Uploaded October 2022 | Updated September 2026, 12 minutes ago
48 years before Ilia Malinin made history with the first ever quadruple axel, in 1974, Gordie McKellen Jr, also from the USA, attempted to become the first man to achieve the feat of a triple axel in competition. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful, and it would be another four years before Vern Taylor of Canada eventually took that little bit of history at the 1978 Worlds in Ottawa. But at the end of the 1974 Worlds exhibition organisers gave him an opportunity to show the crowd just what he was capable of. One of the great US skaters of the 70's, Gordie landed a beauty of a triple axel and the rest of the skating community were there to witness it. Nice to see that pat on the back from Stanislav Zhuk. What iron curtain? But how many of those present that day could even imagine a quad axel? Yet here we are....
48 years before Ilia Malinin made history with the first ever quadruple axel, in 1974, Gordie McKellen Jr, also from the USA, attempted to become the first man to achieve the feat of a triple axel in competition. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful, and it would be another four years before Vern Taylor of Canada eventually took that little bit of history at the 1978 Worlds in Ottawa. But at the end of the 1974 Worlds exhibition organisers gave him an opportunity to show the crowd just what he was capable of. One of the great US skaters of the 70's, Gordie landed a beauty of a triple axel and the rest of the skating community were there to witness it. Nice to see that pat on the back from Stanislav Zhuk. What iron curtain? But how many of those present that day could even imagine a quad axel? Yet here we are....
![Daniela Silivas [ROM] 1987 World Gymnastics Championships - Compulsory BB [Dutch TV]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jrq-bAN5UDE/mqdefault.jpg "Daniela Silivas [ROM] 1987 World Gymnastics Championships - Compulsory BB [Dutch TV]
The brilliant Daniela Silivas creating compulsory magic.")
