Which ladies singles skater has performed the best triple axel in competition so far?

[TheIronLady]

I have an old VHS tape somewhere that my coach recorded herself years ago... It's Josee Chouinard landing triple axels in practice, they were amazing and clean! I need to go and find it!

That would be neat if you could convert and upload it. I love Josée and have no doubt that if she landed the 3A it was a great thing to see. I cannot imagine her standing one up in a performance or competitive situation because of her mishaps checking landings.

[Vash01]

I hope Mao gets her 3A back. She is the only lady in recent years to have landed it in competitions.

[TheIronLady]

I hope Mao gets her 3A back. She is the only lady in recent years to have landed it in competitions.

It's so true that Mao's 3A is a model for what ladies can be doing. If it was valued a bit more, it would encourage others too.

[judgejudy27]

I hope Mao gets her 3A back. She is the only lady in recent years to have landed it in competitions.

Why would she bother. When she was doing the triple axel she was often getting downgrades on it and other jumps, and the jump layout value even before the deductions was even coming out to lose. Even when she skated well with it at events like Four Continents and Japanese Nationals in 2011 she couldnt even beat someone like Miki Ando. Now she is doing safe programs, no triple-triple tries, often only 3 clean triples, and is getting huge marks and winning every event for the first time in years, so what kind of message does that send to her, LOL! Proof of the vast flaws of the new system.

[Lainerb]

I don't see why Peggy Fleming would be motivated to exaggerate Maria's abilities.

There was footage of Maria's 3axel during practices at 1996 Worlds on Magic Memories on Ice which was put out back in the 90s. The rotation on it was real good, but it was two footed although I don't' doubt there were clean ones also landed during the practice.

Between Harding and Ito I guess I'd say that I'd give it to Ito for how many times she landed it as well as the height and distance. Harding's would have been perfect had it not been for the lean.

[Vash01]

LOL! Proof of the vast flaws of the new system.

Agreed

[Vash01]

It's so true that Mao's 3A is a model for what ladies can be doing. If it was valued a bit more, it would encourage others too.

The ISU should allow more points for ladies 3A than for mens, because it is so rare. I know it creates some difficulties in scoring, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

To balance it, may be a man doing a Biellman spin or a layback (true) spin should get more credit than a lady- just kidding.

[Sylvia]

Re. Aki Sawada:

Exactly, it remains a mystery. Hopefully, somebody at some point will be able to specify the competition(s) and post some links to some articles/reports on them.

I did a search of the FSU Archives and came up with these posts dated June 6-7, 2003:
My post:

The Japanese ladies that attempted triple axels in competition last
season are coached by Machiko Yamada (Midori ito's old coach): Yoshie
Onda, Yukari Nakano, Mai Asada and Mao Asada.

I witnessed Miki Ando practicing a few triple axels during a Montreal
JGP competition practice last September (they looked like pretty good,
two-footed attempts), but she did not attempt any in competition that I
know about.

Mie Hamada also coaches another promising junior lady named Aki Sawada
(5th in the Belgrade JGP last fall). Sawada attempted/fell on a triple
axel in her free skate at 2002 Japanese Junior Nationals last season
(she finished 6th overall).

Bluelutz's post:
"Like Sylvia wrote, Ota shares the coach, Mie Hamada with Aki Sawada who
attempted 3A a few times in minor competitions besides Japanese Junior
nationals last season."

Miki_tan's post:
"Aki Sawada(14)'s 3A attempts in late March 2003 competition looked
closer to land than last fall competition attempts."

So, still no hard evidence regarding when/where Aki Sawada may have landed a 3A in Japanese competition.

[TheIronLady]

The ISU should allow more points for ladies 3A than for mens, because it is so rare. I know it creates some difficulties in scoring, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

To balance it, may be a man doing a Biellman spin or a layback (true) spin should get more credit than a lady- just kidding.

That's hilarious. I think the ISU rules should value elements differently for men and women.

[leapfrogonice]

Tonya Harding. Skate America 1991. Hands down.

[NadineWhite]

Someone characterized the above as spam? I think it's an excellent analysis. I believe that none other than Kristi Yamaguchi would agree with you re: points one and two. She said in an interview that Tonya's triple axel was even more beautiful than Midori's. And Kristi probably saw a lot of triple axels by both Midori and Tonya in practice.

As for little ol' non-expert me, I think I give a small edge to Midori, but I'm not sure whether I am being unduly influenced by the facts that 1) she was the first, 2) she landed much more of them in competition than did Tonya and 3) she landed them for a much longer time frame than did Tonya.

But as far as the quality of the jump, I'm torn and need to watch the videos again. It's kind of like choosing between my 2 favorite desserts: both are so fabulous that one day one is my favorite and the next day the other one is. Midori and Tonya were both amazing!

Lol, actually it wasn't someone, but rather a gaggle of someones that marked it as spam. Which tickles my funny bone because youtube posters are hilarious, especially when you disagree with them.

Anyhow, I take it all in stride with a grain of salt and a pinch of vinegar thrown in.

Back to 3axels! I'm a stickler for technique, and a leg wrap is a leg wrap is a leg wrap ad infinitum, no matter how legendary or nice/kind the person doing it is. Doesn't make a bit of difference, it's like the story of the duck, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, then it is a duck. Leg wrap = bad technique. Period.

Now I want to talk about Mao's 3axel, especially when done perfectly, like here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-sHFceaGEY *replay starts at 4:50, wherein commentator Susie Wynne classifies it as textbook perfect*

So even though Tonya & Midori's 3axels were high and powerful and completedly rotated with no underrotation issues ever, Mao's in comparison make up for it by being elegant, feminine, balletic, tight in the air with legs close together, and lovely. Deceptive power packaged in the body of a ballerina.


ps: thanks so much for the story about Kristi's admiration of Tonya's 3axel; I'm not surprised, look at her face when Tonya finishes her program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdC5G7CDvbI