ISU Congress 2022 (6-10 June)

[Sun_Rise]

And finally - this one. They had a discussion on how this has budgetary implications plus they will draft a resolution to test it first. 

 

[Melodie]

3 hours ago, LiaRy said:

I don't really understand this one. Can someone explain it in a "for dummies" sort of way, please? 😅

As far as I understand, each skater will have to do two long and one short programs, on top of everything else. One long program is used as a qualification to the actual competition, which has a short and a long. 

 

 

 

[Melodie]

On 6/7/2022 at 3:29 PM, Paskud said:

Awesome, so here goes prediction: Japanese senior ladies field is a bubble that will burst somewhere during next quad. In 3 years they will be in real danger of not achieving 3 spots to Olympics. And very well.

Meanwhile in juniors we will see even more quads and even more injuries. But yay, seniors saved.

 

Btw, this spreading raising age over 3 seasons is useless. Right now 14 years old skaters can't go to seniors because the line is on 15. Next year they will be 15, but the line will bo on 16. Next year the same. So after 22/23 season, next wave of new seniors will be in Olympic season anyway. Which makes the incredibly important pre-Olympic worlds a bottleneck. Awesome.

Doesn't Japan have a strong senior ladies team now (including those expected to come back)? If they are all healthy and don't want to retire in the next four years then at least keeping 3 Olys spots should not be too hard to achieve, no? 

 

For the juniors tho, it does look very concerning. 

[LiaRy]

24 minutes ago, Melodie said:

As far as I understand, each skater will have to do two long and one short programs, on top of everything else. One long program is used as a qualification to the actual competition, which has a short and a long. 

 

 

 

Thanks, that sounds exhausting though. I'm not even sure if it's a good thing or not (I'm still in the learning phase)

[Anni]

30 minutes ago, LiaRy said:

Thanks, that sounds exhausting though. I'm not even sure if it's a good thing or not (I'm still in the learning phase)

 

Me too ....therefore unfortunately I can't contribute  much to the discussion. But I'm grateful for all your explanations and summary.

[Melodie]

26 minutes ago, LiaRy said:

Thanks, that sounds exhausting though. I'm not even sure if it's a good thing or not (I'm still in the learning phase)

I heard it was abolished in 2012 so it must have been a bad idea. 

 

Why is it back tho is what I can't answer. All in all, it's one that makes me go 

[anniered]

In singles the top 18 skaters will automatically go straight into the main competition so they will only do the SP and one FS. The skaters below that will have to do a qualifying FS and the top 12 from that will make up the 30 skaters who will do the competition proper.

It has been bought back so that smaller federations can get their skaters to Worlds. The minimum score will be the same as Euros/4CC so lower than the present Worlds minimum which is too difficult for a lot of skaters to reach.

[Melodie]

1 hour ago, anniered said:

In singles the top 18 skaters will automatically go straight into the main competition so they will only do the SP and one FS. The skaters below that will have to do a qualifying FS and the top 12 from that will make up the 30 skaters who will do the competition proper.

It has been bought back so that smaller federations can get their skaters to Worlds. The minimum score will be the same as Euros/4CC so lower than the present Worlds minimum which is too difficult for a lot of skaters to reach.

But then those who have to enter the qualifying round will have to do the long twice so they will be twice as exhausted as those who automatically pass, no? 

 

Do they get disqualified again if they can't land in the top 24 after the short? or are all 30 qualified? 

 

Anyway, bad ideas all around, is what I see. 

[airi]

Eh, I hate that they brought back qualifying rounds... I remember that everyone (especially skaters) always said that's too tiring and that this is really unfair for those who have to do it ;/ But well, short memory I guess...

[Perelandra]

ISU Congress Day 3

Figure Skating Branch - Summary

Number of proposals 153 - 181

 

Proposals Passed

 

- 155 Jump sequence / Combinations

All jumps within combinations to receive 100% of BV score

 

-156 Clarification about rule 515, pertains to adverse conditions related to skater and equipment

 

- 160/161 New Format for World Championships. PASSED

Currently there are not enough entries. Proposal to increase number of entries.

Singles, both men's and ladies' : 54 entries allowed. 18 entries selected from members - 2 or 3 entries from countries. Skaters representing countries with direct entries, sent to Worlds based on minimum score, set from European Champ score(or 4CC). Skaters reaching these minimum scores take up the slots allocated to that member., which is based on number of places won from previous Worlds. There are ?6 other direct entry slots. Those skaters perform SP and Free programme. Same as current system

New system to be put in place., because some countries do not have direct entries. Qualifying round will be part of World's comp. ?36? skaters would take part in this qualification event. Qualification round will be based on Free Programme score. Top 12 skaters from this qualification competition will progress into the World comp.

World Championship competition = 36 skaters ( 24 from selection, 12 from qualification ) skate in SP. The best 24 progress to FP, hence, no change to competition proper.

All skaters scores reset to zero at start of World Championship. 

Numbers slightly different for Pairs and Ice Dance - 24 and 30 competitive teams take part in Worlds SP/rhythm dance respectively with top 16 or 20 moving to free skate/ free dance

There will be funding to support this change to the event, which is hoped to improve accessibility for countries, which currently do not automatically have representation at Worlds. Proposed start season 2024-2025

 

- 162 Minimum Technical Score for qualification to ISU competitions should be set and published at beginning of season. PASSED

Small feds find it difficult to know what scores their skaters are aiming for in order to qualify for major comps. Minimum TES for the season, to be published by August 1st at start of each new season

 

- 165 Judges for Pairs needs to be experienced judges. PASSED

Judges need to have previously judged pairs competitions and have been assessed to have reached a satisfactory standard before judging high level comp like Worlds or Olys

 

- 31, 166, 178, 179, 180, 181  For Technical Specialists to become Controllers. PASSED

Currently tech controllers recruited from judges but not enough. Applies to Ice Dance and Synchronised comps only

 

- 168, 172 Remove Unnecessary Requirements for Referrals. PASSED

 

- ?169, 171,173,175,177, (181 see above ), 182, 183 Same wording but different categories of Officials - Seminar Requirements to be the same across all categories of officials. PASSED

Currently different for different officials. Proposal to make seminar requirements 24 months for all, via online platform, easier to keep up with updates and ease of access,

e- learning

To set up Working group to create Olympic qualifying events to increase access for Olympic Qualification. Proposal withdrawn, turned into Resolution

 

- 170 Requirements for judges who apply to be Referees. PASSED

Judges may be sent to comp but are not drawn to sit on judging panel. Activity not valid. This is especially relevant for Ice Dance because less comps per season, therefore not possible for judges to gain enough experience at ISU Championship x3 or Olympic Games, which is required application for referee position. To provide enough experience judging at 3x ISU Grand Prix Senior/Junior events will now be sufficient.

Even more problematic for synchro because less comps

 

- 170 Withdrawn

 

- 167 Increase term of Judging Officials from 1 to 5 or 10 seasons. Rejected

Costs money and time to train officials. Inefficient to have only 1 term of service (and also set max age for new judges to be trained)

(  Personal note: this could be a potential cause of lots of inconsistency if judges only work for 1 season and lack of accountability if judges can just leave after single season )

 

- 158 will be discussed once vote on moving to 3 PCS components from current 5

 

- 159 Pertains to removing factor adjustment from rule book into ISU communication. Rejected ( lots of votes yes, not majority )

Adjustment needed, but also needs careful study. Need this to reflect composition of technical part of programme. Corrections and adjustments can be made annually without having to wait for 2 yearly congress 

There is a move to review scale of value SOV for non jump elements, because some of these elements need higher value

 

- 157 Balancing Technical vs Artistic aspects of Fig Skating. Rejected

Really salient points made by New Zealand Figure

Technical scores are evolving and increasing, but PCS still has a known maximum based on the 5 judged categories ( current )

Proposal to balance PCS by looking at highest TES so far and applying a factor (PCS x factor) to elevate PCS. Aim would be to ensure skaters are rewarded for PCS and encourage skating focus toward artistic elements. Mentioned that performance of artistic components not so prone to injuries. ( Alternative would be to adjust scale of values for technical elements )

What was really amazing when the PCS was multiplied by a factor of 2.5 for the mens OWG skater 1 and 4 the PCS and TES made up exactly 50% each - Nathan and Yuzu respectively. Not sure if this was the intention but it looked good on the graph

% TES and PCS y axis vs placement 1-24 x axis

Factorial adjustment of PCS score should improve balance between TES and PCS for the majority of the competitive field. 

There was a semi invitation to review and revisit this every two years and make further presentation to Technical Panel and then potentially to  senior council

 

There is a move to review scale of value SOV for non jump elements, because some of these elements need higher value

 

Proposal 154, altered to Resolution with testing period and budget presentation. Moved to Friday for decision

- To Split the judging panels into GOE and PCS. Judges randomly drawn to judge only GOE or PCS, minimum of 5 judges allocated to each in order to allow focus on judging these elements. 5 judges for the groups to ensure trimmed mean. Each panel drawn for each segment of comp, draw for SP then draw for FS, to avoid potential of collusion within group of judges. Draw just before each part of competition. Recommendation that judges seated PCS - GOE- PCS- GOE and so on, so that cannot see what neighbour is doing( i.e not influenced by neighbours scoring!!)

This needs to be tested. Test likely to take place 2023 - 2024 season.

 

Special mention at start of session

Collaborative project with Canadian company Sportlogiq, tech company headed by former Pairs skater - Craig Bunting. Computer vision technology to evaluate jump rotations and other aspects of figure skating. The project is being currently being evaluated for use in competition

 

The session dragged by so much, I thought that we were all stuck in some time dilation loop...This is what some of the debates were like because they just went round and round over the same material

 

Looking ahead to tomorrow - even more proposals......

[Anabel]

@Perelandra Thanks again for your summary and explanations! You make it so easy 

 

55 minutes ago, Perelandra said:

- 157 Balancing Technical vs Artistic aspects of Fig Skating. Rejected

Really salient points made by New Zealand Figure

Technical scores are evolving and increasing, but PCS still has a known maximum based on the 5 judged categories ( current )

Proposal to balance PCS by looking at highest TES so far and applying a factor (PCS x factor) to elevate PCS. Aim would be to ensure skaters are rewarded for PCS and encourage skating focus toward artistic elements. Mentioned that performance of artistic components not so prone to injuries. ( Alternative would be to adjust scale of values for technical elements )

What was really amazing when the PCS was multiplied by a factor of 2.5 for the mens OWG skater 1 and 4 the PCS and TES made up exactly 50% each - Nathan and Yuzu respectively. Not sure if this was the intention but it looked good on the graph

% TES and PCS y axis vs placement 1-24 x axis

Factorial adjustment of PCS score should improve balance between TES and PCS for the majority of the competitive field. 

There was a semi invitation to review and revisit this every two years and make further presentation to Technical Panel and then potentially to  senior council

 

There is a move to review scale of value SOV for non jump elements, because some of these elements need higher value

 

This would be great if there was no unfair overscoring in PCS. The competition would be more even no matter what the skater's strength was. And then there would be Yuzu 

 

55 minutes ago, Perelandra said:

Proposal 154, altered to Resolution with testing period and budget presentation. Moved to Friday for decision

- To Split the judging panels into GOE and PCS. Judges randomly drawn to judge only GOE or PCS, minimum of 5 judges allocated to each in order to allow focus on judging these elements. 5 judges for the groups to ensure trimmed mean. Each panel drawn for each segment of comp, draw for SP then draw for FS, to avoid potential of collusion within group of judges. Draw just before each part of competition. Recommendation that judges seated PCS - GOE- PCS- GOE and so on, so that cannot see what neighbour is doing( i.e not influenced by neighbours scoring!!)

This needs to be tested. Test likely to take place 2023 - 2024 season.

 

This sounds goog, Hope the aprove it...

 

55 minutes ago, Perelandra said:

Special mention at start of session

Collaborative project with Canadian company Sportlogiq, tech company headed by former Pairs skater - Craig Bunting. Computer vision technology to evaluate jump rotations and other aspects of figure skating. The project is being currently being evaluated for use in competition

 

So, there is already some applicable technology, great to hear about it...

 

59 minutes ago, Perelandra said:

The session dragged by so much, I thought that we were all stuck in some time dilation loop...This is what some of the debates were like because they just went round and round over the same material

 

Looking ahead to tomorrow - even more proposals......

You are our ISU congress warrior! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Perelandra]

 The council were probably young when the. Magna Carta was signed

I'm prepared to brave another day at conference catch up tomorrow

[Muffinator]

Wow, Perelandra, it looks like you were put through some real suffering there! Thanks for all your hard work! You earn the Pooh Perseverance Award!!

[Perelandra]

Sad to say, but I've attended much more boring conferences.

One of the talks was about the medical expedition that went up Everest. Was brilliant at its initial presentation but then the speakers gave same lecture with exact same slides and talk a 5-6 different conferences.  Such a shame and even the 6th repeat lecture outing was not even the most dull conference story. 

[Perelandra]

Regarding the congress summaries

Please if anyone needs to correct something that I have misinterpreted go right ahead. It was quite difficult to maintain concentration all the time