so a flutz is more than a style note.
6. Axel (hardest)
The axel is the king of jumps: an edge jump that takes off from a forward outside edge (the only forward-facing takeoff) and lands on the opposite foot on a backward outside edge. That makes it the easiest jump to identify, since you'll see the skater skating forward, bending the knee, and kicking the free leg up and forward to launch. Because skaters take off forward but land backward, every axel has an extra half rotation built in, so a "triple axel" is actually 3.5 rotations and a "quad axel" is 4.5.
The jump is named after Norwegian skater Axel Paulsen, who first performed it in 1882 at an international competition in Vienna while wearing speed skates; he was both a speed skater and a figure skater. The quad axel belongs to Ilia Malinin, the first and only person to land one in competition. He first did it in September 2022 and has repeated the feat multiple times since, completing 4.5 rotations in approximately 0.79 seconds of airtime at an average of 340 RPM, with peaks exceeding 400 RPM.
Quick reference: base values at a glance
Here are the base values for every double, triple, and quad. Read across a row to see how much each extra rotation is worth, or down a column to watch the difficulty ranking play out in points.
| Jump | Type | Double | Triple | Quad |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toe loop | Toe | 1.30 | 4.20 | 9.50 |
| Salchow | Edge | 1.30 | 4.30 | 9.70 |
| Loop | Edge | 1.70 | 4.90 | 10.50 |
| Flip | Toe | 1.80 | 5.30 | 11.00 |
| Lutz | Toe | 2.10 | 5.90 | 11.50 |
| Axel | Edge | 3.30 | 8.00 | 12.50 |
These are base values only. The actual score for each jump is adjusted up or down by the Grade of Execution (GOE), and jumps performed in the second half of a program can earn a 10% bonus, with limits covered in the second-half bonus section below.
How to tell jumps apart in real time
Even seasoned fans sometimes struggle to tell jumps apart at full speed, so it helps to run through the same few checks in order. First, look at which way the skater is facing at takeoff: if they're going forward, it's an axel, the only jump you can reliably identify every time. If not, watch whether they tap a toe into the ice before jumping, because a toe tap means a toe jump (toe loop, flip, or Lutz).
For an edge jump, watch the free leg: a forward, scooping swing usually means a Salchow, while a skater gliding on one foot with minimal leg movement is probably doing a loop. The flip and Lutz cause the most confusion, since both use the toe pick from a backward edge. The difference is the edge itself, an inside edge for the flip (curved as if the body leans inward) and an outside edge for the Lutz (as if it leans outward), and the flip is the one more easily confused with other jumps.
If you're working on your own jumps, filming them is one of the easiest ways to check your takeoff edge and rotation. We've put together a Film Your Skating list on our Amazon storefront with a phone tripod, a gimbal and a few other things that make it easier to film yourself at the rink, where your rink allows it.
See the Film Your Skating list
Heads up: this guide contains an Amazon affiliate link. If you buy through it, Adults Skate Too earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. Details.
Why the axel is so hard
If you've watched figure skating at all, you've heard commentators gush about the axel like it's the holy grail of figure skating, and it kind of is. The reasons come down to geometry, physics, and nerve.
Start with the extra half rotation. Every other jump is fundamentally symmetrical: the skater skates backward, takes off backward, rotates, and lands backward. The axel breaks that symmetry, because the skater takes off going forward but has to land backward, and that change of direction forces an extra half rotation into every axel. So when commentators say "triple axel," the skater is actually completing 3.5 rotations in the air, a quad axel is 4.5, and even a single axel is 1.5.
Then there's the physics. Landing a jump requires matching the direction of your takeoff, but the axel's forward entry and backward landing force a skater to essentially "undo" their momentum and change direction midair, which makes it one of the most difficult technical aspects of figure skating. Finally, there's the mental barrier: launching forward into the air when your brain is screaming to land on a backward edge is psychologically demanding, and adult skaters often report that the mental block is harder than the physical technique. If you know a skater who's still chasing theirs, there's an Axel Cult Member sticker in our gift guide for adult figure skaters.
The second-half bonus explained
You might notice that skaters often place their hardest jumps late in their programs, and the second-half bonus is why. In the current scoring system (since 2018), jumps performed in the second half of a program earn a 10% bonus on their base value, but the bonus doesn't apply to every second-half jump. In the short program, only the last jump pass (combination or solo) gets it, and in the free skate, only the last three jump passes do.
That's why you'll see skaters saving their quads for the end of the routine. A quad Lutz is worth 11.50 points at base value, but with the 10% bonus it becomes 12.65, and that extra 1.15 points can make a huge difference in competition. Our guide to how skaters decide where to put jumps covers the strategy side.
Sources
The rules and values in this guide come from the ISU and U.S. Figure Skating documents below, plus the historical references for each jump's name. The ISU updates its rules most seasons, so check the current edition before relying on any single number.
- ISU Communication, Scale of Values for Single & Pair Skating (current season): base values for every jump.
- ISU Technical Panel Handbook, Single Skating (2025-26 edition): takeoff edges and edge calls for the flip and Lutz.
- ISU Communication 2176, Single & Pair Skating changes accepted by the 2018 ISU Congress: the limit on the second-half bonus.
- ISU Special Regulations & Technical Rules, Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance: the second-half bonus factor.
- U.S. Figure Skating Rulebook (current edition): how ISU rules are applied at U.S. Figure Skating events.
- Guinness World Records, First quadruple axel in a figure skating competition.
- Jump names and dates: Wikipedia entries for Ulrich Salchow, Werner Rittberger, Alois Lutz, and Axel Paulsen.
