David Jenkins' 1960 Triple Axel!

[A.H.Black]

The USFSA media guide lists that the first triple axel ever seen was by David Jenkins at the 1960 Olympic exhibition. That was 18 years before Vern Taylor landed one in competition. (Do you folks in Canada get to see that one very often?)

Did anyone ever see David Jenkins perform this jump? Does anyone have memories of David's skating?

I once had the opportunity to talk to Hayes Jenkins and asked him about David's skating as well as his own. He said that David could do all the triples. The times just weren't conducive to loading them into the long program. He said that the reason He (Hayes) won was because of his strength in figures and his ability to do doubles in several combinations.

I hope that some of you will be willing to share your stories and memories. Thanks.

[serpentine]

i have never seen hayes, david, nor vern skate at all...i wish they did more 'blast from the past' clips of figureskating!!
btw, the first official triple axel was landed by Vern Taylor, not Vern Jenkins ;)
i can see why it wasn't conducive at the time to load up a program with triples...as hayes said, you needed to score the big points in figures (which were worth something like 60% right?) to ensure that you placed high in the freeskate standings. also, i wonder how strong skates were back then...would one be able to do all those heavily landed jumps in much weaker boots without feeling like you have to retighten them after 4 minutes into a long program??

just my 2 cents :)

[A.H.Black]

Thanks Serpentine. As you notice I edited immediately.

[trixie]

I was in the building the night Vern landed his and I can tell you , it was pretty amazing. It was also very fun being there when we all found out Charlie Tickner won. I was sitting with many Americans and we could see them putting the USA flag on the middle , before most could and before the announcement. Those were the days.

[A.H.Black]

Trixie, I'd love to hear more. Were you aware that it was the first 3 axel? Did the place go nuts? What are your memories?

I'm still hoping there are some memories of the Jenkins brothers out there.

[trixie]

Oh yes, we were aware , but we were not sure it it would be counted by ISU. I was just at the end of my own skating then, before college and coaching. My coach and I went to World's and had a blast. I have been to many, but you always rememeber the first ones, right ? I was sitting right in front of the Fratianne family, in a sea of USA flags.

I have talked about this on the old board, so I don't want to bore anyone. The person who impressed me the most was Lisa marie Allen, who was my age but it was like watching Cinderella come alive. I had met Mr. Carroll at Skate Canada that year and at World's he remembered me. he was charming and very giving of his time.