Quad (figure skating)
A quad, or quadruple, is a figure skating jump with at least three but less than four revolutions. Most quadruple jumps have 3 1/2 revolutions; the quadruple Axel has 4 1/2 revolutions, although no figure skater to date has completed this jump in competition. The quadruple toe loop and quadruple Salchow are the two most commonly skated in the discipline. Quadruple jumps have become increasingly common among World and Olympic level men's single skaters, to the point that not having one in a program has come to be seen as a severe handicap. The first person to land a ratified quadruple jump in competition was Canadian Kurt Browning in 1988. In 2002, Miki Ando became the first woman to do so, and she remains one of only two women to have landed a ratified quadruple jump in competition.
Matt Chojnacki
In 1999, at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Chojnacki became the first person to land a quadruple somersault (four back flips with two twists) on snow with a clean (no touch) landing. That same season, along with Eric Bergoust and Nicolas Fontaine, Chojnacki tied the World Record for aerial skiing by completing a triple twisting quadruple somersault, a 17-year-old record set by Frank Bare, Jr. in 1983. Then on April 4, 2001, at Winter Park resort, Colorado, Chojnacki broke that mark by adding a full twist to the quad for a Half-Rudy (one and one-half)-Full-Full, or a quadruple back somersault with four twists and the current Guinness World Record. Chojnacki was partially trained and coached by Frank Bare, Jr. for that jump. In addition, he set the aerials water ramps world record in 2000, at the Utah Olympic Park, by completing a quintuple twisting quadruple back somersault with a Half-Rudy (one and one-half)-DoubleFull-Full.