To give some examples, as Lynn noted, a wonderful delayed axel can be breathtaking, and utilized with the music for expressive storytelling. Pair elements can be exciting and gorgeous to look at when well-performed by a couple in sync and well-matched. But removing 30 seconds from the pairs fps forces a pair team to move from element-to-element without any opportunity for storytelling. Kudos to the work of great pairs choreographers, but the system still needs to aid the work they are doing because there often is something missing and repetitive in programs that always must cram in technical tricks for point-gathering. I'd rather see the amazing pairs innovation that's taking place be aligned with skaters able to also take a breath and have more time and freedom to tell a story. They should be able to focus on simple moves combined with more difficult maneuvers, instead of the often disconcerting rush from trick-to -trick, to the point where viewers have a hard time digesting all the moves in a satisfying way. Free programs need to be freed!
Everyone who loves the sport of figure skating need to understand how important blade skills are and why acquiring good SS is so important to the best performances we witness. That connection is missing. Even for me, as someone who has followed the sport for too many years to count, I'm still learning about what proper blade technique consists of. I am completely gob-smacked by what I am learning. The makeup of the boot and the blades, and how the edges are utilized to gain speed, ice coverage and proper positioning going into a jump have always been a mystery, or something not clearly visible to the naked eye. But foundational blade skills are essential to creative innovation, as well as to technical evolution. For example, what the namesakes/ inventors of jumps [Ulrich Salchow; Alois Lutz; Werner Rittberger (loop jump); Bruce Mapes (toe loop & flip jumps); Axel Paulsen] were able to do in creating unique acrobatic elements was because they were proficient in what?
Bingo: Skating Skills; Blade Skills; Precision edgework based on figure-eight tracings practice, eh! At least, they surely knew how to use their blades, or they brainstormed through trial and effort, and via fun skating outings to find new ways of moving over the ice, and launching into aerial moves and single rotations. But they had acquired good skating skills first! Nowadays, skaters and fans don't even know who the inventors of all of these jumps are, aside perhaps from Ulrich and Paulsen, for obvious reasons. Frankly, I had to look up Lutz's first name, and I didn't remember who invented the loop, toe loop, and flip jumps until looking it up. That's pretty egregious for a long time skating fan. And I don't think I'm the only one who doesn't have all of these names on the tip of my tongue. We should though.
The main point is that skaters today are trying to throw their bodies into the air incorrectly without good blade technique first. So the sport stagnates in important ways. Skaters aren't executing jumps correctly. The blade/boot equipment limit for creating new jumps was reached a long time ago, so perhaps that's why extra rotations on jumps continue to be added. But there's a physical limit involved there, i.e., quint rotations are under current circumstances physically impossible. So in my view, it's important to get back to the basics of what can't be easily seen or understood: good skating skills (blade proficiency) which allows for the development of speed, ice coverage, and proper jump technique.
In the 1970s, there was a lot of vigorous athleticism and new moves were created. But in the 1980s and 1990s, there needed to be more of a focus on tying the past to that era and to the future, in terms of making the connection between blade work and creative possibilities, which didn't begin to happen until the 2000s when IJS changes led to a focus on footwork sequences and choreographic innovation. However, the problem is that because figures practice was thrown into the dustbin in 1990, there were very few skaters who were or are today proficient enough in blade skills to ably tackle complex footwork, much less be in a position to be the inventors that Salchow, Axel and Lutz were in their time. There needs to be a return to a focus on blade possibilities and on the pleasing simplicity of moves like delayed axels and open axel sit-spins, formerly performed by pioneering skaters like John Misha Petkevich, combined with the amazing technical advances of today. Enhance forward progress by freeing the free programs and allowing for more creative expression and storytelling along with acrobatic tricks and the inspired simplicity of well-executed moves of the past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwUfx-fLg1s (with thanks to floskate)
During Janet Lynn's and John Misha Petkevich's era as competitive skaters, many things were probably taken for granted, as the sport was still in an earlier stage of growth. Back then, they needed to begin breaking down and codifying technique, and understanding the history that had brought them to that moment. In fact, the advances in triple jumps were just sort of allowed to meander along, as more athletes began attempting triples. This was the prevailing reaction to the point that when quads began to be attempted, those running the sport continued along the same path of, 'Oh wow, look at that amazing feat.' And that was it, with no consideration of how to guide development of the quad phenomenon which would change the face of men's figure skating and ultimately complicate scoring. It wasn't until Nathan Chen performed 5 clean quads in his 2017 U.S. Nationals free program that the ISU finally acknowledged they had overvalued quads post 2010-Olympics (i.e., they went from bust to boom, by first giving quads barely any credit to subsequently overvaluing them, and then reversing their mistake only when a great skater's abilities threatened to take scoring control away from the judges). SMH
Quads currently impact how we view ladies (now women's) singles. BTW, what is a female skater these days? How do we value what young females can do vs the ongoing growth of their bodies, which is in conflict with their creative development and longevity within the sport? These are questions that are frankly being ignored and pushed aside in favor of looking googly-eyed at amazing feats by teenyboppers which are damaging bones and joints, not to mention ultimately dashing dreams when their technique is not safe nor solidified, and the competitive structure of the sport continues to be so limited and limiting.
,) with whom I try to argue, against my natural bent, look at all those cool jumps. They don't care. People are on skates and music is playing in the background. It will never be a "sport" to them and why try?
