Yesterday I was watching a young skater's footwork which included a nice bell jump (a single revolution jump which takes off on an FO edge and lands forward on two feet--sometimes called a half axel), and it got me to thinking about the legality of a bell jump or half axel in an adult silver restricted (no axel) or adult bronze freeskating program. It's only one rev, so technically it should be legal, but if the judges thought that the skater was attempting a full axel and missed, the skater could be penalized. I suppose if the jump is presented in a way that precludes all doubt, the jump could be included.

With interesting arm positions on the landing, this can be a spiffy-looking jump in itself.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Raine

I would agree that it would be fine to include, just as long as it doesn't look like an axel attempt. So arm movements would be good, or crouching/low knee bend moves on the landing...or you could do the jump 'tano style. Can you tell I love to choreograph?

IIRC, Christopher Bowman did something like this in a footwork sequence--a big bell jump with some sort of arm wave. It was fabulous.

When I have time towards the end of a session, I enjoy stringing moves together from my limited skating vocabulary. I think of choreography as the dessert at the end of an MITF meal.

Cheers,
Raine

I've seen it done (Paul Wylie?) where you come down in a lunge--which would make it obvious it's part of footwork & not an axel attempt. It looks really nice, but also looks difficult--you'd have to be perfectly balanced or you'd hit your toepick on the forward foot.