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Day 4 of 50th ISU Congress 10 Jun 2004 18:33
After yesterday’s historic decision to implement the ISU Judging System in place of the traditional 6.0 system the ISU Congress continued its deliberations on Thursday.
Figure Skating and Ice Dancing The short program in singles and pair skating will in future last for a maximum of 2 minutes and 50 seconds (previously the limit was 2 minutes and 40 seconds) in order to allow more time for steps and transitions between the elements.
The Figure Skating section adopted a resolution to request the Vice President to invite the ISU Council to establish a representative group to develop a proposal for the composition of judging panels for major ISU Events and for the Olympic Winter Games.
Ladies in singles and pair skating will no longer be required to wear a skirt for their performances. A skirt, trousers or tights will be permitted.
For both men and ladies sleeves will no longer be compulsory. Male skaters must wear trousers. As before, tights are not permitted.
At the European and Four Continents Figure Skating Championships there will be no qualifying rounds. Therefore the competition will consist of a short program and free skating only. Previously a qualifying round was held if there were more than 31 entries in one discipline.
At all ISU Figure Skating Championships in ice dancing up to 30 couples will compete in a single group for the compulsory dance. Previously the couples were divided into two groups if there were more than 25 entries.
At the World Junior Figure Skating Championships the qualifying round (if required) will determine the top 30 participants who qualify for the short program but the points awarded in the qualifying round will not be carried forward to the final result. Previously the qualifying round counted for 20% of the final result.
At the World Junior Figure Skating Championships ice dancing couples will skate only one compulsory dance instead of the previous two.
Synchronized Skating A proposal to reduce the number of skaters in a team to 16 was rejected. Synchronized Skating teams will continue to consist of 20 skaters for the World Synchronized Skating Championships and of 16 to 20 skaters for senior international competitions. In junior international competitions there will be 12 to 20 skaters as before.
Speed Skating A proposal to permit the use of a mechanism that could regulate the release mechanism of the slap skate was rejected.
Short Track The Speed Skating section agreed to modify the qualification system for Short Track skaters for the Olympic Winter Games. For the 2006 Games two of the four ISU World Cup Short Track competitions will be designated as qualifying events.
On Friday the Congress will conclude with a general session, including debate on restructuring the ISU.
