axel

abbreviation of Axel-Paulsen jump, spinning jump in figure skating

After the Norwegian skater Axel Paulsen (Oslo 18551938).

Paulsen mastered the sport of skating in the 1880s. The race in Oslo between Axel Paulsen and two Dutch challengers, Renke van der Zee and Benedictus Kingma, who competed in a race over three English miles in 1885, became legendary.

Paulsen won overwhelmingly, with a lead of 425 meters. An event mentioned in the Norwegian song 'Axel Paul-
sens skating gallop' has been immortalized. Until 1921, Paulsen ran a grocery store in Oslo.

Paulsen launched, among other things, the very recognizable corkscrew jump. The single axel (from 1882) consists of one and a half turns or 540 degrees; the double axel is a jump with two and a half turns or 900 degrees and was first performed in 1948 by the American Dick Button.

The triple, first jumped by Vern Taylor in 1978, involves three and a half turns or 1260 degrees. The axel is the only jump in which the figure skater pushes forward.

Other jumps that bear the name of a skater are the lutz, after the Austrian Alois Lutz, the salchow, after the Swedish champion Ulrich Salchow and the rittberger, after the German Werner Rittberger.