Triple Salchow Lesson (Michelle Leigh)

Olympic coach Michelle Leigh works with a skater in a 3-part series on jumps leading to triple salchow and triple toe. This is the final part of this lesson. In the first part, Michelle worked on 3-jump combinations with the skater. But she also introduced the skater and provided background that is important for this video. Please watch the first part of that video here. In Part 2 of the lesson, double axel was the focus.

In this video, the lesson turns to the triple salchow and briefly the triple toe. As Michelle noted in the earlier videos of the series, this skater has not learned the important skill of spinning fast. So the challenge when working on the triple is jumping high enough yet pulling in tight and spinning fast. As with so many skaters, when the focus switches to rotation rate, jump height is often sacrificed initially.

The first warm-up double salchow attempt was from a back outside three mohawk entrance. The jump didn’t go up so Michelle switched to the crosscut entrance. Michelle uses this entrance to develop rhythm and control (and the all-important “stretch”). Again, Michelle stresses that she doesn’t want “too much” knee bend if it makes the timing sluggish.

The first triple attempt doesn’t go up, so Michelle focuses on the stretch before the jump. A strong stretch helps prevent a skater from “rushing” the jump. After walk-throughs and singles, the second triple attempt is better but still doesn’t get up in the air very far. After more discussion, the next triple is definitely better.

At the very end of the lesson, Michelle has the skater attempt a triple toe loop.