ISU

Kamila Valieva (RUS) landed a quadruple toeloop on her way to gold at the first ISU Junior Grand Prix event of the season in Courchevel.

Alysa Liu (USA) hit a quad Lutz in her winning Free Skating at the second ISU Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid. They now have joined the exclusive Ladies‘ quad club.

Did you know that two-time ISU World Figure Skating Champion Miki Ando (JPN) was the first female skater to perform a quadruple jump in competition that was officially ratified? Miki accomplished the feat at the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in The Hague (NED) in December 2002 by landing a quadruple Salchow.

Miki Ando (JPN) at the All Japan Figure Skating Championships 2013©Getty Images

However, the Japanese skater was not the first woman to attempt a quad in competition. This honor belongs to five-time ISU European Figure Skating Champion Surya Bonaly (FRA) who was practising quadruple jumps and attempting them in competition as early as in 1990 – at a time when only few men were doing quadruple jumps. At the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 1990, the Frenchwoman even went for both quad Salchow and quad toeloop. Surya tried these quads in major competitions for several years and came close to landing a clean one a few times. Unfortunately, she never got a quad ratified as she was not able to produce a completely clean one in competition. The jump was either underrotated, not clean or she fell.

It took a while before another female skater attempted a quadruple jump in a major competition again. 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen (USA) went for a quadruple Salchow in 2001 and landed it in practice, but not in competition.

Following Miki Ando‘s quad it took 15 years before another woman landed one that was ratified. Alexandra Trusova (RUS) became the first female skater to produce a quadruple toeloop and also landed a quadruple Salchow at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2018. The two-time ISU World Junior Champion is the first woman to have landed two quads in one program and became also the first one to perform a quadruple Lutz in international competition, again in 2018.

Now, the Ladies‘ quad club has been growing. 2019 World silver medalist Elizabet Tursynbaeva (KAZ) became the first woman to land a quadruple jump, the Salchow, in an international senior-level competition at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019. Current ISU World Junior Figure Skating silver medalist Anna Shcherbakova (RUS) has landed a quadruple Lutz in national events in 2018.

So far now, five Ladies can claim to be official members of the club meaning that they have landed a clean quadruple jump in an international ISU competition: Miki Ando, Alexandra Trusova, Elizabet Tursynbaeva and now Kamila Valieva and Alysa Liu. Who is next?