I think this will become the standard for men's figure skating. Stand around for two and a half minutes, then do four quads.
I give Max all the credit in the world.
Still -- Max aside -- I am afraid that quads will take over the sport and that the result will be a further decline in audience interest.
I think it's possible that there will be a period when several guys are capable of doing two different quads, three of four quads total, in their free programs, and that these guys will trade wins on the strength of these jumps while doing not much else besides crossovers, triple jumps, and enough to fulfill the requirements for step sequences and spins. This will probably not be of much interest to audiences who are interested in artistic skating or in technical skating skills other than jumps.
It probably will attract the attention of audiences who are primarily interested in jumps, including some who would not pay attention to men's skating otherwise, when records are broken and become sporting news for that reason. There have been a handful of guys in the past 10-12 years who have executed three quads successfully in the last 10-12 years. When someone does four successful quads, that will be news. Same when someone lands the first ratified quadruple loop or flip. Or three
different quads in the same program. When we get three or four quads including some harder ones done successfully, the technical scores will probably set records and those skaters will probably win.
Let's hope that the judges don't start rewarding the skaters who succeed with those jumps for transitions or choreography or interpretation that they don't actually execute.
In the short term, I expect that there will still be excellent skaters who cannot do multiple different quads but who will do one or two quad toe loops OR one or two quad salchows, along with triple axels and other triples and high-level high-quality non-jump elements and who will continue to be medal contenders on the strength of well-rounded skill sets. Especially because the guys who excel at nothing except jumps will have little to hold them up if they happen to have a bad day with the jumps, likely because of injuries.
In the long term, if advances in technology and techniques allow more guys to master quads, then maybe in 20 or 40 years we will see programs that include four quads AND complex choreography.
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