Is the triple axel still the holy grail of women’s figure skating?

Mirai Nagasu landed a triple axel but failed to place first in the women’s free skate at the Winter Olympics. Is it still the holy grail?

Unlike many Olympics sports that rely on objective scores — hockey, for example — figure skating is a largely subjective sport despite the extensive scoring system in place to prevent judges from going rogue in their decisions. When Mirai Nagasu landed a triple axel on Sunday night in the women’s free skate during the team event of the 2018 Winter Olympics, many fans figured that would be enough to put her in first place. But it didn’t, that honor went to Russian Alina Zagitova. So what does that say about the value of the triple axel?

The answer is about as vague as the figure skating scoring system.

It just so happened that there were two “controversial” scores during the last day of the team competition.

There was Team USA’s Mirai Nagasu, skating in the first position for the women’s team free skate. Nagasu landed a triple axel and became the first American and third woman in history to manage the feat in Olympics competition. Triple axels, hearkening back to the Tonya Harding days of figure skating, were always considered the holy grail. You’d think it would have made a huge impact on Nagasu’s score. She received a 137.53 while Russia’s Alina Zagitova took first place with a 158.08.

Zagitova skates a program with a higher degree of difficulty and was much more technically polished than Nagasu, who tends to not fully rotate on some of her jumps. The Russian also performs her jumps with her arms above her head and in the latter half of her program, both of which tactics earn her additional points. Still, you’d think Nagasu would have been closer to Zagitova’s score considering the difficulty and rarity of the triple axel.

The other controversy came during the men’s team free skate. American Adam Rippon had a technically perfect, totally clean skate while Canadian Patrick Chan and Russian Mikhail Kolyada both fell in their programs. Chan and Kolyada received higher scores (179.75 and 173.57, respectively) than Rippon (172.98) because they attempted bigger elements. They both attempted quad jumps while Rippon chose to skip them so as to have a cleaner program. In the end, even though they fell, the fact that they attempted to do harder jumps was better than taking the safe route. Quads, like triple axels for women, are the hardest jumps in the men’s category. However, unlike triple axels, they’re incredibly common in a system that rewards attempts over clean execution.

Next: Best Olympian from each state

Landing a clean triple axel like Nagasu did is still a massive accomplishment reflected in her high score. It could have helped guarantee her spot on Team USA in January and may even give her the best shot at the podium among the American women. But in the current scoring system, controversial as it is, it might not be enough anymore.