Big changes are coming to figure skating, but athletes, coaches, choreographers – and even the ISU Technical Committees – are expressing frustration that their opinions aren’t being heard.
“To be competitive in today’s world and remain relevant for current audiences and appeal to young generations of skaters and fans, our focus is to evolve our product and fan engagement system” commented ISU President Jae Youl Kim when the “Vision 2030” strategic framework was announced in 2023.
Athletes, coaches, and choreographers have been wondering what that evolution will mean for them.
In the Technical Committee meetings that are held at most major competitions, coaches and athletes have been asked to share their ideas for potential new competition formats. Some ideas, such as having a more distinct technical and artistic program, or creating a separate jump or spin competition, have been discussed for years. The discussions in these meetings were typically framed as open-ended brainstorming sessions and the Committees did not share specific proposals for feedback.
Many athletes and coaches were shocked, therefore, to learn that the Council had already made its decisions, without having presented the ideas in detail to the people closest to the sport on a daily basis. According to reporting from Phil Hersh, the proposals were first shared with federations in a meeting during the Grand Prix Final in December.
In December 2025, Communication 2753 stated that “The Council…decided not to publish proposals for changes to the Competition and Event Regulations until early 2026, in order to take into account Members’ feedback and allow additional consultation space. Once published, Members will still have 30 days to make specific comments on the proposed changes before any formal decision is taken.”
In late February, Members – the national federations – were sent detailed information about ISU Council decisions for the 2027-2028 season and beyond. Parts of these proposals were leaked to Russian media channels, and information began to spread, although unevenly, among the skating community.
These rule changes have not been posted publicly or shared directly with athletes and coaches. In meetings at the World Championships, conflicting statements were made by ISU office holders about whether the Council proposals are final, or when final decisions will be made.
On April 10th, Phil Hersh reported that the proposed changes have been pushed back until 2030; the ISU’s press release from April 6th only mentioned that the “Council decided to revise the Competition and Event Regulations taking into consideration feedback received at the Members’ Conference.” An ISU spokesperson told AnythingGOEs on April 8th that “official and final information will only be communicated after the Congress [meeting in June].”
New governance structures within the ISU may play a role in this confusion among stakeholders.
The Congress, which is made of representatives of the national member federations, is the highest authority in the ISU. The Council is the executive branch of the ISU, made up of the President, two Vice Presidents (one for figure skating and one for speed skating) and ten Council members. These officials are elected by the Congress every four years.
In July 2025, the ISU Extraordinary Congress approved a new constitution, which moved more decision-making power to the ISU Council, and away from the Congress. This has the effect of centralizing – and speeding up – decision-making. It also increases the power of the ISU Council, and decreases the ability of federations to stop change. Unlike in past years, the Congress will not vote on specific changes to the rules of the sport when it meets in June.
The major changes for singles and pairs for the 2026-27 season were actually decided by the 2024 ISU Congress, but implementation was postponed until after the Olympic season. These changes include, for singles: removing one jump from the free skate, and replacing one leveled spin with a choreographic spin. For pairs: at the junior and senior level, the choreo sequence in the free skate has been removed, one leveled lift is eliminated in place of a choreographic lift, and the pair spin is replaced by a choreographic spin.
For Ice Dance, the ISU Technical Committee noted that they are responding to feedback from coaches and athletes who have asked to have a pattern dance element back in the rhythm dance for seniors, and specifically have asked for a year with a waltz. The pattern dance also potentially allows for more “apples-to-apples” comparison of teams, and increases the difference between the two programs.
Not all skaters like these changes for next year – some have expressed concern that choreo elements in singles and pairs won’t be judged by the right criteria, and Ilia Malinin, for example, does not want to reduce the number of jumps. However, most skaters and coaches are at least cautiously positive about next season.
The concern – and in some cases, alarm – from athletes and coaches comes with the more structural changes being proposed (or already decided) for 2027-2028 and beyond.
As discussed in the technical committee meetings, and reported by Phil Hersh in January, several major changes are on the table.
Cutting the Program Length
The most-discussed change is the reduction of the program time, from 4:00 to 3:30 for the free skate / free dance. The goal, as explained by members of the IDTC, is to reduce the length of competitions, thereby making skating more marketable to broadcasters and audiences.
Kyrylo Marsak of Ukraine attended the Singles and Pairs TC meeting at Worlds and shared his opinions with the committee. As he later told AnythingGOEs, “there is no particular reason, I think, for us to do those changes, especially because I think the events are pretty sold out this year, and the audience is really hyped-up about figure skating…there’s not many people who still watching TV, so we don’t need to fight for their attention. It’s mostly now on streaming services, and you can play later. You can play it on repeat. You can do whatever, and it’s not necessary that we need to lose some time from the programs.”
Multiple athletes and coaches pointed out that the changes for 2026-27 and 2027-28 seemed to contradict each other. “I’m not really feeling what they are trying to do to decrease the 30 seconds of the program,” said Marsak, “because after these changes we lose one jump, and if we’re gonna, in the future, lose the 30 seconds, then it will be just the same as it is now, because the programs will be as compressed.”
Stéphane Lambiel shared that opinion. “I’m a bit confused, because the intention of removing an element is to add choreography, and then the intention of cutting down [the program length] is to remove choreography…We are just facing decisions that are going 180 degrees one season after the other, even before it has been shown on the ice.”
Others argue that shorter programs would be worse from both a technical and artistic perspective.
While Canadian coach Mitch Islam appreciates that the ISU leaders are looking to innovate, he told AnythingGOEs at Junior Worlds, “for me, shortening the programming isn’t as appealing…. a lot of coaches feel that one of the incredible parts of our sport, is the endurance aspect, which is really different from a lot of other sports.” He noted that being able to perform well when tired at the end of the program is an essential part of what makes figure skating a competitive sport.
Scott Moir told AnythingGOEs that he plans to push back on the cuts to program length. “I understand that everybody wants instant gratification these days, and that the attention span is getting less and less. But I think 4 minutes makes it more of a sport. 3:30 is what we’re doing in junior, and I think that extra 30 seconds makes a big difference, especially because these athletes have four minutes to create a sophisticated story, execute all the athleticism and creativity, and then be able to bring it home. So, I already feel like four minutes is pretty tight. So that one worries me a little bit.”
Coach and choreographer Florent Amodio thinks competitions are too long, but doesn’t think the programs are the place to cut. “You cannot say to people, come watch Alysa Liu, but she will stay one minute and a half…To grow emotion, you need time in the program.”
Choreographer Lori Nichol was even more passionate when she spoke with AnythingGOEs at Worlds. “I think shortening the free program should be the last thing they do. I mean, if we’re in dire straits, and only one person shows up, and buys a ticket, then maybe…But right now, endurance, in my mind, is still part of the sport. And, you know, back when I skated, the free program was five minutes. Then it became four and a half minutes, and it’s now four minutes. Then to go down to three and a half, they’re gonna have to run around, I call it, like chickens with their heads cut off, because they’re going to have to get all these tricks done in a shorter time frame. So where is their time to really tell a story and suspend on a gorgeous gliding edge? There won’t be time to do that, what I really love about skating.”
Two Free Programs out, dance battle in?
One proposed change may already have been rolled back: the proposal from the ISU Council to require skaters to create and perform two free skate programs per season, in addition to their short program. Opposition to that idea centered around concern that quality would decrease, and that increased expense for choreography, costumes, and music rights & editing, would place an unfair burden on skaters.
In the Technical Committee meetings at both Junior and Senior Worlds, committee leadership shared that they had opposed this change, but that they were asked by the Council to not just say ‘no’, but to participate in developing new ideas. For Dance, that might look like a “challenge” or “battle” with skaters going head-to-head in a bracket, performing compulsory dances. It would be a separate competition, and there is some interest in doing a trial event in the next season.
With ISU officials also talking about how to make separate technical and artistic programs, many in the skating community worry that they could lose the blended aspect that makes figure skating special.
Lori Nichol is passionate about this issue. “I just keep imploring them at every meeting I’ve gone to, ‘Please, you have to keep the essence of figure skating, and that is the balance of both great art and great technique, right? It’s that marriage of both.’ I think we need to elevate the value of artistry and skating. They need to fix the factoring so that it counts just as much as the technical. And not lose that balance. So they were talking about making one program technical, one artistic, all these different theories, but it’s always both, you know? You make one technical and one artistic, you might have, you know, people who don’t want to see the technical program, running around just doing tricks, and others that don’t want to see the artistic. So we’ll have audience coming and going, and if you’re a fan of figure skating, you want to see both.”
The other big change that the ISU Council is proposing (or has decided) is to the structure of the figure skating season. From 2027, the senior season would become longer, with the Grand Prix beginning in September, and Worlds moving back into April.
Who can speak, and who is listened to?
Much of the frustration from athletes and coaches comes from feeling that they are not being given meaningful ways to express their concerns to leadership. The Technical Committee leaders also expressed frustration that they had limited power to influence the direction of the changes.
In the IDTC meeting at Worlds, chair Shawn Rettstatt stated that the ISU Council had already voted to shorten the program length. He also said that he “completely agree[d]” with the coaches’ opposition to the cut. “We were given this. We weren’t asked to participate in this. We have no participation in this change…We have expressed that we don’t want to change the time of the program. We have expressed that we do not want two free dances, which is the other part of Vision 2030. We’ve been very clear that we do not support some of those changes, but it’s got to come from the federations, to actually stand up and say, ‘We do not support X, Y, Z, as part of Vision 2030.’”
Rettstatt echoed a similar plea from IDTC member Ingrid Charlotte Wolter during the meeting with coaches at Junior Worlds. “The proposals are out,’ Wolter said. “The only thing you can do is get your countries to make a comment in the system, that is the only way we can collect voices and manage to perhaps retract something of what is going to happen. So please go to your countries, do something, tell them what you are saying here, because otherwise we have already said everything we can say. We keep on repeating, we keep on getting new arguments, but we need other voices.”
According to representatives of federations who attended the Member meeting on the final Saturday of Worlds, both the Technical Committee chairs addressed the Council representatives and shared that they were tasked by coaches and athletes to communicate their opposition to the new rules. At least one federation representative also expressed frustration during the meeting that the ISU Council had not spoken directly to the coaches and athletes before making their decisions.
At this meeting, ISU leadership stated that the changes were not final yet.
“I think the ISU should really reconsider all of these changes, and really give opportunity and a voice to all of us athletes to really come together and realize what’s better for the sport.” – Ilia Malinin
Later on the same day, at the press conference after the men’s free skate, the medalists shared their frustrations with rule changes and that athletes were not involved enough.
“I think the rules, as they currently stand, bring out the beauty of figure skating,” said silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama. “Personally, I would not want those to change. I’ve read online that there are ideas about abolishing the short program and free program, but I personally cannot agree with that change if it happens. I think our sport is a wonderful mix of artistry and sport. The tension between those two elements is what makes figure skating beautiful.”
“I’m sure that any rule changes should seriously consider how we athletes feel and whether we can be satisfied with those changes,” Kagiyama continued. “Rather than focusing solely on technical changes, I’d like more attention given to the music rights’ issue.”
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin agreed. “I think that the ISU and everyone who is in charge of making these decisions should really listen to the athletes, because to be honest, we’re the reason the ISU is blowing up. Because, without the skaters, the ISU would not be able to have all this recognition. I think the ISU should really reconsider all of these changes, and really give opportunity and a voice to all of us athletes to really come together and realize what’s better for the sport.”
While some athletes are frustrated, others note that the ISU is trying to create new channels for feedback. While Scott Moir opposes some of the ISU’s decisions, he does feel like he has good access to make his concerns known. German dancer Jennifer Janse van Rensberg, noted that the ISU was trying new things to reach athletes, such as the “ISU Apartment” program unveiled at Worlds, an informal space to discuss ideas for the sport. “I’m glad that they are asking, finally, the skaters about changes and everything…I really want to go [to the ISU apartment]. And then if we have ideas, we can talk. And this is a step forward, I think, for the future…I mean, we have to skate it at the end, right?”
Nichol, however, wondered if the concerns were really being absorbed by decision-makers, “You can always say it, but whether or not you’re being heard is the other question. You know, when you’re talking to people that have already made up their mind, that they’re trying to make you feel good by listening. So, there’s that. And then there are people that genuinely are listening and believing in what you’re saying, but they don’t have the access to making it count.”
“I can only hope that people that have the most knowledge about the sport are the ones making these decisions,” Nichol concluded.
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