Not new info but this is an article by Sportiva published yesterday, it is about the rule change.
https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/othersports/figure/2018/05/11/30/index.php
Next season's figure skating likely to result in a major revision of the rules will be officially decided at the general meeting of International Skating Union (ISU) to be held in Spain in June. In addition to revising rules on scoring, such as the base value of the jump is lowered than before, and the grading of execution point (GOE) is expanded from 7 stages of plus or minus 3 to 11 stages of plus or minus 5, there is possibility that men's free skating will change greatly in particular.
The performance time is shortened from the current 4 minutes and 30 seconds to 4 minutes, and accompanying this, the number of jumps will also be reduced from 8 to 7. It will be the same as women's free skating.
It is said that the intention of former ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta worked significantly for this revision. Mr. Cinquanta, an Italian and was Short track speed skater, has for some time asked the question "Why does it have to be 4 minutes and 30 seconds only for men in figure skating?" and suggested that it should be 4 minutes as well as women's. Furthermore, in recent years, it seems there is also an aspect of reducing the burden on men whose jumping is highly developed.
What kind of program is going to be when the performance time is shortened and the number of jumps decreases by one? Mr. Nobuhiko Yoshioka who experienced the position of the strengthening director of Japan Skating Federation and currently has been active as an international referee expects as follows.
"When the jumps change from eight to seven, you probably will respond by reducing the easiest jump. For example, in Hanyu's program, he is not going to jump like 3F coming lightly from the step. You could say that it is enough."
However, it can not be said clearly that if the burden will decrease as the time becomes short.
"If you are a skater who can jump without stress in the music, you can cope with this change as a matter of course, but for skaters who need the preparation for the jumps, the loss of 30 seconds of performance time may have huge influence. Because there is not enough room to show the whole program, such as transition (the link of the elements), etc. As the ISU intends, even if you set it for 4 minutes to reduce the load of men, the skaters jump quads may actually be burdened more." (Mr. Yoshioka)
On the other hand, there is concern that the highlight of appealing skating and powerful performance from male skaters may be fading due to shortening of the time, but Mr. Yoshioka says, "Ladies and junior boys are showing the program attracts the fans in 4 minutes".
"Comprehensively, I think it will be even more advantageous for skillful skaters with higher levels, which will make it easier for telling the difference in ability. In the sense that the skaters who can jump in the music will be advantageous, I think it is going to be in a good direction as a result for figure skating." (Mr. Yoshioka)
In addition, in this revision of the rules, a topic of the restrictions in some form to the bonus rule that the jump in the second half of the program is scored 1.1 times the base value has been emerging quickly. In the background, it is not hard to imagine that it was influenced by Alina Zagitova's strongest program, vivid senior debut in the Olympic season, which has made her rise to the queen's position.
Originally this bonus rule was to prevent all the difficult jumps in the first half of the program and to become a latter half empty. Then, the skater having all the jumps in the second half aiming at increasing the score appeared. From the original purpose of the jumps should be arranged in the balanced way throughout the program, this would also be a kind of deviation.
Mr. Yoshioka who evaluates Zagitova's program "has been slightly deviated from the original
good figure skating" says, "It seems they are considering the limitation of the number of jumps in the second half, or/and the score of 1.1 times base value applies to only last three jumps, for example."
If the rules are revised as just described, it is expected that the quality of each element will be raised and the direction of the completion level of the program as a whole will increase. For the coming season, many skaters may be showing the programs look more appealing than ever.
text by Synn Yinha
So... do you think Yuzuru will say bye-bye to 3F at last?
Well, I don't think Yuzurenai look alike Yuzuru, but he is a good singer :shocked: I hope he sings without cosplay lol.
but yeah, I guess unless there’s the all jump types bonus, the 3F will be most likely to get cut
Please be prepared for Alina's face when Yuzurenai showed up, I LOVED her reaction and couldn't stop laughing. The program was about 3 hours length and they gave about 1 hour for figure skating, the skaters challenged 4 kinds of games and they were very interesting. I hope we're going to have video 
