Jeremy Abbott's Fall: Some Comments

Recently one of my posts (Why there's no ASTM Approved Helmets for Figure Skating) has been getting a lot of page views. I want to use some still shots of Jeremy Abbott's fall to show how an accomplished skater preserves himself from injury even in a high speed high rotation fall. I'm not going to discuss anything that happens before the fall, just the part where he hits the ice. (All photos property of the AP and NBC).

The fall begins. He is rotating clockwise.
source

He reflexively reaches to the ice even as his body continues to rotate.
In a less experienced skater, this could result in a broken wrist.

Years of training take over. He doesn't put his palm on the ice in the fall.
Instead, he keeps his wrist off the ice,and uses the lower part of his arm
above the wrist for bracing.

He hits the ice hard. But look, his head and upper shoulders
are well off the ice. As hard as he hit, that takes a lot of strength,
experience and quick reflexes.
Sadly here, it looks like he hit his kidney.  This was no ordinary fall.

Good reflexes in keeping his head from hitting the boards.

 I've read that to get a triple axel takes thousands of falls. It must take more to get the quad.  Figure skaters are experienced fallers. Here Jeremy exhibits all the skills that figure skaters learn to do in falls: head off the ice, don't jam the wrist,  He was just unlucky enough here to hit at such an angle that his body was stunned.

Props to him for finishing his program.

Unlike Johnny Weir at 2003 Nationals who seemed to lose the will to skate after a fall, then fell again.