Figure skating is a stunning sport that maintains the perfect balance between artistry and hard-core athleticism. As a figure skater myself, I compete in singles skating, and I’ve been lucky enough to experience this sport and all it has to offer. I’ve also been able to see how the sport of singles skating has changed and learn how the judging system works. Figure skating competitions have a very complex judging system. The main system is called International Judging System (IJS), in which skaters are judged based on their technical ability and their artistry. It used to be that triple jumps, which are jumps with three revolutions in the air (a triple axel is 3.5), were the hardest level jumps performed. But now, many skaters, mainly men, do quad jumps, an insane four revolutions in the air (a quad axel is 4.5).
In recent years, young women have started to jump quads, also, introducing one way that figure skating has changed over the years. The young age at which these girls are breaking records is astonishing and inspiring to everyone, but they are so young that many, including me, worry that their health is in trouble. It makes me question if the pressures are becoming too high, and if the intense competition could cause many skaters to develop health problems. In the midst of all of this, new rules are being created for competitions, many of which I believe will bring the sport back to its true purpose.
Russia hosts the best up-and-comers of the sport. Alina Zagitova, student of Eteri Tutberidze, won the gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and Evgenia Medvedeva, former student of Tutberidze, claimed the silver. Now, very young girls under Tutberidze are showing the whole world this sport isn’t just for men to make history. During the Junior Grand Prix, a series of competitions for junior skaters, many of these young Russian girls have made history. For example, Alexandra Trusova, 14, has already completed a quad toe and a quad salchow in competition, the first woman to do so—but more recently, at the JGP in Kaunas, Lithuania, she became the first woman to attempt a quad lutz, arguably the hardest jump, and a quad toe in combination. Although her quad lutz was marked “under-rotated,” Trusova became an inspiration to girls around the world. I have watched men like Vincent Zhou and Nathan Chen complete these jumps beautifully, but seeing young girl like me attempt one shows me and every skater that women can jump quads, too. Another young girl, Anna Shcherbakova, has also attempted a quad lutz in competition, and shows everyone that women can do the jumps but also be artistic, and tell a story, in a program.
While these girls have made history, their feats do come with increased health risks. At such a young age, the girls are still developing, and the hardness of the falls and the impact their bodies have to take is huge. When I fall on a double or triple jump, it already hurts—imagine falling on a jump ten times harder. Brian Orser, coach of two-time Olympian Yuzuru Hanyu, once commented: [Trusova] is doing quads now: how is she going to be when she’s 17 or 18?’’ Orser also said, “ It’s all fun, with everybody marveling on social media about her, but it could be a very short-lived phenomenon.” I have to agree with Orser. If the young girls fall so hard, will their growth be stunted, and what kinds of lifelong body damages will they have when they retire? A very possible option is to start raising the minimum age to compete in a senior division or to jump these quads, but I also believe this would be received very badly, as skaters wouldn’t be allowed to skate to their full potential. In an NTV interview with Tutberidze, she said, “This is true, it’s very dangerous. The risk is huge. But since it’s dangerous, an athlete that does it should get twice as much [points]. An athlete should see the reasons to take risks.” When asked about the dangers to her skaters’ development, Tutberidze argued, “Sasha is sturdier. I think it’s very important to learn the jumps before these physiological changes, because after it, a girl can only retain what she already has.”
Personally, I believe Tutberidze must be more careful with Trusova, but I understand the pressure to ensure that her skaters know the jump before they undergo physiological changes. A skater does their best to repeat a jump many times, so that they can perform the jump and rely on their technique on even the worst days. While so far, we have not seen these young girls suffer from injury, I worry that their health will slowly deteriorate and fail them in the long run. The last thing we want is to see these prodigies having to bow out of competitions because the pressures are becoming too high. There is also a big chance that overpressured skaters could develop eating disorders so they can be lighter when they jump, or be compelled to keep skating one step further and hurt their bodies. After seeing Yulia Lipnitskaya have to retire from anorexia, which broke my heart, I do not want these girls to go through the same thing. These girls are inspiring beyond compare, but we should be teaching them to train themselves for the long run, not one short-lived period of glory.
Amidst all the Russian prodigies, there are many rule changes that are being proposed or put in place. For me, the biggest upset of PyeongChang was how Zagitova got the gold over Medvedeva. Not to say Zagitova doesn’t work hard; everyone knows how hard you must work to even get to the Olympics. However, Zagitova won because she back-loaded her programs, which means she put all of her jumps in the second half of her program so she could get an extra points bonus on all the second-half jumps. While this shows an amazing amount of endurance and strength, I feel Medvedeva deserved to win because her stunning program told a story, and she portrayed the character beautifully.
This is why I am in favor of a new rule, nicknamed the “Zagitova Rule.” This new regulation reduces the bonus for jumps in the second half of the program. For the short program, only the last jump of the program would get the bonus, and for the long, only the last three jumps would get the bonus, as opposed to all jumps in the second half in both cases. I believe this will benefit skating as a whole, because it will encourage skaters to focus more on telling a story and being artistic instead of worrying only about points. For example, while I admire Trusova so much, I feel her programs are not as artistic as they could be. Many programs are becoming too mundane, only organized so skaters can accumulate the maximum amount of points.
Some steps in the right direction include the shortening of the length of men’s long programs by 30 seconds to match ladies’ lengths, so now men can only jump seven times as opposed to eight. Another is that the GOE range has been lengthened. A GOE is a grade of execution, and is what the judges rate a skater’s element as. The range used to be from -3 (the lowest, such as a fall) to 3 (a perfectly executed element). However, the range is now from -5 to 5. Personally, I think the jump repetition rule, the time rule, and the new GOE rule will again help skaters go back to the sport’s root of artistry. With less jumps to repeat and execute, skaters can focus on doing every jump better and taking advantage of getting a better GOE for every element, instead of reducing programs to point-getters.
Figure skating has endured many changes. Young Russian girls are clearing the way for women to accomplish the unthinkable. They are jumping quads that no woman has ever tried before, showing everyone that this sport isn’t just for men to make history, and encouraging women to try these impressive jumps. This is incredibly inspiring for skaters like me, who are beyond excited to see that there is more to accomplish in the world of figure skating. However, esteemed coaches like Orser worry that their health is going to deteriorate and take the blunt of their jumps, and I feel the pressure is going to encourage female skaters to brush aside health concerns. I hope the several new rules are going to encourage every skater to go back to the root of figure skating: the artistry. Skaters should try to focus on every element and the feeling of the music, not just accumulating all points possible. Figure skating is one of the most beautiful and captivating sports to watch, and I am extremely excited to see how these new changes affect skating in the future.