- Joined
- Mar 28, 2026
According to the rumors, they want to shorten the FP by 30 seconds and remove one jump to focus more on artistry and choreography.
ISU Fan Survey 2026
- Thread starter sissy7
- Start date
They are moving to six jumping passes in the free skate next season, that isn't a rumour. They passed it at 2024 Congress to come into effect for 2026-27. Shortening the free is still up in the air.
I know some are thinking that the 6 jumping passes won't come into effect and they'll be removed like the qualifying rounds were at 2024 Congress. But it is extremely unlikely, they've started publishing technical documents for next season with the new choreo elements already.
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2026
I am probably one of the few people who would be happy of the ISU reducing the length of the program by 30 seconds, let alone removing one jumping pass. Having shorter programs could open up new possibilities of formats at Worlds, because they wouldn't take as much time as they used to.
The rumor about the ISU advising skaters to have two Free programs ready per season is also interesting, but i am not sure how they would implement it as a "rule".
As a lifelong skating fan (since 1960), I found no happiness in watching skaters at pre-2012 Worlds who could barely do an axel. (I could see better skaters in group classes at my local rink.) The TES requirement sets a reasonable skill level that these skaters can work to attain. I can’t think of any Olympic sport that lets everyone enter, without a quality standard.
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2026
Most World Championships don't have ridiculously high minimum scores to enter. Besides the few big federations, many countries are constantly on thin ice for having skaters that they are able to send. Australia for example almost vanished from international competitions, let alone federations like Thailand and the Philippines.
High minimum scores have been in place since more than a decade by now and it is noticeable that many federations have either almost given up or slowly wither away because they don't have any skaters that even want to try.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2012
First of all: calling someone's view elitist because you don't want qualifying rounds, goes a bit far. In nearly all countries FS is a very expensive sport. That is elitist, not if you want to ensure a certain minimum level of skating for the major competitions.
As far as I know there are more and more countries joining the ISU, so all these federations in those countries definitely aren't giving up. When the TES was introduced, I thought in a similar manner - this will be to the detriment of smaller federations - but I have changed my mind. The only way in which I would favour bringing back qualifying rounds is to not broadcast them. Otherwise the European, 4 Continents and World championships would hardly be watched anymore because they take so long with a large number of less capable skaters, and we wish for more watchers around the World. Not an elitist view, but a pragmatic one. By the way, I have seen many new skaters introduced since 2012 in virtually all the disciplines and from many countries. Despite the cost of figure skating, and definitely not only from the traditional countries. If you wish to see less accomplished figure skaters, watch Challengers (who usually demand money for a stream, what the ISU does not do. Just saying) and senior B's. There's well known skaters there, but usually some from less traditional countries as well.
With regard to the Olympics: it's the IOC who limits the number of athletes, not the ISU. The minimum TES is lower than for Worlds, it's at the level of 4 CC and European's. That the IOC uses measures introduced by the ISU also seems pragmatic to me. They limit the participation in other ways just as much: only 19 pairs, 24 ID couples and 29 singles (both men and women) are allowed to attend.
Lastly: there is only one sport I watch and that's Figure Skating. Other sports bore me. If that's elitist, so be it. What it has to do with jealousy and hate eludes me.
As far as I know there are more and more countries joining the ISU, so all these federations in those countries definitely aren't giving up. When the TES was introduced, I thought in a similar manner - this will be to the detriment of smaller federations - but I have changed my mind. The only way in which I would favour bringing back qualifying rounds is to not broadcast them. Otherwise the European, 4 Continents and World championships would hardly be watched anymore because they take so long with a large number of less capable skaters, and we wish for more watchers around the World. Not an elitist view, but a pragmatic one. By the way, I have seen many new skaters introduced since 2012 in virtually all the disciplines and from many countries. Despite the cost of figure skating, and definitely not only from the traditional countries. If you wish to see less accomplished figure skaters, watch Challengers (who usually demand money for a stream, what the ISU does not do. Just saying) and senior B's. There's well known skaters there, but usually some from less traditional countries as well.
With regard to the Olympics: it's the IOC who limits the number of athletes, not the ISU. The minimum TES is lower than for Worlds, it's at the level of 4 CC and European's. That the IOC uses measures introduced by the ISU also seems pragmatic to me. They limit the participation in other ways just as much: only 19 pairs, 24 ID couples and 29 singles (both men and women) are allowed to attend.
Lastly: there is only one sport I watch and that's Figure Skating. Other sports bore me. If that's elitist, so be it. What it has to do with jealousy and hate eludes me.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2026
I didn't talk about the Olympics. With the Olympics i agree with you, they can't have an unlimited amount of participants because there are already so many athletes competing in all kinds of sports. There is some kind of prestige where it is harder to qualify for, which makes them special in their own way.
The World Championships is different however, it should be more accessible to more federations of different skill levels. Qualifying rounds are not ideal, but it would be the only way to get more skaters to compete without Short programs taking 9 hours like at Junior Worlds this year.
With the ISU stream on youtube, i doubt that they wouldn't broadcast the Qualifying. Back in 2006, Worlds didn't feel like some senior B event only because there were skaters competing that couldn't land a triple.
How Worlds are formatted right now, they ARE elitist. As a woman in single skating, you need to land a 3+3 in both programs and aren't allowed many mistakes. The minimums right now are higher than what the Olympic medalists achieved at the 2006 Olympics, which is crazy.
Athletics seems to be the most egalitarian sport. However, the World Championships in this discipline have a predetermined entry limit and qualifying minimums – for example, in the 100m, a maximum of 48 athletes can compete, each of whom must run under 10 seconds (men) and 11.07 seconds (women). These minimums must be achieved in other competitions prior to the World Championships. In soccer – another egalitarian sport – the qualifying round lasts for months before the championships, and only the teams that won their groups can participate, etc. How does this differ from figure skating? The high minimums stem from the high level of the skaters. If too few of them qualified for the World Championships, the minimums would be lowered.
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2026
There are other sports that have these Qualifiers on site. I am just surprised how many people prefer to keep lesser skilled skaters out. I knew that the figure skating fandom has changed a lot since jumps were pushed hard in the last decade, that's why i already expected my opinion to be unpopular, but not that unpopular.
I only asked if there was anyone who doesn't like these high minimum scores either and would like a different system, but it seems not a single person thinks like me in this forum.
Everyone here who likes the current system doesn't need to worry anyway, the ISU tried in 2022, it was accepted at first, then shut down again at the next congress. Sadly i think the high minimum scores are here to stay, especially since both fans and officials seem to favor it.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2022
I know your focus is on the unfairness of the high scores skaters need to qualify, but there are other practical arguments against going back to the old system of holding all-are-welcome qualifying rounds as part of the whole world championship event. Streaming on YouTube doesn't bring revenue to the host city. Fewer cities will bid to hold the event if spectators won't fill the seats for all rounds and buy tickets only to see the final rounds. Hotels, restaurants and shops won't have the revenue from spectators who haven't arrived yet. Many cities only have one appropriate arena, and won't want to tie it up by denying rentals for public sessions, hockey, and other events for those extra days. The hosts will be those cities that have a suitable back-up arena for the qualifying rounds. There were suggestions in the past to have several rotating panels of judges to prevent burnout errors -- those judges are people who have to be housed and fed. The smaller federations that would like to send a skater have to fly him/her there and air travel is more expensive and difficult than when those rounds were held in the past. Having their skater(s) try to qualify at prior competitions closer to home saves their federation money. If coaches travel with their skaters for the whole week or more, they lose teaching fees from other students back home. And so on. $$$ in today's world.
The sport advances technically like virtually all sports. When my partner and I skated at our last senior Canadians, we were sixth behind five current or about-to-be world medallists, including two world champions. But what we did, on their heels so to speak, probably wouldn't make top ten in junior pairs today.
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2026
A solution for that would be the ISU investing money and taking care of housing. It isn't this different when skaters get eliminated after the SP. Nobody knows if they make it or not, even after they already planned to stay for the duration of the FP. Many people in other sports like to watch qualifiers, which the ISU would just have to promote.
I do think that if i was a skater, i would prefer to compete at Worlds, even if it was only in one round, compared to having to stay home, knowing that the chance of ever making it is not there. Athletes from big federations are also favored because they have the support from their own federations, but a skater from Thailand gets next to no exposure. I think if it was possible before, it would be possuble now.
Ami Parekh for example became popular for competing at Worlds in 2007, even if she placed 44th and fell on all of her jumps. Her appearance and skating alone made her stand out and made a lot of people curious about this sport in her home country. Imagine the possibilities if a skater like her gets to compete now, with TikTok and other social media, she would definitely have gone viral.
It goes two ways, either you invest money and potentially spending it knowing that your skater gets the exposure, but having no chance to advance, or just give up and not erven try? Senior B competitions are fine, but we both know that nobody watches them. It either happens at big competitions or not at all, this is how it always went in figure skating.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2018
Ummmm, elite sport is by its nature elitist, and technical capabilities aka jumps (which, I think everyone here knows I think are very overrated but still important) are in a totally different league from 2006. The problem is that unless minimums are set, we either have to cut the number of competitors from 'big' feds (and I see people complaining every. single. year. that the US or Russia or Japan or in the 2014-8 quad Canada ought to be given more places because potential medallists have to stay home) or have many many more bottom-numbing marathons like this years JWorlds women.
On the other hand,
Qualifying rounds may be a solution - or not - but how would it change who gets in? And who (very very important these days because of the decline) would pay for them? (And it's no use just saying 'the ISU should invest' because the ISU are not a money pit these days). Sadly for fs's equivalent of Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsled team (and people like me)... there's not enough time, money or room on the world stage.
On the other hand,
... maybe for you, but we cannot deny that the sport was more popular and had a lot more spectators in 2006 so they were doing something better than TPTB currently are. The conundrum is working out what.
Qualifying rounds may be a solution - or not - but how would it change who gets in? And who (very very important these days because of the decline) would pay for them? (And it's no use just saying 'the ISU should invest' because the ISU are not a money pit these days). Sadly for fs's equivalent of Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsled team (and people like me)... there's not enough time, money or room on the world stage.
Last edited:
Doing the math here: A jumping pass takes about 5 seconds. So shortening the FP by 30 seconds actually takes away 25 seconds that could have been used for artistry.
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2026
I found it strange too. Someone posted on the FS subreddit where Kyrylo was interviwed, and according to them the proposal about reducing both programs by 30 seconds came up. There are so many rumors currently which contradict themselves. Let's see which proposals end up in the agenda, i doubt many of them would pass during the congress.
Exactly! Remove one jump pass, but keep the length, to force more transitional content/performance.
ETD: The post has been edited; thank you!
I just came across this reply to my post, which personally attacks me for having “deep set hate and jealousity (sic)” and makes unfounded assumptions on how I’ve watched skating, from decades ago to today. (For the record: I have skipped early groups of pairs, because the lifts are often so scary; I watch every female singles skater; I vary on men and dance.) I considered reporting this reply, but would prefer that you edit it (maybe remove the first paragraph?).
BTW, the Swimming Worlds has a restrictive entry system based on times; similar to the TES system in skating. One difference is that a very limited number of spots are made available to countries that do not have any qualifiers. Maybe skating could do something similar at Euros & Four Continents, with a small number of small-fed skaters competing for a limited number of extra spots at Worlds.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2026
I edited my text and removed the first paragraph. You are right that what i wrote was a bit too personal based on your comment, yet i still would like to understand what some fans gain by excluding skaters at big Championships, especially since you have the option to skip them.
I still believe that figure skating would gain a lot by having competitors from all over the world, and it would drive interest from countries that see a skater from their own region and culture compete. Having more skaters added might not increase the popularity of this sport in the big federations, but globally it could, especially with social media and TikTok.
Even if i personally don't agree with your opinion, i can see that most, if not everyone is sharing your thoughts currently, so the chances of more skaters added to Worlds with a change of format and expanding/investing into making it longer, are sadly low at this point. Even at the last congress there was a lot of backlash to the expansion of Worlds, and it looks like even the smallest member federations are happy with the current system by not having any skaters at Worlds. For everyone that shares your opinion, i don't think there is any reason to worry about any big changes, it looks like the current format for Worlds is here to stay, at least until the ISU themselves would try to reinitiate this discussion again and propose something.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
Your post, to some extent, reflects the contradictions of figure skating. On the one hand, we want this sport to stop being "niche," to gain immense popularity, and become global. On the other hand, even now, when there are no qualifying rounds, many fans are very dissatisfied with the performances of the first groups of competitors at the World Championships, for example. A short program featuring 40 or more skaters is exhausting, especially for spectators—even those watching on television.
Potentially, in theory, skaters from "tropical countries" could be no less talented than the current champions. But such talent won't be able to shine if their country has no ice rinks, no figure skating schools, and especially if this sport is unpopular there. The ISU has no way to influence this situation, at least for now. And even if one of the richest and most influential federations, say, the American one, were to take on the funding of the education and training of athletes from countries where figure skating is poorly developed, it would take decades for getting noticeable results.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
Frankly, a small number of spectators or "dark ice rinks" isn't something an athlete should be discouraged by. In Russia, many novice and even junior tournaments are held without spectators at all (except for the skaters' parents). However, broadcasting (even if sometimes of poor quality) is a mandatory requirement, and watching such competitions doesn't require paid subscriptions or anything similar. Many of today's most famous figure skaters were first noticed at these very modest competitions.
Similar threads
- Locked
- Sticky
