Toe Loop Jump Tip From Olympic Coach: Entrance And Combinations (Audrey Weisiger)

Audrey Weisiger shares a number of alternative entrances to double toe loop and discusses toe loop combination jumps.

As Audrey mentions and Shannon demonstrates, there are 4 basic or standard toe loop entrances. Interestingly, most coaches only use two of these entrances. However, skaters that can master all 4 entrances generally have to have pretty good technique. As Audrey notes, skaters should be attempting the jump from all these entrances as soon as they can do a double toe (or even a single toe loop!).

After the 4 basic entrances, Audrey and Shannon come up with some other creative entrances. Note that nearly any setup that results in the skater being on a right back outside edge can be used for a toe loop entrance. Notice how challenging these are for Shannon and remember that Shannon has an excellent triple toe loop. Skaters need this challenge to refine their technique and the difficulty of these entrances should result in more credit in competition.

To end the video, Audrey touches on one of her favorite exercises for learning double and triple toe loop combinations. The waltz jump double toe combination is particularly useful for getting the feel of the double toe loop in combination. Similarly, the waltz jump triple toe loop combination is great for triple toe combos. The combination forces the skater to use proper technique and really isn’t possible if the skater normally has an extremely curvy double toe entrance. One of the other benefits of using this exercise is that the first jump is very easy and skaters don’t need to put much focus on the first jump. If they don’t have good alignment on the waltz jump, this needs to be addressed first but once the waltz jump has nice flow and alignment, particularly on the landing, it’s a perfect foundation jump for learning toe loop combinations.

One of the issues facing skaters that work on this combination for the first time is the seeming lack of rotational energy they can create. But over time they learn that the rotational energy doesn’t come from a strong edge or a take-off that goes around, but rather from the speed and the fact that the take-off goes through and then turns over. Again, notice how challenging this is for Shannon but she masters it after just a few attempts.