You’ve probably seen the movie. Or maybe you remember the grainy 90s news footage of a woman in a sparkly outfit sobbing over a broken skate lace. But if you strip away the tabloid drama, the knee-whacking, and the fur coats, you’re left with one of the most insane athletic feats in history. I’m talking about Tonya Harding and that triple axel.
Honestly, it’s hard to overstate how much of a "unicorn" this move was back in 1991. To this day, only a handful of women have ever landed it in international competition. We’re talking about a jump that requires three and a half rotations in the air.
The Triple Axel: Why It’s Basically a Physics Nightmare
The axel is the only jump in figure skating where you take off facing forward. Because you start forward and land backward, you aren't just doing three spins. You’re doing three and a half. That extra half-turn is where most skaters’ dreams go to die.
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When Tonya Harding stepped onto the ice at the 1991 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, she wasn’t the "scandal girl" yet. She was just a powerhouse from Portland with incredibly strong legs and something to prove.
The physics of her triple axel were terrifyingly perfect. She didn’t just eke it out. She launched. Experts like Hannah Robbins have pointed out that a triple axel is actually closer to a quadruple jump than a triple because of the force required to snap into that rotation. Tonya had that force. She hit the ice at the 1991 Nationals and became the first American woman to ever land it.
The crowd didn't just clap; they went nuclear. It was one of those rare sports moments where everyone knew they were seeing the impossible become real.
1991: The Year Tonya Harding Broke the Sport
A lot of people think she only did it once. That’s actually a huge misconception. 1991 was Tonya's "God Mode" year. After the U.S. Championships, she went to the World Championships and landed it again.
Then came Skate America in late 1991, where she basically decided to show off. She became:
- The first woman to land a triple axel in the short program.
- The first woman to land two triple axels in a single competition.
- The first woman to land a triple axel in combination (with a double toe loop).
She was doing things in 1991 that some Olympic-level skaters can’t pull off in 2026. She wasn't just "good for her time." She was a freak of nature.
Why didn't she do it at the Olympics?
This is the question that haunts her legacy (well, besides the obvious scandal). In the 1992 Albertville Olympics, the pressure was immense. She arrived late, she was jet-lagged, and the "ice princess" image the media wanted didn't fit her. She fell on the jump in both programs.
By the time the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics rolled around—the one with the Nancy Kerrigan drama—Tonya’s triple axel was mostly gone. It’s a jump that requires absolute peak physical condition and, frankly, a clear head. She had neither. She ended up popping the jump into a single or falling. The magic was over.
The Technical Reality vs. The Legend
There’s a lot of talk about how Tonya was "robbed" of marks because she wasn't as graceful as Kristi Yamaguchi or Nancy Kerrigan. There’s some truth to that. Figure skating in the 90s was obsessed with "artistry," which was often code for "looking like a wealthy ballerina."
Tonya skated to ZZ Top. She made her own costumes. She had "thick" legs compared to the other girls. But that strength is exactly why she could rotate fast enough to land the axel. Her coach at the time, Dody Teachman, said Tonya’s secret was sheer guts. If you hesitate for even a millisecond on the takeoff of a triple axel, you’re going to hit the ice. Hard.
"Most girls don't have the strength or the guts to do it," Harding said in a 2005 interview. It sounds cocky, but she wasn't wrong.
What Most People Get Wrong
People think the triple axel is just about spinning fast. It’s actually about the skid. To get the height needed for 1260 degrees of rotation, a skater has to "skid" their blade into the ice to create a springboard effect. If the skid is too deep, you lose momentum. If it’s too shallow, you don't get the height.
Harding’s 1991 jump had a massive "arc." She covered a huge amount of distance across the ice, not just height. This is what made her version of the jump so iconic—it looked like she was flying, not just spinning in a cylinder.
Why We Still Talk About It
The triple axel Tonya Harding landed 35 years ago is still the gold standard for athletic raw power in the sport. While skaters today are doing quad jumps, they are often much smaller and lighter than Tonya was. She proved that you didn't have to look like a porcelain doll to be the best in the world.
If you want to understand the real Tonya, forget the headlines for a second. Go find the video of her 1991 Nationals long program. Watch the 45-second mark. That’s the moment she became a legend—before everything else tore it down.
Actionable Insights for Figure Skating Fans:
- Watch the mechanics: When watching modern skaters, look at the "takeoff edge." A true axel is always from the forward outside edge.
- Compare the eras: Watch Midori Ito (the first woman to land it) and Tonya Harding back-to-back. You’ll see that Harding’s jump was more about horizontal power, while Ito’s was about vertical height.
- Check the scores: Under today’s IJS (International Judging System), Tonya’s 1991 technical difficulty would still be competitive, proving how ahead of her time she actually was.