Should worlds take place during Olympic year

[cruzceleste]

IceNetwork just uploaded this article with Philip Hersh and Lynn Rutherford making a case about eliminating worlds in Olympic year, or keep it.

For elimination (Philip Hersh)

Of the 15 Winter Olympic sports, only hockey, curling and speed skating still have world championships in the Olympic year -- but long track speed skating does not have World Single Distance.
The figure skating competitive season already is too long, and the top athletes have planned to peak at the Olympics.
More and more Olympic medalists are taking a pass.
Even the top U.S. women's alternate and top two men's alternates turned down the chance to skate at this year's worlds when withdrawals opened a spot.
The results must be asterisked. (I don´t agree with this one in particular)

What about the issue of worlds results determining national entry allocations for the following year?

A simple change solves that. Use the results from the Olympics and pre-Olympic year worlds. A country whose results in either meet the criteria for two or three entries would get that number in the post-Olympic year worlds.

Against elimination (Lynn Rutherford)

If ISU member nations are willing to bid for, and organize, world championships after the Olympics, why not have them? (she made a point that if skater x that is your favorite isn´t going you don´t have to watch/ buy a ticket, we all know a lot of people buy their tickets very early in the season so is impossible to know if one skater will fo or not. So to me, the way she worded her argument is not appropriate)
*I don't buy the "best skaters aren't there, so the title gets an asterisk" argument.
*While other winter sports don't hold world championships in Olympic years, many of them are considerably lower profile than figure skating, which still garners some of the highest ratings of the Olympics
*A four-year cycle always ushers in new stars, or gives current ones a chance to shine after Olympic disappointment.
*I've heard the argument figure skaters are expected to compete too often, but I don't buy it.

Thoughts?

More in the link

 

[silverfoxes]

In theory, I think they should have it because some skaters can get a second chance and it's not fair to those who want to be there to take it away. Prize money is no small thing. But this season it does feel particularly anti-climactic. Anyway, keep it & those who don't care to watch don't have to (I'll probably watch very little myself).

 

[blackey]

No. A medal in a watered down worlds is the same as in a regular year, that's very unfair to other skaters who medal at those "real" worlds. You wanna a second chance? Sure, just have japan do another event like WTT.

 

[Anyasnake]

Yes it should of course. Olympics is something that is happenning IN ADDITION to a normal figure skating season. Not the other way around.

Maybe if figure skating was more about EVERY competition (i.e. not treating 4 Continents as a Senior B) and not just the Olympics, figure skating would be a bit more popular and a far more casual sport than a once-every-four-year type of sport.

 

[russianfan]

it's not like there are so many decent international competitions in figure skating to take this one away...

 

[Koatterce]

Yes, I think worlds should still happen.

The issue with hypothetically removing worlds, is that there is a cap on number of skaters in the Olympics, which is quite a bit less than the typical number of world entries. Some countries don't qualify spots to the Olympics (since it's more difficult), but their skaters can still go to worlds, which is better for them. It's also a chance for some skaters who didn't make their Olympic teams to get to compete.

Many more skaters do choose to skip worlds in an Olympic year as opposed to other years, which does increase the chances for other skaters to win medals. But they still won the world medal fairly, because they skated the best/second best/third best out of all the teams that showed up. This is true whether only 1 top skater withdraws or if more of them do.

 

[xeyra]

Yes, it should.

 

[ladyjane]

I read the article, and I am one of those people who always gets excited by Worlds after the Olympics, precisely because some top guns have left the field (retired), some wish to skip because of the long season, etc. It's Obvious I don't agree with Phillip Hersch on this one, whatever he says about it being different in speed skating. Really? For the Netherlands most of same names as those at the Olympics turned out at both the Long and Short track competitions, even if with Long Track it was the All Round Title and not the Distances Titles. And there were World Cup Matches too, straight after the Olympics....

There's still many skaters who will attend FS Worlds, while I love it that there will be some new faces too (new to worlds that is, we might have seen them before at Euros or 4CC). Furthermore, ice is slippery and even the Olympic medallists who do attend, may not skate as they did at the Olympics or they might skate even better! New round, new chances. In 2010 it was Mao who won from Yuna for example, and it was great that in 2014 Aljona (with her former partner Robin) got her WC title back. The Ice Dance was a total surprise with 1,2 and 3 within 0.06 points between each other and none of them on the Olympic podium either while the only contender who had been on the podium was 4th or 5th. And who wants to miss Misha Ge's last competitive skate at coming Worlds?

It's a pity, I'll have to watch some time after real time as Eurosport is showing Snooker again (I've really started to hate that game because it always spoils the watching of Figure Skating), but I am definitely looking forward to the event.

 

[Mawwerg]

Maybe Olympics should be eliminated? :dev2:

 

[Lamente Ariane]

I almost always find post-Olympic Worlds interesting. If anything, having a slightly different lineup of skaters in the mix for the podium makes it more exciting/less predictable. And I agree wholeheartedly with Lynn Rutherford that it's ridiculous to think the title comes with an asterisk because everyone's not there. I mean, Yuzuru Hanyu, Boyang Jin, Javier Fernandez and Patrick Chan weren't at the 2017 Grand Prix Final, that doesn't mean Nathan Chen is GPF Champion with an asterisk, does it?

 

[oatmella]

Yes it should of course. Olympics is something that is happenning IN ADDITION to a normal figure skating season. Not the other way around.

Maybe if figure skating was more about EVERY competition (i.e. not treating 4 Continents as a Senior B) and not just the Olympics, figure skating would be a bit more popular and a far more casual sport than a once-every-four-year type of sport.

Totally agree. The Olympics is not the be-all and end-all.

 

[xeyra]

Maybe Olympics should be eliminated? :dev2:

Hey, let's not be crazy!

 

[mrrice]

Yes.....However, in an Olympic year, I think Worlds should happen before the games.

 

[Koatterce]

Yes.....However, in an Olympic year, I think Worlds should happen before the games.

I don't think there's time for that unless they start the entire season earlier and have all the competitions (at least GP events, 4CC, Europeans) and nationals earlier too, and leave enough time for the skaters to get some rest too.

 

[cruzceleste]

Yes.....However, in an Olympic year, I think Worlds should happen before the games.

I don't think there's time for that unless they start the entire season earlier and have all the competitions (at least GP events, 4CC, Europeans) and nationals earlier too, and leave enough time for the skaters to get some rest too.

Maybe have Worlds in the mid to end of april, give the skaters an extra month to rest and prepare?

 

[purplecat]

Another reason for having Worlds in an Olympic year is the Olympics has a much smaller field of skaters - many countries that don't qualify for the Olympics do qualify for Worlds and it's unfair to take away that chance for those skaters who made a World team from having the Worlds experience.

 

[silverfoxes]

Yes it should of course. Olympics is something that is happenning IN ADDITION to a normal figure skating season. Not the other way around.

Maybe if figure skating was more about EVERY competition (i.e. not treating 4 Continents as a Senior B) and not just the Olympics, figure skating would be a bit more popular and a far more casual sport than a once-every-four-year type of sport.

Another point is that a lot of new people get hooked during the Olympics and having other competitions to watch afterwards can help to hold their attention and turn them into regular fans. I couldn't get enough of skating after Sochi. Now I feel burned out a bit...but newer fans who haven't sat through some of these programs a dozen times may feel otherwise.

 

[ffloweer]

Another point is that a lot of new people get hooked during the Olympics and having other competitions to watch afterwards can help to hold their attention and turn them into regular fans. I couldn't get enough of skating after Sochi. Now I feel burned out a bit...but newer fans who haven't sat through some of these programs a dozen times may feel otherwise.

That was actually my experience. I got hooked after Sochi, and couldn't wait until the next competition, so Worlds really helped cement my interest in the sport.

 

[evasorange]

I like the watered down field every once and awhile. It’s fun to see who out of the “b listers” so to speak will rise up and give us exciting skates. Also speaking as a nba fan where there’s like a three month break out of the year, I say give me as many skating events as possible! Never get enough

 

[Princessroja]

Absolutely. And I'm 100% in agreement about the no asterisk thing. The article is right; skaters come and skaters go in various competitions. It's just the nature of the sport. Should all the GPF medalists had asterisks the season Javier didn't make the GPF (was that this season? can't remember)? Or this year, when Zhenya missed it? Should Gabby and Guillaume have all their medals asterisked because Tessa and Scott took two seasons off? I guess I could sort of see the logic if every single medal contender wasn't there, but otherwise, what competition is there where every single competitor is present and uninjured?