- Joined
- Jan 25, 2013
Invalid elements aren't considered "serious errors" in terms of PCS - This is what the official ISU rules (if you have a newer source with different information, please let me know) say about PCS caps:
"If a program contains a Serious error, the maximum scores are listed below:
Skating Skills, Transitions, Composition: Maximum score 9.75.
Performance and Interpretation: Maximum score 9.50.
If a program contains Serious errors, the maximum scores are listed below:
Skating Skills, Transitions, Composition: Maximum score 9.25.
Performance and Interpretation: Maximum score 8.75.
Serious errors are falls, interruptions during the program and technical mistakes that impact the integrity/continuity/fluidity of the composition and/or its relation to the music.
Similar limitations must be applied to all levels of Skaters from extremely poor to outstanding."
Would you consider Yuzuru's popped 4S to fall into any of these categories? (I personally wouldn't - he went straight into a transition and went on with his program as if nothing had happened.)
Come on now. A pop is a serious error. We aren’t talking about tripling a quad - he popped it to a single.
A pop absolutely affects the integrity of a performance. There was an audible gasp when he popped the jump, and while everything else was done well, it was an unambiguously critical error. The overall impact of this skate was fundamentally different from if he had skated it cleanly.
If he popped all three jumping passes and went on with his program as if nothing happened should he still be allowed to get 10.00?
A program with a singled quad absolutely should not get 9.75 for PE or IN, which some judges still incorrectly gave him.
The rules even clarify that the rules must apply to all levels of skaters from extremely poor to outstanding — as if to almost acknowledge that some judges will ignore this when it comes to top-tier skaters.