I have been saying for years that the ISU Results site needs to be transformed into a fully searchable database. But, I can’t see them doing something as sensible as that because of the effort (and hence expense) involved.
However, the confusion caused by the changing status of the Senior B’s each season means that the Personal Best section of the ISU Bios need to be completely re-designed as a matter of urgency.
The Personal Best section needs to be divided into 4 separate parts to cater for the different types of competition.
Here is a table to show what would be in each part:
[TABLE="class: grid"]
[TR]
[TD]
Major Championships
[/TD]
[TD]
Grands Prix[/TD]
[TD]
Other International Competitions[/TD]
[TD]
National Competitions[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Olympics[/TD]
[TD]Senior Grand Prix Final[/TD]
[TD]Challenger Series competitions[/TD]
[TD]National Championships[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Senior Worlds[/TD]
[TD]Senior Grand Prix competitions[/TD]
[TD]Other Senior B competitions[/TD]
[TD]Regional / Sectional Championships[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Europeans[/TD]
[TD]Junior Grand Prix Final[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Other domestic competitions[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Four Continents[/TD]
[TD]Junior Grand Prix competitions[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Junior Worlds[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Winter Universiade[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Youth Olympics[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]International Children’s Games[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Asian Winter Games[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]World Team Trophy[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Team Challenge Cup[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
This way, you would avoid the status of some of the Senior B’s changing each season. They would all be in together.
As you may have worked out by my inclusion of the ICG, I would like to see the ISU Bios include competitions from Novice level as well. Because it is very confusing when you see a skater make their Junior GP debut, and there is absolutely nothing in their ISU Bio to give you an indication of whether they are any good.
I did dither over which column to put the GP Finals in. Because, let’s face it, the GP Final is a Major Championship. But, at the end of the day, it is the culmination of the GP Series, so it should be in the same column as the rest of the GP Series competitions.
In fact, the PB section could even be laid out as a table. Here is a mock-up of how a PB table could look for a “random” skater:
[TABLE="class: grid"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 3, align: center"]
Short Programme
[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 3, align: center"]
Free Skate[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 3, align: center"]
Total[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
Date[/TD]
[TD]
Competition[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]
Score
[/TD]
[TD]
Date[/TD]
[TD]
Competition[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]
Score
[/TD]
[TD]
Date[/TD]
[TD]
Competition[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]
Score
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Major Championships[/TD]
[TD]30 Mar. 2016[/TD]
[TD]
ISU World Championships[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]81.28[/TD]
[TD]01 Apr. 2016[/TD]
[TD]
ISU World Championships[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]172.86[/TD]
[TD]30 Mar. – 03 Apr. 2016[/TD]
[TD]
ISU World Championships[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]254.14[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Grands Prix[/TD]
[TD]23 Oct. 2015[/TD]
[TD]
Skate America[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]86.67[/TD]
[TD]24 Oct. 2015[/TD]
[TD]
Skate America[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]161.94[/TD]
[TD]23–25 Oct. 2015[/TD]
[TD]
Skate America[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]258.95[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Other International competitions[/TD]
[TD]18 Nov. 2015[/TD]
[TD]
Tallinn Trophy[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]87.03[/TD]
[TD]19 Nov. 2015[/TD]
[TD]
Tallinn Trophy[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]165.13[/TD]
[TD]18–22 Nov. 2015[/TD]
[TD]
Tallinn Trophy[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]252.16[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
National competitions[/TD]
[TD]22 Jan. 2016[/TD]
[TD]
US Championships[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]91.83[/TD]
[TD]24 Jan. 2016[/TD]
[TD]
US Championships[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]177.72[/TD]
[TD]16–24 Jan. 2016[/TD]
[TD]
US Championships[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]269.55[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Absolute PB[/TD]
[TD]22 Jan. 2016[/TD]
[TD]
US Championships[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]91.83[/TD]
[TD]24 Jan. 2016[/TD]
[TD]
US Championships[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]177.72[/TD]
[TD]16–24 Jan. 2016[/TD]
[TD]
US Championships[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]269.55[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Disclaimer: This table was put together in a hurry, so he may have bigger scores that I missed.
Unfortunately, the skater I chose scored all his PB’s at the same four competitions from last season! And all his Absolute PB’s were scored at Nationals. But, these would not necessarily be the case for everybody.
The benefit of this sort of table is that it would mean that all the different types of PB would be in the one place, and it would be easy to compare them.
The drawback is that it would be a massive undertaking to do this for all the skaters that have ISU Bios.
But, I do believe that something like this needs to be done as soon as possible to end all this confusion.
CaroLiza_fan