Quote Originally Posted by ivy View Post
I'm wondering why the short program still exists? I enjoy them - more skating to watch, I'd miss them if they were gone! But most casual fans don't see them, and then they don't really understand why skater x won even though skater y had more points in the free skate.

I believe SP were once more controlled on the tech side so judges in were looking at apple and apple instead of apples and oranges. Now I'd say the SP and FS are measuring mostly the same skills, the only difference being length.

Without a SP competitions would be cheaper to run, average fans would see the whole competition and maybe LP would be cleaner (less tired skaters)
I don't see what's so hard to understand about the fact that there are two segments to the competition, the points are added up, and so winning the second one doesn't guarantee the highest point total. There are plenty of things casual viewers don't get about the sport, but that shouldn't be one of them.

I rather like having one segment with a more limited number of elements that gives more room for choreography, etc.

On the topic of element competitions, they tried a jump competition for top skaters before, but it never caught on.