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- Jan 19, 2024
As far as I remember - main of the declared reasons for raising seniors age was preventing injuries and preserving health among kids - presumably reducing amount of quads and neccessity to train them. However in practice I can't help but notice the opposite effect of it. Here is exerpt from article about latest Jumping competition in Russia (google translated) about novice skater who suffered (new) injury there:
And it's not something out of place in Russia - but common trend there as far as I can tell. By raising the age - competition in juniors has already increased many times over - because there are naturally much MORE juniors and junior years/tournaments now (in other words without quads it's impossible to count on victories there). Main part of figure skating (judging by longest time period average skater spend there and by quantity of skaters in one category) - after introducing new rule - became junior. With all extra stress of big sport applied to it. What are your thougths, I wonder? Was ISU right to increase age after all?
Kostyleva competed the day before in the individual tournament and reached bronze. And before that there was still qualification. Three days of competition in a row, and even with cascades of 3 and 5 jumps - isn’t it too much for a 12-year-old figure skater?
But that’s not all: on January 15, 16 and 18, Kostyleva performed at the Moscow Championship (short, free and elements), on January 11 and 12 at the Moscow City Cup (two programs).
Three tournaments in a row, 7 days of competitions only (this does not include training and warm-ups) - it looks like a too tough schedule even for an adult.
And look at the jumps:
3Lz, 2A, 3F-3T – short at the Moscow City Cup.
4S-2A, 4S, 3Lo, 3Lz-1Eu-3S, 3Lz-3T, 3F – free at the Moscow City Cup.
3Lz, 2A, 3F-3T – short at the Moscow championship.
4S, 4S, 4S-3T, 4S-3T - elements at the Moscow Championship.
4S-2A, 2A, 4S, 3Lo, 3Lz-3T, 3Lz-1Eu-3S, 3F – free at the Moscow Championships.
4S, 4S, 3Lz-3T, 4T – qualification of the Russian jumping championship.
4S+3T, 4S, 3Lz, 4S+3T+2A, 4S+2A, 3Lz, 4S+3T+2A+2A+2A, 4S, 4S+2A, 3Lz – final of the individual tournament at the Russian Jumping Championship.
4S-3T-2A, 3Lz-3T-2T, 4S, 4S – team competitions at the Russian jumping championship.
65 jumps in 7 days of competition almost in a row (not counting the oilers)! 21 of them are quadruple.
Source: https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/streamofconsciousness/3216762.html (don't click if you can't tolerate photos of crying children)Her mother admitted that Lena had no chance of winning the individual tournament - she was also recovering from an injury: “Lena could not win. It is not ready yet, we will prepare for next year. She is after an injury and is on her ninth day of competition in a row (apparently, Elena’s mother also counted training - Sports.ru), yesterday at 10 pm there was an award ceremony.
And it's not something out of place in Russia - but common trend there as far as I can tell. By raising the age - competition in juniors has already increased many times over - because there are naturally much MORE juniors and junior years/tournaments now (in other words without quads it's impossible to count on victories there). Main part of figure skating (judging by longest time period average skater spend there and by quantity of skaters in one category) - after introducing new rule - became junior. With all extra stress of big sport applied to it. What are your thougths, I wonder? Was ISU right to increase age after all?
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