Figure Skating is a sport suited for few; while it looks absolutely awe-inspiring with its elegant step sequences and herculean jumps, the sport requires a precise and flawless mix of athletic ability, body proportions and mindset for one to be a high-level athlete. Almost every beginner physics book uses skaters as examples to explain concepts due to the sport being densely packed with physical phenomenon. From the conservation of angular momentum to the behaviour of mass and inertia, there are numerous processes that have conceptual explanations. Today though, we’re not going to describe one of these frequently discussed occurrences, instead we’re going to discuss the postulated possibility of a feat that was considered entirely undoable just a few years ago.

You see, figure skating has two aspects on which it is scored: Athletic and artistic components. The artistic aspect includes the degree of being one with the music, expression, storytelling, rhythm and much more. On the contrary, the athletic component which the article focuses on includes jumps, spins, step sequences, essentially any elements that exert the body and demonstrate athletic talent. It may look like the aforementioned are straightforward, but each one of them needs specific technique, power and control behind it. In Figure Skating jumps, the skater propels themselves from the ice, spins in the air and then must carry out a stable landing to earn points. High level competitive skating, like the Olympics and the Grand Prix, typically encompasses triple and quadruple jumps, meaning that the skaters carry out three or four complete rotations of the body mid-air before landing. These jumps allow for unimaginable jumping distances and heights, sometimes making the athletes seem like they’re flying in the air.

The difficulty of the jump increases with the number of spins and the execution of the entry and exit from the jump, with the highest number of spins currently possible being four, or quadruple jumps. A jump with even four spins were considered to be beyond human capability. In his 2020 extended essay, George S. Rossano proposed that a Quad Axel would never be possible. Yet decades earlier, Kurt Browning had already landed the first ratified quad jump in 1988, following an invalid attempt by Jozef Sabovčík in 1986, sparking a quad revolution in figure skating.

Can there ever be… a quintuple jump?

The idea of a quintuple jump is slowly but surely gaining momentum. The last of the six jumps, and also the hardest, the Axel, is the only one to take off from a forward spin. This makes it have a tad extra jump spin, that being half of a normal spin, meaning that a quadruple axel is actually four and a half spins! The jump has only been successfully landed by the figure skating prodigy, two-time world champion the current Grand Prix champion, Ilia Malinin. He was successful in doing so in 2022, when he was only 17 years of age.

An ideal quadruple jump spans around 0.6 seconds wherein the skaters have to first take off, then spin four and a half times followed by a landing in which they do not touch the ice with their hands. Studies estimate that for an ideal quintuple jump, the athlete has to have a jump duration of around 0.8 seconds according to the current rotational speeds possessed by elite level skaters. This requires humongous heights and distances which can only be achieved by ‘pencil’ thin bodies and about 90% rotation efficiency, meaning that only 10 percent of the total airtime should be used for take off and landing while also starting off with greater forces to increase angular momentum.

We have seen some elite level skaters like Yuzuru Hanyu attempt quintuples on harness, which is used as a support for skaters when they try newer, more difficult jumps, but there are no confirmations of any clean landings. Previously mentioned, Ilia Malinin has expressed quite an ambition for a quintuple jump and claims to have landed it. It is even more confirmed after several reports from spectators who have seen him land it in practice. While many dream of witnessing a quintuple jump in their lifetime, longtime fans and devoted followers of the sport have long feared that, ever since quads became the norm in men’s skating, figure skating would risk turning into little more than a "jumping contest."

Most experts and long-time fans agree that it is unlikely to become a regular feature in competitive program. Given its current base value, the only real incentive to attempt such a jump is to make history as the first to land it.