- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
I know people on both sides have valid opinions on age restrictions in the sport. However, I don't really understand the point of allowing skaters of a certain age to participate in the GP but not senior Worlds. The problems I have are:
1) It's confusing for fans to see skaters do exceptionally well against top seniors but not be allowed to skate against them at big events (i.e. Mao in 2006)
2) It's actually harder on the athletes, who either have to sit out the second half of the season or reconfigure their programs to meet the different set of requirements at Junior Worlds.
3) In some ways, it can lead to questions about whether the winners of big events were really the best in the world at that time (i.e. again, Mao in 2006)
I've never actually heard an explanation of why this is the policy of the ISU and was wondering if there was an official position of the organization as to why this is how things work.
1) It's confusing for fans to see skaters do exceptionally well against top seniors but not be allowed to skate against them at big events (i.e. Mao in 2006)
2) It's actually harder on the athletes, who either have to sit out the second half of the season or reconfigure their programs to meet the different set of requirements at Junior Worlds.
3) In some ways, it can lead to questions about whether the winners of big events were really the best in the world at that time (i.e. again, Mao in 2006)
I've never actually heard an explanation of why this is the policy of the ISU and was wondering if there was an official position of the organization as to why this is how things work.