I don’t know when I’ll be able to find time for everything. I decided to publish this text on the blog and also to send it by email to info@isu.ch and to Philippe Maitrot from the tech. committee, mtphilou@free.fr. The two addresses were reported to me on Twitter by a person who found them on the ISU website. Yesterday I wrote a lot about the identity of the judges and the protocol, this time I will be brief, but I could write of other points in the future.

Again, hi ISU. I write directly to you.

According to this new rule, the same base value will be assigned to combinations and jump sequences. Your text says clearly

With the new definition of the Jump Sequence introduced in 2018 there is no reason to have a lesser value for Jump Sequences than for Jump Combinations.

The definition of the sequences dates back to 2018, it took you three years to realize that with a precise definition there is no need to assign a lower base value to the sequences. I could make jokes, I just say “better late than never”. After all, you write that yourself

This allows more variety in the execution of the jumps

Great. We are all happy when the sport gets better. But now comes the difficult question. Your text also says

The change is planed only beginning from the season 2022/23 after the OWG.

Why? If I realize that I have made a mistake, I try to fix it as soon as possible. You realize a mistake… and pretend nothing has happened for another year? It is not that prolonging the mistake makes you appear heroic because you remain firm in your positions. Rather, it raises the question of whether you are unable to lead the sport properly, or that you don’t want to.

And, while we mentioned the base value of the jumps, are we sure that all the base values are correct? A year ago Mr. Bianchetti had talked about equating the values of the quadruple loop, the quadruple flip and the quadruple Lutz, then nothing was done. If you have lost the statistics made by Mr. Bianchetti, I have made others myself. You can find them here. And if you feel the need for other statistics, you just have to ask for them, I will do them more than willingly. You already knew a year ago that it was a mistake that you need to correct. Why not do it as soon as possible? Why not now? As you said yourself, it is important to have more variety in the execution of the jumps, and with a higher base value at both the quadruple loop and the quadruple Axel, there will be more skaters encouraged to learn them.

I promised I’d be short, so I’ll just touch one more point. This:

Are you kidding? Tell me that’s a joke, please. You can’t be serious, not about this. Sport must focus on athletes, not on those who make the rules. They are the athletes who make the sport, without athletes who makes the rules has no reason to exist. And you say that establishing a number in the summer and not changing it during the winter is too demanding for those who have to decide that number? But do you have any idea what challenging means? Do you have any idea what pressure is? Do you have any idea what thinking only about what is most comfortable for you does for athletes?

We had proof of this in early 2020. Try reading Dasa Grm’s story if you haven’t already, and then come and talk to me about pressure on the technical committee if you dare. We are talking about the one who is the best Slovenian figure skater since the 2013-2014 season. If you want to increase the popularity of figure skating, skaters from countries like Slovenia need to be helped, not put in trouble. It’s okay to set the Minimum Total Elements Scores, and if a skater don’t reach it, this just means that that skater isn’t good enough to participate in the competition. But skaters have the right to know the minimums in time and to plan their season accordingly.

For now I have read little of your documents, but the points I have talked about are important. If you really want sport to be better, you need to make the right decision for the sport, not the one that is most comfortable for some people.