Is it possible for a figure skater to go into seniors professionally without having competed as a junior? Or is it a requirement to first go through junior competitions before being able to move on to seniors?
Thanks for asking!
First, just to clarify: the skaters in YoI, the skaters you see competing on the Grand Prix/Worlds/Olympics etc, they are NOT professionals! They are technically amateurs. If they are hoping to retain their “eligible” status for the competition circuit, they cannot be professionals.
What you are suggesting is theoretically possible but realistically impractical. There are quite a few reasons why. One thing that you’ve drastically underestimated is the value of competition experience. You can be as relaxed and confident and as you like before a competition, but you will never know how you will react until you are actually standing there at centre ice with the butterflies flying and your knees turning to jelly. And your theoretical skater will be going up against skaters who have been competing all their lives,
Another thing is that the judges probably aren’t going to respond that well to someone who just pops up out of nowhere. Whether we like it or not, there is a degree of reputation scoring that goes on in figure skating, and a skater who just pops out of nowhere isn’t going to go over as well as a skater who has been competing for years and years.
Presumably, you mean that your theoretical skater is going to go compete straight on the GP. Well, that’s actually impossible. First, please see this post about how skaters qualify for the Grand Prix. Second, your theoretical skater could have one hell of a time just getting to Nationals in his own country, let alone earning any assignments out of it!
