Decisions of the ISU Council

Locations and dates for next year’s Junior Grand Prix announced; the ISU making yet another attempt at a reoccurring team event outside the Olympics.

The International Skating Union, the federation that runs international figure skating and speed skating events, published the decisions made by its Council this week. They had met back in the middle of the month in Geneva. They will next do so during in Finland the week before the World Champions are held there. With a new president finally replacing the much-hated Ottavio Cinquanta, fans are anxious to see how much will change. The answer, from this Council’s outcome, seems so far to be: not that much. Besides decisions related strictly to speed skating, and some more general ones, there were three related to the figure skating specifically. One was routine. A second was also routine, and came out last week already. The third seems a touch bizarre.

Next Year’s Junior Grand Prix

The first figure skating-related decision of the Council was the schedule for next year’s Junior Grand Prix. The second was related to next year’s Grand Prix Finale, happening next year in Vancouver, but that one was out already. The Junior Grand Prix, meanwhile, will go through Australia, Austria, Latvia, Belarus, Croatia, Poland and Italy. It will opening in Australia in the penultimate week of August, and run nonstop for seven weeks. Pairs will compete at four of the events: Latvia, Belarus, Croatia, and Poland.

Five of the seven cities involved, Brisbane, Riga, Minsk, Zagreb, and Gdansk, are common stops for the series. Austria and Italy, on the other hand, are not, and none of the cities involved have hosted before. The details about the final JGP event are especially intriguing. The two cities listed, Egna and Bolzano, are close to each other, but very much not the same place. It is unclear whether Italy is simply unsure which city will be hosting, or whether they both somehow will. The latter has never been done. After all, they need  only one competitive venue, though there is often a separate practice rink as well. It would be even more strange when one considers pairs won’t compete there.

That itself is also unusual. Usually the final event of the series will have pairs, so the series can wrap of for all four disciplines together. Nonetheless, it is not unknown.

ISU Now Proposing an ‘Ultimate Skating Event’

The document saved the most colorful decision for last. The end of the document describes an initiative to develop an “Ultimate Skating” event. An event so titled it probably an event ISU officials think will appeal to younger viewers. And indeed, the ISU think they would like skating routines performed by multiple skaters on the ice at once, doing unusual tricks and who knows what else. From their history, one cannot think it likely they actually consulted any younger viewers about this.

More likely, they’re trying to establish a new kind of team event. The ISU has tried for years to permanently establish a team event where different skaters compete, and then combine their scores or placements. The World Team Trophy had a decent run from 2009 to 2015, but failed to return either last year or this year. The Team Challenge Cup ended last season, but hasn’t come back either. Too many skaters simply don’t want to compete an event noone is going to care about; a couple even complained about the ISU obliging them to compete in the World Team Trophy after Worlds. It’s hard to get anyone to pay for it either. There is now a team event in the Olympics, but events competed at the Olympics really should happen not just there.

This is certainly a new way to do it. The decision from the Council doesn’t quite make clear how on Earth they can. Competitive routines must be prepared and trained beforehand. Even skaters who all train at the same rink are unlikely to want to take that kind of time out of their regular training schedules. Allowing retired skaters to participate helps with recruitment, but probably not enough. Also, their own modern-day scoring system is not set up to deal with innovative tricks.

Perhaps the ISU will figure out a way to do this. They might even figure it out in time to do a proper demonstration at Worlds. More likely, they’ll find 8 to 10 skaters willing to skate an “ultimate” program at that exhibition gala. What happens after that is anyone’s guess. Although if they really did this, they’d probably have to establish the full rules at the next ISU Congress in 2018. They might aim to get it into the 2022 Olympics.

Meanwhile, this is very bad news for Synchronized Skating. They have hoped against hope to get into the Olympics for years. Despite the support, synchronized skaters have always held the disadvantage of being in large teams. Those running the Olympics in recent years have always tried to limit the amount of new athletes; the team event got in partly because those participating are mostly skaters already competing in the other four events. 8 to 10 people teams, again consisting of athletes already in the Games, have the advantage, and the addition of this kind of event would keep Synchronized Skating from getting in.

Next: Grand Prix Series Starts with Skate America

But then again, given the sheer logistical issues with this idea of the Council, perhaps ultimately it will come to nothing. No one will even grieve too much if so.