World and Olympic coach Audrey Weisiger continues a double axel lesson at a camp. In Part 1 Audrey used one-foot axels, standstill double loops, and even a modified double salchow. In this video, the skater does an over-rotated one-foot axel with a good axis followed by a double axel attempt with a poor axis (tilted outside the circle). This is very common as the lower body cuts across too much when the skater is trying harder to create rotation.
As Audrey is demonstrating, it’s often easier to use a one-foot axel to create the necessary change in a skater’s muscle memory (i.e. single axel take-off) than try to fix the single axel itself. As in Part 1 she describes the double as a one-foot axel take-off followed by a double loop in the air. Notice the reminder at 2:08 about the jump direction as proper flow through the take-off remains critical, even while trying to generate more rotational energy from the take-off edge. Audrey asks the skater for a “double one-foot axel with a push back” to try for the correct take-off with more of the needed rotation in the air.
Next Audrey asks the skater to jump higher, to get more pressure from the edge and press upward. She is trying to get more quickness and force on the take-off. The attempt at 3:38 is better but the skater opens the legs on the way down, so Audrey asks for a single axel that is landed in a backspin. This is a classic drill for getting skaters to rotate the double axel on the way down. She finishes the lesson with double loop land in backspin and double salchow land in backspin. As Audrey notes, skaters working in double axels should be able to do these double jump backspin drills.
