A Different Way
Now you all know that I’ve been on the struggle bus with my double salchow. My body just doesn’t want to cooperate and get into the correct alignment for this jump. You’d think that with a (fairly solid) axel, that a double salchow would be easy peasy. Not so.
Coach B has me doing the double salchow entrance from a ‘magic circle” entry, which is where I am pigeon-toed on the ice. This means that I am on two inside edges.
I asked two skaters from my rink if I could video them doing a double salchow so I could watch their technique. Both agreed, and what I found was really interesting. Both skaters (one male, one female), did theirs from a toe-loop-like entrance. That meant that their free foot was actually on an outside edge and kicking through like a toe loop.
Puzzled, I asked my coach about this, and she said that it was just a different technique. In fact, she said that many higher level skaters (particularly those who execute triple or quadruple salchows) use this outside edge tactic pretty often.
Huh.
Don’t believe me? Here is a video of Sasha Cohen executing a quadruple (!!) salchow with the outside edge that I am referring to.
So now you know. There’s always a different way to accomplish the same element. And there is no “right way.” It’s simply the “right way” for you and your body. Mine has yet to figure it out!
