Speaking of jumps, why are men progressing faster than women in the technical areas?
Thomas: Obviously, men are pushing limits with the triple combinations and quads and women have fallen behind. It’s not like all women have a triple axel now and you would think by now that would be the case based on what we were doing years ago. But it hasn’t turned out like that. Perhaps brute strength allows men to hold a less perfect jump compared to a woman. What is interesting is women haven’t pushed the envelope like the men and yet we’re still having all these injuries. I don’t know if it’s technique or spending too much time jumping and spinning? I see these girls struggling with consistency and I’m one of these psychological skaters – you don’t need to do jumps all of the time but need the mindset to do it. I think more energy could be put towards sports psychology and it could be better spent time than jumping and spinning all the time. I don’t know how many hours these athletes are doing these jumps, but if you’re seeing things like arthritis and stress fractures in young p
