It is unfair that ISU will cut a throw jump in pairs though...
I mean... why do the side by side spin, the combo spin and the death spiral have to be compulsory in the LP??
Because there's only one of each, whereas there are already two throws, so cutting one would not eliminate that skill entirely?
Of course, they're not really required -- the only penalty for leaving one out is that you get no points for that slot. But there isn't the option to replace them with something else.
What if the senior pair freeskate requirements were something like
11 elements total
1 each of the following is expected:
*Lift
*Twist lift
*Throw jump
*Side-by-side jump element (solo or sequence/combo)
*Side-by-side spin
*Pair spin
*Death spiral
*Sequence (step sequence or choreographic sequence)
Then there would be three wild-card elements, in which the team could repeat any of the above categories of elements as long as two elements from the category didn't have the same code. It would be allowed to choose two extra lifts for a total of three. But if there are two or more lifts in the program, at least one has to be from groups 1-4 (seniors will never choose groups 1 or 2).
I've always wanted to see something similar for singles as well. Maybe require a minimum of five jump passes, maximum of 7 or 8, and allow additional spins or sequences or other kinds of elements (school figure variation?) for those who choose fewer jumping passes.
The skaters who do fewer passes would likely either
*Be strong jumpers who can combine their most difficult jumps in several different 3-3 (or 4-3) combinations so that they don't need as many passes to max out their difficult jump content
or
*Be weaker jumpers who don't have a full complement of triples to begin with, so their own difficult jump content can be maxed out in fewer passes.
A level 4 non-jump element is going to be worth more in base value than a double lutz, and maybe some of them should be worth more than double axels. Certainly skaters who excel at spinning more than jumps, for example, might benefit in terms of GOE from including another level 4 spin instead of another double axel.
If there were to be a lower limit on the total number of jump elements allowed, it might be advisable to amend the Zayak rule to allow only one repeat (which would encourage the strong jumpers to develop different kinds of combinations aside from 3T as the second jump) and/or to give bonuses based on the difficulty of the second/third jump in a combo (ditto), and/or to give a bonus for using all 6 different jump takeoffs (which would discourage filling the fewer jump passes with nothing but axels, toe loops, and salchows; or nothing but toe loops, flips, and lutzes with one token double axel).