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Goebel has several quads in his quiver
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Quadruple jumps are no longer out of the ordinary, but Tim Goebel will make history when he performs two different ones in the same program.Goebel said that he will attempt both a quad salchow and a quad toe loop in Thursday's free program at the World Figure Skating Championships.
Skaters have been doing quadruple toe loops in competition since Canadian Kurt Browning did the first one at the 1988 World Championships in Budapest.
Although all the other skaters who have completed quads in competition -- more than a dozen by now -- have all done toe loops, Goebel's is a jump which uses the toe pick to vault up.
The 18-year-old is the only skater to land a quadruple salchow in competition. It is coming off one foot and landing on the other without the help of a toe pick to gain momentum.
In Monday's qualification, he landed his jump cleanly. Currently 13th after the short program, Goebel is looking to crack the top 10.
"I have nothing lose now. I want to move up into the top 10. To do that, I'm going to have to do something really outstanding," said Goebel, who placed third at the U.S. championships last month.
He has officially done three quadruple jumps. He landed his first at the junior Grand Prix finals in Switzerland a year ago.
That made him the first American to land one cleanly in competition. Olympic champion Brian Boitano performed many in practice but never did one in competition.
Goebel felt that doing the first one in competition was more satisfying to him than the mark of doing the first one at worlds, "but it's a cool little piece of history."