If you've been following the early fall Junior Grand Prix Series or Challenger Series, you may have been thrown for a loop – or is it an Euler?
The half loop, a popular connecting jump in a three-jump series, is no more. Instead, it is going by its other name, the Euler. The International Skating Union changed the terminology during its Congress in June.
What exactly is an Euler? The jump starts from the back outside edge of one skate and is landed on the opposite foot and edge. It is most often done in a three-jump combination, and is a way to put a skater on an edge to attempt a flip or Salchow as the third jump. It can only be done as a single jump – you will not see a quadruple Euler being attempted. When the Euler is used in a combination, it is credited on a score sheet as a "1Eu," worth a base value of 0.50.
The benefits to the renaming? The new notation makes detailed protocol sheets a bit easier to follow. Plus, it makes it possible for a skater to attempt a three-jump combination even if they have single loop jumps already in their program (on purpose or because they popped out of the jump).
The Euler name did not come out of just anywhere. Though the exact skater who named the sport is unknown, the roller skating community has always referred to the half loop as an Euler, and pockets of the figure skating community have as well.
But in parts of Europe, the jump isn't known as a Euler or half loop at all. Instead, it is known as a Thorén, after Swedish figure skater Per Ludvig Julius Thorén, who won the bronze medal at the 1908 Olympics. The jury is out on if Thorén might get his turn on the score sheet in the next Olympiad.
