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Twenty years after Kurt Browning became the first to land it in competition, the quadruple jump remains the Mount Everest of skating.
Browning created a sensation when, as a fresh-faced 21-year-old, he landed the difficult four-rotation feat at the world figure-skating championships in Budapest, on a raw day in March of 1988.
The jump was so rare, it was "like breaking the sound barrier," the four-time Canadian and four-time world champion said. "I got so much attention and so much interest over it — overwhelming interest at the time. It was a really big moment."
It was a big moment that has remained etched in minds of fans.
Ten years ago, Browning was en route to a radio interview in a Midwest U.S. city during a Stars on Ice tour, when he was met by a group of fans who presented him with champagne. He was puzzled, until they reminded him it was the 10th anniversary of his milestone.
As Browning sat in the taxi on his way back to the rink for practice that day, he made it his goal to see if he could land the jump again. On the third try, he got it.
But that wasn't enough for the trend-setting Browning.
During the next show he was part of a comedy routine spoofing the Olympics — with 1984 gold-medalist Scott Hamilton playing the role of a television reporter and doing live commentary. Browning was scheduled to do a triple-triple combination, but, without any prior notice, he substituted it for the quad — and landed it cleanly.
Hamilton "freaked," Browning said. "All the skaters were on the ice and it was a really neat moment."
Now, his life is different. He's 41, and a father of two sons, ages 4 and seven months. Browning is no longer competing professionally. His knees are complaining. He won't be trying the quad again soon.
"Maybe I'll try to explain it to my son," Browning said of marking the 20th anniversary of his historic moment.
Despite two decades passing since that groundbreaking feat, the quad still is a jump that will be relatively rare next week at the world championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.
When Browning's Canadian arch-rival Elvis Stojko became a quad master during the 1990s, the Russians followed in swift pursuit, and then so did everybody else.
At the 1999 world championships in Helsinki, audiences saw 14 quads landed. The following year, in Nice, France, there were a total of 20 quads properly landed, 12 of them in the short program.
But the new judging system adopted after the scandal-laden 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics has made the quad less of a priority in recent years.
"Right now there's a little bit of lack of interest in the quad because the new system isn't rewarding it," Browning said. "When you do a simpler combination, that most of the skaters in the world can do, and get as many points as for a quad, which is exponentially more difficult, skaters aren't seeing the payoff."
For example, a quadruple toe loop is worth nine points, but a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination is worth 10. Even a triple flip-triple toe loop combination gets you 9.5. A triple Axel-triple toe loop is worth 11.5.
And woe to those who attempt a quad in the now.
"In the short program, it is a huge risk," said Louis Stong, director of skating development for Skate Canada. "If you do it, you're a star. But if there is anything wrong with it — it's downgraded [not fully rotated], you fall, or it's too weak to do a combination after it — you may as well pack it in. You'll be down so far [in the standings], it's too far to come back up.
"It'll be interesting to see how important it [the quad] is in Sweden," Stong said. "I don't think you'll see that many."
It also didn't help that two-time U.S. champion Evan Lysacek withdrew from worlds with an injury. He's one of the few who tries a quad-triple combination in the short program. However, Daisuke Takahashi of Japan won the Four Continents title over Lysacek without a quad in his short program.
In the new system, the glory factor of at least attempting a quad combination in the short is gone, Browning said. "It becomes all technical."
Be that as it may, three-time Canadian champ Jeff Buttle became painfully aware after finishing sixth at the worlds last year in Tokyo that male skaters need quads to compete for a medal. He's working on two different jumps, but they're not consistent enough to put in his programs yet.
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