Why the Triple (and Quadruple) Axel Is So Hard

Even casual fans of figure skating have likely heard of the triple axel. And now, thanks to U.S. men’s champion Ilia Malinin, you’ll be hearing a lot about the quadruple axel, or quad axel, too.

What makes it so impressive? Any axel jump–single, double, triple, or quad–actually involves an extra half rotation. So a single axel is really 1.5 turns in the air, the double 2.5, and so on. So yes, that means that Malinin performs 4.5 revolutions in the air between taking off and landing when he does the quad.