The 57th ISU Ordinary Congress will take place in Seville Spain on June 4 – 8, 2018. Over 350 delegates are expected to meet at the Barcelo Renacimiento, including ISU Office Holders and delegations from ISU Member Federations.
For the first time, Congress will be live streamed on the ISU YouTube Channel. Viewers will be able to follow the Congress sessions for figure skating and speed skating sessions and watch the elections live.
Two of the most important proposals being put forward at Congress are raising the age limit of senior competitors and not permitting a president or official of any federation to judge, referee or hold any official position at competitions.
Urgent Proposal No. 5 NETHERLANDS Rule 108, para. 3a) Revise to read as follows: 3. Age limits for Single & Pair Skating/Ice Dance a) In International Senior Competitions, ISU Senior Championships and the Olympic Winter Games only Skaters may compete who have reached at least the age of seventeen (17) before July 1st preceding the Events, effective season 2020-2021.
Reasons:
- At Senior Championships and OWG, we need to show mature skaters with well-balanced programs. This will improve the image of our sport: media and audience would like to see “idols” who compete for a longer period of time.
- Younger skaters are able to show more difficult elements until they are fully matured. Therefore we are currently losing seniors skaters who are afraid they cannot compete with these younger skaters in Senior Events.
We have currently the youngest Senior age requirement by far of all Winter sports. We would bring Senior age requirement in line with a sport that is comparable to ours, namely Gymnastics, where seniors have to be 16 (ladies) resp. 18 (men). We propose to take 17 for both ladies and men as currently we have no age distinction on the Junior and Novice level.
Urgent Proposal No. 6 ISU COUNCIL Rule 121, paragraph 3: Restrictions applying to appointed Officials: c) Persons who serve as president of an ISU Member at any time in the course of a competition season (July 1st – June 30) shall not act as Judge, Referee, Technical Controller, Technical Specialist, Data and Replay Operator, OAC member, Starter or Competitors Steward at ISU Championships, World Cups in Speed Skating or Short Track Speed Skating, the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, the ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating and the Olympic Winter Games during the course of the same competition season.
As to ISU Members that control both Branches of Skating (Figure Skating and Speed Skating) within their country, this restriction applies equally to the person holding the senior-most position in the governance of the respective Branch of the ISU Member d) Persons appointed by the ISU or by their ISU Member to act as an Official at the Olympic Winter Games shall not act as an Official at the national championships of another ISU Member during the period beginning July 1st of the same competition season as the Olympic Winter Games and up to the start of the Olympic Winter Games.
Reason: To avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of national bias of Officials at ISU Championships, major ISU Events, and the Olympic Winter Games.
SINGLE AND PAIR SKATING / ICE DANCE
Pairs Skating – increase the number of qualified pairs for the long program, from 16 to 20, at ISU World Figure Skating Championships.
Short Dance – change the name of the segment from “Short Dance” to “Rhythm Dance.”
Grade of Execution (GoE) – increase the scoring range from 7 to 11 with the introduction of a wider Grade of Execution score from -3 / +3 to -5 / +5.
Jumps – in order to have more varied programs and to give credit to skaters that can perform different quad jumps, any quad jump can be performed only once in a free skating program.
Illegal Elements/Movements – in order to eliminate unnecessary restrictions, the list would consist of only two such elements: somersault type jumps and lifts with wrong holds.
Jump Sequences – a proposed new definition: a jump sequence consists of 2 (two) jumps of any number of revolutions, beginning with any jump, immediately followed by an Axel type jump with a direct step from the landing curve of the first jump to the take-off curve of the Axel jump.
Medal Ceremonies – a proposal to align the ISU medal ceremony with the International Olympic Committee protocol by awarding athletes in the following order bronze, silver, gold.
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