The Figure Skating Ask

I have a rulebook, and I'm not afraid to use it! New Yuri on Ice fan with questions about the sport? Just getting into it yourself? Or maybe got a rule question that's just bugging you? Ask away! (Anonymous asking is enabled!)

[figureskatingask]

Hi! Just a heads up, the prerotation ask post is broken

Oooh, thanks for the heads-up! I just had a bit of a play with it and it looks all right from my end, let me know if it’s still broken!

[figureskatingask]

Hello! It’s been a while since my last ask. Hope you are well.Please help enlighten me on the rules for repeated jumps in the Free Skate. I thought only two jumps can be repeated now, but I was watching Kaori’s Skate America FS and noticed she repeated 2A, 3F, 3T and 2T so I’m confused... did I misunderstood the rules? Thank you! - Spammy Anon

Thanks for asking! (Missed you Spammy Anon!)

Okay, so this is a bit more complicated. The system considers triples and doubles different jumps. So you get to repeat two triples and you can also repeat two doubles. So 3F and 3T are her two triples, but separate are her 2T and 2A as the repeated doubles. Zayak rule can be a bit confusing.

[figureskatingask]

How did you feel about the tech panel at Skate America? I don't mind that it was strict but personally I found it inconsistent. If Miyahara isn't UR then neither is Tennell, if Tennell is UR then so is Miyahara, as far as I can see from videos.

I loved the tech panel at Skate America generally, especially the men’s event. I felt all the calls in the men’s event were correct and I was decidedly unimpressed at the “tech panel picked on Vincent!” that the Americans started spinning pretty much from the moment his first jump was UR.

I haven’t had much of an opportunity to have a thorough look at the ladies (I was incredibly busy that day and had them on in the background rather than doing a proper watch) so I’ll need to go back over. I generally think Miyahara URs a lot but a few of Tennell’s jumps looked suspect real time. I think the key with tech panels is consistency. I like them to be consistent. I don’t like it when they set a standard and then throw it out the window (see: Jason Brown’s/Adam Rippon’s quad toe attempts from 2016; if Jason’s was UR then Adam’s was, if Adam’s was rotated then Jason’s was, like your argument.)

[figureskatingask]

Well, it has finally happened...a skating account posted a video of a FIVE-YEAR-OLD Russian child doing a cute little program, and Koola-type FS fans are shitting on her because she prerotates. Like calm down she’s a literal kindergartener, I’m pretty sure she just likes to skate for fun lol. People need to stop.

That’s hardly a surprise, really. The amount of bitterness in these people is astonishing. It’s skating. Watch for the joy of skating.

[figureskatingask]

How much is a skater allowed to prerotate on each jump? People on Instagram (people like Koola, I guess) keep talking about it and they can’t even agree with each other. Especially on the toeloop. One person said 1/2, one person said 1/4, and someone even said there should be zero prerotation on the toeloop (which I don’t think is even physically possible?) Can you help, please?

Thanks for asking!

Zero pre-rotation on the toe loop (and Salchow) is probably theoretically possible but realistically improbable. Generally though it shouldn’t be more than a quarter. A half would be a forward takeoff which is <<.

Probably the jump you’re most likely to see called << for takeoff is the loop, mostly because that’s the one where it happens a lot. Sometimes it’s a quarter short at the start and a quarter short on landing and that becomes << also.

With pre-rotations, the tech panel is only allowed full speed replay. They’re not allowed to use slo-mo on it.

[figureskatingask]

Thoughts on the mass exodus of ladies from Eteri's team? Medvedeva, Tsurkaya, Tarakanova, Panenkova all switched coaches. Seems like a huge red flag for so many top skaters to leave the same coach

Thanks for asking!

I don’t really have any thoughts. I suppose sometimes when a big star of a team chooses to leave, it might give other skaters pause for thought and the idea to reevaluate their own skating.

[figureskatingask]

Kovtun, Alina, and Kolyada are all doing Carmen? Sorry, but I just needed to giggle at the parallel to post-Sochi when on the Japanese senior team Hanyu, Kanako, and Mura all did POTO and their WTT team was "theatrical". I wish we could see all 3 carmen at WTT this year too just for the hell of it and warhorses. Sadly I don't think it's likely.

I did have a laugh when I saw that. These things come and go - I think the POTO year you were referring to there were like six of them at Worlds. I can’t blame too many people; I like the Carmen music and find it very skateable.

I doubt we’ll get all three Carmens at WTT, and I might add, I think the comparison between the two men will be particularly unfavourable to Kovtun.

[figureskatingask]

Hello! I have heard some comment that Evgenia Medvedeva's double Axel as well as the technique on her Lutz have improved. Could you give a confirmation?

Thanks for asking!

I certainly think so. Her Axel looks bigger and more secure, and to me the effort to correct the Lutz edge is very obvious. Of course, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it looks better for sure.

[figureskatingask]

Do you know why Kaori Sakamoto's SP spin received a V? If it had less than two turns in a basic position (sit), shouldn't it be a 0?

Thanks for asking!

Yes, the V is for the lack of sit. I just slo-mo’d that spin and she didn’t get two revs after the flying change.

She didn’t get 0 because it was a combination spin. You can still get some credit for a combination spin as long as you have two basic positions. She had a camel and an upright, so she just had the V added.

(PS: Quick reminder; if you want to ask me a question about something that happened at a specific event, please make sure to tell me what event the skater was at! ;) )

[figureskatingask]

Body rotations in step sequences

Did you hit send by accident before finishing your question? :)

[figureskatingask]

What are the ice resurfacing people doing with buckets and tools?

Thanks for asking!

They’re patching the holes! If you’ve never seen an ice surface close up when higher-level skaters have been skating on it, then to explain: every skater, even those with the better technique, will dig a hole in the ice when they jump with the toe (Lutz, flip, toe loop). Some of these holes are bigger than others, and also because of the way that programs are generally laid out, many of the Lutz holes, for example, end up in the same or similar places. Zamboni-ing over those holes won’t fix them on their own.

The little buckets have ice in them (usually taken from the last ice cut) and the ice techs go out on the ice and pack the ice into the hole, which the Zamboni then seals in. And voila! Nice ice again.

[figureskatingask]

welp koola king just made a video "proving" that full blade takeoffs can be done. what can say about that?

Koola King. Argument invalid.

[figureskatingask]

Are there less pairs than singles or ice dancers? Because a few junior gps don’t have pairs?

Thanks for asking!

Yes, there are generally fewer pairs. The reasons for this are myriad; ice time for pairs can be difficult (especially outside the big countries), while there’s fewer men who want to do pairs there’s also fewer girls because not every girl likes the idea of being chucked eight feet in the air…

Additionally, getting in pairs judges/tech specs and ice time for pairs events (because you can only have four pairs on a warmup) is expensive for the people running the competition, too.

[figureskatingask]

I think its pretty rich how TSL always play at being shocked and outraged whenever a skater is revealed to have an eating disorder or at everything going on in gymnastics(which I don't follow but from what I can tell is genuinely terrible) but then casually tells Tuktamysheva to lose ten pounds even though she had arguably the best performance of any of the ladies.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooh I was so so so so so so so so so so angry when I saw they’d said that. And no, I don’t care if it was the guest who said it, TSL have said plenty of similar things in the past so they’re not innocent angels on this.

The whole premise of the remark was ridiculously stupid anyway. Yeah, obviously those 10 pounds are really affecting her skating if she can land a triple Axel…*sarcastic eyeroll*

It’s also this - both the people who said the remark and the people who defend it - who contribute to the toxic culture around weight in figure skating. Liza is absolutely fucking stunningly gorgeous, clearly in tip-top shape, capable of doing something very few other women can do (and none of the current women can do it as well as she can) - but nah, she’s not an anorexic waif so obviously she needs to lose weight.

[figureskatingask]

It's kind of funny that they made all these rule changes to "stop Russian ladies" (limit of backloading bonus, tano/rippon no longer GOE bullet points) and they're still sweeping the JGP.

Hahahaha, yes, I am enjoying this tremendously.

[figureskatingask]

Wait are French gp tickets seriously as little as 30 euro???

That’s what appears to be on the site, so I’m guessing so!

[figureskatingask]

Dunno if this is stupid but is a Biellmann spin still a Biellmann spin if you’re not holding your blade (like for example Yulia)?

Thanks for asking!

The answer is yes :) It’s just a variation on a Biellmann.