As the world championships begin this week, here's a great article from the Vancouver Sun taking a look at the quad, 20 years after Kurt Browning landed the first one. I feel like the quad took about ten years to hit its stride - it wasn't really until the 1998 Olympics that it became a game-changer and by four years later that it was known as a must-have jump to actually win the men's competition.
That all may be changing thanks to the new scoring systems, says Browning:
But it has remained an elusive, unpredictable weapon -- and in the new scoring system, where points are awarded for the quality of each element and jump, not just the number of revolutions, it has become less of a guarantee of good marks than a tie-breaker, if all else is equal.
"It feels like the quad, this year, isn't as important as it has been in other years, that's just kind of the vibe out there," Browning said. "The CBC was showing me some stats on how many quads have been landed this year. Not very many. I just think that maybe the new system is downplaying the quad enough that the reward is not worth the risk.
"The stats they showed me made me go, 'Wow, this is perfect for guys
like Jeffrey Buttle and Patrick Chan. If the quad is just not happening for guys
out there this year, then this is your chance.'"