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 turn and 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.
If you've watched skating on TV, you've probably heard a commentator call a triple Lutz and wondered how it was different from the jump before it. The differences are small and happen fast, but every jump has a takeoff you can learn to spot, and the rest of this guide goes through them one at a time.
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 jump names, easiest to hardest
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 German and Russian it's called the "Rittberger," after German skater Werner Rittberger, who is credited with inventing 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'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 a corner of the rink, as the skater on a backward outside edge reaches back to tap the toe pick and then rotates against 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.
6. Axel (hardest)
The axel is 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 performed the first Axel in 1882. The quad axel belongs to Ilia Malinin, who first landed it in competition in September 2022. The ISU describes him as the first and, so far, the only skater to have done it.
The scoring system on two pages
Two pages of our Competition Kit explain base values, GOE and the deductions that actually happen, in a PDF you print at home.
Get the kitBase values at a glance
Here are the base values for every single, double, triple and quad in the 2026-27 scale of values. Quints are in the scale now too, at 14.00 points each for the quint toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip and Lutz, though they're only allowed as solo jumps in the free skate. 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 | Single | Double | Triple | Quad |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toe loop | Toe | 0.40 | 1.30 | 4.20 | 9.50 |
| Salchow | Edge | 0.40 | 1.30 | 4.30 | 9.70 |
| Loop | Edge | 0.50 | 1.70 | 4.90 | 10.50 |
| Flip | Toe | 0.50 | 1.80 | 5.30 | 11.00 |
| Lutz | Toe | 0.60 | 2.10 | 5.90 | 11.50 |
| Axel | Edge | 1.10 | 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.
Leaps in figure skating, and how they differ from jumps
When skaters talk about leaps, they usually mean the split jump, the stag jump and their variations, where the point is the shape you hold in the air rather than the number of turns. Plenty of people also say leaps when they just mean jumps in general, which is a perfectly normal way to put it, and if that's what brought you here, everything above this section is for you. The six jumps above are what the U.S. Figure Skating rulebook calls listed jumps, meaning the jumps that are in the ISU scale of values. The split sits on the rulebook's other list, the non-listed jumps, as a half-revolution jump that takes off from a back inside edge with a toe push and holds a split position in the air. Coach Amy Brolsma says skaters can start learning split jumps as soon as they can do a half flip, and her lesson on them also covers the stag, the Russian split and the tuck jump.
Under the ISU system, the split doesn't earn points as a jump of its own. The rulebook says non-listed jumps don't have a point value and don't count as jump elements when they're done by themselves. The ISU Technical Panel Handbook treats a split jump the same way at international events, though a skater can use one as a special entrance into a jump, and the judges can take that into account in the Composition mark. Junior and senior free skates also have a Choreographic Sequence, which the handbook describes as at least two different skating movements, such as spirals, spread eagles, Ina Bauers and any jumps of up to two revolutions, and the judges score it through GOE alone on a fixed base value.
Learn to Skate USA's adult competitions handle them differently at the lower levels. In the Adult High Beginner free skate, the stag and the split are on the list of allowed jumps, next to the bunny hop, mazurka, ballet jump and waltz jump, and the program can have up to four jump elements. At Adult Bronze, the free skate includes a choreographic sequence of at least two skating movements, and the competition manual gives split jumps as one example, along with spirals, Ina Bauers and spread eagles. Listed jumps and spins aren't permitted inside that sequence, so a split jump there counts as a skating movement rather than a jump.
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 faces at takeoff, because if they're going forward, it's an axel, the only jump you can reliably spot 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).
With an edge jump, a forward, scooping swing of the free leg 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 the hardest jump
If you've watched figure skating at all, you've heard commentators talk about the axel more than any other jump, and the ISU itself calls it the most difficult of the six.
It starts with the extra half rotation, since every other jump is symmetrical, and 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 switch from facing forward to facing backward adds an extra half rotation to 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.
That extra half turn is the real difficulty. A skater doesn't change direction in the air; the forward takeoff simply means there's half a turn more to complete before the backward landing, so a double axel asks for two and a half turns where a double Lutz asks for two. Many adults also find it frightening to launch forward, and adult skaters often say the mental block is harder than the 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. At U.S. Figure Skating events judged under the IJS, the bonus only applies in junior and senior short programs and in juvenile through senior and adult silver and higher free skates. Adult free skates count the second half from the midpoint of the maximum time, and adult bronze and pre-bronze free skates don't get the bonus.
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, which is 1.15 points more. 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, "Figure Skating Jumps Explained" (news): the six types of jumps, the edge and toe jumps, the Axel as the most difficult, who each jump is named after and when it was first performed, and Ilia Malinin as the only skater so far to land a quad Axel in competition.
- ISU Communication 2786, Scale of Values for Single & Pair Skating 2026-27: base values for every jump, including quints.
- ISU Technical Panel Handbook, Single Skating 2026-27 (July 15, 2026): 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.
- U.S. Figure Skating 2026-27 Rulebook, rule 1071, and the 2026-2027 Adult Singles Free Skating Requirements (version 1.1): where the second-half bonus applies at U.S. events and the adult second-half times.
- Guinness World Records, First quadruple axel in a figure skating competition.
- Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, Kurt Browning member profile, and The Globe and Mail, "Quad milestones": Browning's quad toe loop at the 1988 World Championships.
