What rule changes would you like to see next season?

[McBibus]

Well, come up with the new name and I’ll give you royalties. Haha

Also the compulsory figures in figure skating no longer exist and they didn’t change the name did they?

According to Wikipedia:
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice.

So 12 quads performed on figures skates is still figure skating.

It funny to look at the name because in italian is pattinaggio artistico and in french patinage artistique (artistic skating) with reference to art but not to figures.

A kind of Xsport with figure skating elements could be a fun variation going with my idea that top level skating should be a kind of moving circus with different kind of competition just like the alpine ski world cup to attrack fans and keep them interested.
As of today we have 2 competions open to the best in the world (GP final, World Championship) and 2 international competiyion (EU Championship, 4 Continents)
GP stages do not qualify as a global competition because each skater has 2 tokens and the top 3 will rarely if ever collide.

GP Final could have 12 or more skaters and be a superb competition but it will shadow world so ISU keep it a small final and not a big show.
World has limited spots per country and some great skaters could not even be there because ISU in interested in keeping federation favour so we want a representative of HellHoleCountry to skate the free on saturday night, and it is absolutely right because it is the only ******** competition where he/she could prove himself.

Olympic I would not ever mention: it's every 4 years and it is so important that the sport runs in 4 years circles.
Sport looking at the olympics since the day after the olympics end are niche unsustainable sports.

 

[McBibus]

MY GP IDEA

Just imagine to reorganize the GP like this:
6 stages + final (like now) one competition every two weeks, but to avoid free weeks and keep fans interested we break up the pack in the stages phase.
Man+Dance on odd weeks
Women+Couples on even weeks

Since we have only two categories we can allow for a bigger pack of competitors (24)
12 - best ranked skaters
3 - Junior world champion, junior GP Winner, Best ranked junior
6 - International Wildcard selected with a challenger competition to be held the week before the GP stage in the same area
3 - National Wilcard (local heroes)
(for couples with groups of 5 will be 10, 3, 5, 2 total 20)

The 12 (10) skaters with the most points collected in stage phase will access the final that is not a standalone competition but a super stage with double points to keep it open as much as possible but to not devalue the stages as mere qualifiers.

won't that be a real show for us fans?
It's like champions league

 

[chuckm]

Raise the age for women's Senior competitions to 17.

 

[saturdaysun]

Paris' side by side jumps and spins have got to be scored separately for each partner, today the Italian team both fell and got a -2 deduction, but if one of them doubled a triple and the other fell on a triple then the entire element would be counted as a double with a fall. It feels so unfair. It needs to be scored like ice dance.

 

[Jozeph]

Eliminate Skating Skills from the components of judging. It seems to me if you've been at it longer (older age wise) you should have a distinct advantage over a less experienced skater, or at least you should. Skating skills are already a part of so many other things that are judged and given GOEs - spins, footwork, choreo, jumps -- so why give it a second point value. If the ISU is concerned about skills then bring back the school figures -- or expand the school figures to include the skills they want to reward.

 

[alexocfp]

It funny to look at the name because in italian is pattinaggio artistico and in french patinage artistique (artistic skating) with reference to art but not to figures.

A kind of Xsport with figure skating elements could be a fun variation going with my idea that top level skating should be a kind of moving circus with different kind of competition just like the alpine ski world cup to attrack fans and keep them interested.
As of today we have 2 competions open to the best in the world (GP final, World Championship) and 2 international competiyion (EU Championship, 4 Continents)
GP stages do not qualify as a global competition because each skater has 2 tokens and the top 3 will rarely if ever collide.

GP Final could have 12 or more skaters and be a superb competition but it will shadow world so ISU keep it a small final and not a big show.
World has limited spots per country and some great skaters could not even be there because ISU in interested in keeping federation favour so we want a representative of HellHoleCountry to skate the free on saturday night, and it is absolutely right because it is the only ******** competition where he/she could prove himself.

Olympic I would not ever mention: it's every 4 years and it is so important that the sport runs in 4 years circles.
Sport looking at the olympics since the day after the olympics end are niche unsustainable sports.

Awesome, you made all your ideas public. I can steal……I mean “borrow“ them without compensating you now.

 

[alexocfp]

Eliminate Skating Skills from the components of judging. It seems to me if you've been at it longer (older age wise) you should have a distinct advantage over a less experienced skater, or at least you should. Skating skills are already a part of so many other things that are judged and given GOEs - spins, footwork, choreo, jumps -- so why give it a second point value. If the ISU is concerned about skills then bring back the school figures -- or expand the school figures to include the skills they want to reward.

If the figures were removed because they were deemed too boring 30 years ago, when there were a billion less channels and no internet, it tells you what kind of shot they have of coming back in the current era.

Figures today would be the first sport on tv with negative ratings. A test pattern will outdraw that competition. They will sack the ISU member just for proposing it. Haha

 

[Jozeph]

Well then just eliminate the SS from the component. They are already rewarded in so many other scoring areas.

 

[iluvtodd]

A limit on the "hand over head" thing when doing jumps. I don't mind it once in a program, but 3+ times is excessive, and IMHO doesn't really add anything aesthetically pleasing to a program.

 

[snowflake]

My top reform would be to bring back the spiral for ladies. It's just so ludicrous to me that the spiral - one of the most trademark elements in skating - was no longer required, and offers so little points that we're lucky if a lady holds a spiral for longer than a couple seconds.

I don’t know how difficult it is to do a decent spiral for more than a couple of seconds. But I’m sure if it were worth a lot of points everyone would train to do a good one. I can enjoy a few spirals at a competition. But if every skater did a looooong spiral I would be bored.

 

[Blueshirt]

I agree with Jontor, ladyjane and others who miss those creative, difficult and entertaining step sequences so many skaters once did. Adding some type of choreographic step sequence to the free skate in singles would be ideal.

If that is not feasible, then I would wish for a second choreographic sequence. Split jumps, Ina Bauers and the like add some important variety to any program, especially for many of those casual fans we want to keep.

Either way, this new element could replace 1 jumping pass. The growth of quads is terrific, but I think the sheer number of jumps in free skates tends to crowd out other vital aspects of the sport.

Having 6 jumping passes, with 2-3 involving combinations, leaves plenty of room for 5 quads and a triple axel. Remove any rules governing repeats, and require only that a skater attempt each jump type at least once. Maybe we also could tweak the system to discourage eulers, which years later still look like a pop to me, and reward those gorgeous combinations that end with a triple loop.

It sounds like performing a fast, centered spin is more difficult than adding features. Perhaps the difference in base value between the levels should be reduced to prioritize GOE, in addition to raising the point value for spins overall.

 

[Idiote]

I'm a complete newbie at figure skating + a patented anarchist, so I don't know much at all about the rules and how you make them, but I'll throw in a few ideas and hope they make at least a little bit of sense ^^''

1/ quads in the SP for women, please, it's about time !

2/ stop forcing junior girls to risk everything by allowing the 3A in combo only, it's absurd.

3/ have the PCS factored in the same way across all single disciplines, that bullcrap is just plain sexist.

4/ introduce the same gender/sex (men+men and women+women) pairs and ice dance disciplines into the official/big broadcast/main ISU international competitions circuits ; if they want to make a more substantial pledge for equality and modernisation of the sport than the "women vs ladies" shenanigans, I think it would be the right thing to do. that also means more elite figure skating to watch

5/ I like the idea of bringing back the spiral, however I don't see why it still needs to apply only for women. I'm sure there can be really cool spirals moments for men too (see Jason Brown for example), why not even create new types of spirals for the less flexible skaters (men or women) ?

6/ create some sort of bonus points systems to reward creativity in spins - or even a malus to punish overpredictability, if we're in a bad mood x') it's just so refreshing to see different entries, unique positions, I want them to make spins great again ! I also stan behind the idea of implementing level 5 for spins, and increasing their BV.

7/ that would probably need to re-extend the programs lengths, but I'd love to see two step sequences - one with a circular/serpentine pattern, and bringing back a straight-line one ! it was sooo fun, and the range and variety of movements just seems so different (maybe it's not to a trained eye, but still, I'd love more of that).

8/ introduce at least one new international competition after nationals, so there's more opportunities for skaters than Worlds and Euros/Four Continents ; maybe that would help the overcrowded Russian field to have another possibility to dispatch their ladies ? Or maybe organise Worlds differently, with like semi-finals and all that kind of stuff, and allow more initial entries per country ? I have no clue and this is getting messy, sorry ^^'

9/ force all the ISU officials to retire by making them watch bad Carmens, R&J and POTOH programs on repeat until they die or give up, reform ISU as a whole, implement a figure skating worldwide hegemony and use all the ISU funds and money to buy a gigantic frost machine to freeze all the oceans and have all skaters of the planet beautifully glide together on the ashes of capitalism.

(I think I need some sleep.)

Those are the thoughts in my head, as for the suggestions I've read on this page there are plenty of really interesting ideas ! I'd love to see figures return as a starting order assignment protocol ; I also agree that the Grand Prix system needs to be rethought.

We need to make a few polls and elect a Golden Skate representative to bring a big folder with all our ideas to the ISU (and if they don't like our suggestions, there's still plan 9)

 

[anonymoose_au]

@Idiote Plan 9 is of great interest to me, and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter

Also straight line footwork FTW!

 

[Skatingcat]

Mostly, I would like the jumps to be downgraded in points, and spins, footwork given more credit. To balance the programs out.

 

[yulikali]

To be honest I could easily craft a level 5 sit spin with the current system that many juvenile competitors could do. I know I could do it and I am no Deniss Vasiljev. I'm a random Intermediate competitor. Illusion (1), sit forward variation (2) for 8 rotations (3), sit side (4) for two rotations, sit back (5) for two rotations. I don't think it would change the game. Unlimited levels on the other hand would change the game a lot and spins would look so cool. Like imagine flying sit with difficult fly, sit forward variation, hop on one foot, hold for 8, fly to change feet, sit side, sit back, then some difficult exit (perhaps an illusion exit). That would be level 8. That's also a lot of stuff in one spin but it would be so cool to see someone do.

I liked the idea of unlimited levels for spins! However, that would cause some skaters to just spin for like a minute or so to get maximum points and that would get boring quickly. So how about no limits on levels + putting a time limit on the spins?

Like for example, if your spin exceeds 20 seconds or so, you get a deduction. And since you need to get at least 3 rotations in the position for the level to count, this would mean skaters would need to spin fast to get more levels. Also keep the "each level feature counts only once"-rule, this would still give a chance to more time-consuming features like the 8 rotations one.

 

[gliese]

I liked the idea of unlimited levels for spins! However, that would cause some skaters to just spin for like a minute or so to get maximum points and that would get boring quickly. So how about no limits on levels + putting a time limit on the spins?

Like for example, if your spin exceeds 20 seconds or so, you get a deduction. And since you need to get at least 3 rotations in the position for the level to count, this would mean skaters would need to spin fast to get more levels. Also keep the "each level feature counts only once"-rule, this would still give a chance to more time-consuming features like the 8 rotations one.

Yes I love this!

 

[Colonel Green]

3/ have the PCS factored in the same way across all single disciplines, that bullcrap is just plain sexist.

No, it's scaled to the TES in the respective disciplines. The are only a couple of women capable of scoring TES above 80, and that itself is a very recent phenomenon.

 

[Idiote]

No, it's scaled to the TES in the respective disciplines. The are only a couple of women capable of scoring TES above 80, and that itself is a very recent phenomenon.

Thank you for the explanation It makes more sense now.

I still think it's sexist and need to evolve, though ; granted women scoring above 80 is a recent phenomenon (what do you consider recent, btw ? I feel like Medvedeva was already scoring above 80 in TES, and that was before the previous Olys ; maybe I remember wrong though), but that's what rule changes is all about - taking into account the recent evolutions of the situation and adapt the rules accordingly

And this idea that the women needed their PCS capped at 80% because nobody imagined them capable of jumping multiple ultra-Cs successfully, honestly it just reeks of a glass ceiling situation and insidious sexism to me. You can disagree of course, that's only my perspective, but I'll stand by it

 

[Lzbee]

Thank you for the explanation It makes more sense now.

I still think it's sexist and need to evolve, though ; granted women scoring above 80 is a recent phenomenon (what do you consider recent, btw ? I feel like Medvedeva was already scoring above 80 in TES, and that was before the previous Olys ; maybe I remember wrong though), but that's what rule changes is all about - taking into account the recent evolutions of the situation and adapt the rules accordingly

And this idea that the women needed their PCS capped at 80% because nobody imagined them capable of jumping multiple ultra-Cs successfully, honestly it just reeks of a glass ceiling situation and insidious sexism to me. You can disagree of course, that's only my perspective, but I'll stand by it

Senior women who scored over 80 TES before 19/20 season in international competition:

Zagitova - 5 times - highest score 83.54
Kihira* - 4 times - highest 87.17
Tuktamysheva* - 1 time - 82.15

Women who scored over 75 TES before 18/19 season:

Kihira* - 5 times
Zagitova - 10 times
Tursynbayeva* - 1 time - 78.97
Kim (Yuna) - 1 time - 78.30
Medvedeva - 9 times - highest 79.18
Osmond - 2 times - highest 76.50
Tennel - 2 times - highest 79.64
Tuktamysheva* - 3 times
Mihara - 1 time - 76.07
Higuchi - 1 time - 75.65
Sotnikova - 1 time - 75.54
Miyahara - 2 times - 75.20

* Has ultra-c jump.

So from these numbers, I think the 80 cap was the right call in the past. Only 2 of these scores occurred before 2015.

 

[TT_Fin]

A limit on the "hand over head" thing when doing jumps. I don't mind it once in a program, but 3+ times is excessive, and IMHO doesn't really add anything esthetically pleasing to a program.

Some of our Finnish commentators have said, that some skaters find it even easier to jump by that way. So many skaters do it today, even those who don't have difficult jumps, so I agree, it is not worth of limit anymore. I