- Joined
- Aug 31, 2022
There are many junior pairs who perform nice lifts, even with ages that will allow both pairs to move up to seniors together. It's not like ONLY max age partners can lift min age partners.
Not just a "vestige" of impartiality: the ISU must be full-on impartial and objective.As for existing pairs who formed before the age change - I like watching them, but the ISU has to maintain some vestige of impartiality and bending the rules for a few top (mostly US) pairs would just give ammunition to those arguing that the age limit targeted Russian women specifically. If they can come up with a compromise to avoid hypocrisy without making those teams political sacrifices, then kudos to them.
I wonder how Baram/Tioumentsev were supposed to be aware. I see in their thread that they teamed up in the spring of 2021. The age was raised more than a year later. Perhaps those more knowledgeable will enlighten me how this pair supposedly knew in advance when, and if, the change would be greenlighted, even if it had been discussed for quite a while.
1 year of waiting out is nothing out of the ordinary, it happens for country switches as well, or for difficult injuries. 3 years... in a skater's words, 'The competitive life of a skater is short'. That is almost one full Olympic cycle, and most skaters stay around for just two.
Well, I'd say they do it because they think it brings them an advantage (in addition).It's not a necessity for a grown man to pair with a 13 yr old. It's done (but only rarely) because they're allowed to.
I wonder, in this case, what ISU would say to justify blocking 14yo or 15yo (after july 1st) singles skaters in juniors, while those three would be allowed in seniors.Thank you for the clarification!
Based on that, I support the 3 pairs formed before the age change waiting for one year, like they could expect they would, then joining one of the categories; seniors would now make more sense to me. They're the last remnants of the pre-age-change system, and forcing them to split or go domestic for 3 seasons sounds like a worse solution to me than having three under-17 girls in seniors one last time in 24/25 season. If an eye is kept on their well-being, I'm not sure how any harm could come out of that. But ISU should have considered this before the age change, not after.
Of course, exceptions will be found, since Americans and Japanese are both impacted in the discipline they want to develop. It will be particularly advantageous for Japan because of how their male skaters are build.World Junior pairs champs caught in age conundrum
How the new ISU age eligibility rules affect pair skating Newly-minted World Junior Pair Skating Champions Sophia Baram and Daniel Tioumentsev (USA) shonewww.goldenskate.com
"The skating community has to find a way to put in place a solution to keep the existing pair teams together, said Bruno Marcotte. "If there is no opportunity for these teams (to compete), I don't see how any of them can survive. Because of the nature of our discipline, when a boy starts doing pairs, it's safer for the team if the boy is teamed up with someone much smaller, and that is why we see many teams with an age gap in the novice and junior level."
The ISU will have a meeting at Worlds, so here's hoping they can find a quick solution or exception to the current rule!
It will likely be impossible for them to compete next season because of:Maybe then Chernyshova and Antonyshev can skate together because they just broke the pair specifically because of the age gap that stops them from competing next season.
That ban will never end by the look of it, so I would have rather seen them skate nationally together. Antonyshev didn’t look like anything with 2 previous partners, including Osokina who now shines in a different partnership. Even in Russia, it is hard to get a partnership that finally clicks. I mean, look at Mironov’s ambling, despite obvious talent.It will likely be impossible for them to compete next season because of:
1. The ban that will probably stay
2. The very few spots that would be available if the ban is lifted.
To be honest, i prefer them to split and try to find another partner closer to their age. Even if it takes time to build symbiosis. When i see what Kostornaia, who was a singles skater, was able to learn with Kunitsa in some months, i think everything can work.