ISU Communication No. 2735 - Officials for 2025/26 season

[Andrea82]

ISU have published the updated List of Referees, Judges, Technical Controllers, Technical Specialists, Data & Replay Operators season 2024/25 for Single & Pair Skating, Ice Dance and Synchronized Skating, valid for 2025/2026 season.

https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azurefd.net/isudamcontainer/CMS/Corporate-Site/Governance/Transparency/ISU-Communications/2735-List-Officials-FS-ID-SYS-2025-26-1754294295-5479.pdf

Going through them, the changes compared to last season seems to be

SINGLE AND PAIRS JUDGES

Retirements (everybody turning 70 since previous update is automatically retired)

Lorna Schroder - Canada
Dan Fang - China * Judged in 2022 Olympics
Ingrid Charlotte Wolter - Germany
Zsuzsanna Vikarne-Homolya - Hungary * Judged at 2018 and 2022 Olympics
Dovile Tvarijone Pervazaite - Lithuania
Cathrine Wessel - Norway
Anna Sierocka - Poland * Judged at 2002 (in the Pairs panel), 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Olympics
Maria Olesinska - Poland
Katarzyna Walczak-Żakowska - Poland
Adriana Ordeanu - Romania
Alexander Kogan - Russia * Judged in 2010 Olympics
Galina Istomina - Russia
Prisca Binz Moser - Switzerland
Bettina Meier - Switzerland
Irina Medvedeva - Ukraine
Ubavka Kutinou-Novakovic - Bosnia (again...she was delated mid-season in 2023/24 season..the she was back last season..and now gone again)

Suspended until 31 July 2026
Katalin Balczo - Hungary * Judged at 2018 Olympics

Demoted to International judge
Laurie Johnson - USA
Francis Betsch - France

New international judges
Erin Chellew - Canada
Hilary Quick - Canada
Yanyan Lu - China
Ludovica Gandini - Denmark
Jenni Lindstrom - Finland
Thomas Nutley - Great Britain
Alison Smith - Great Britain
Elisa Ricci Elisa - Italy
Zhansaya Adykhanova - Kazakhstan
Rudolfs Janis Zabolockis - Latvia
Julija Kravcenko - Lithiuania
Hanna Drottz - Sweden
Kenneth Kuo-Pin Chi - Taiwan
Whitney Luke - USA

Country switching
Nadezhda Fiodorova from Belarus to Georgia. She is an ISU level judge. So ready for Milano-Cortina.
Elena Khmyzenko from Russia to Georgia.

Referees
Promoted to ISU status: Francoise de Rappard (Belgium), Feng Huang (China), Anja Rist (Germany), Jung-Sue Lee (South Korea)
Promoted to International status: Leah Bates (Australia), Reaghan Fortin Fawcett (Canada), Hailan Jiang (China), Saaraliisa Ehalt (Finland), Almila Arikan Sarbanoglu (Great Britain), Jerry Hilgert (Luxembourg), Hanya Leenards (Netherlands), Andrea Simancikova (Slovakia), Kathleen Cutone (USA)

ICE DANCE

Retirement:

Tianyi Zhang (China) * Judged at 2014 and 2018 Olympics
Ingrid Charlotte Wolter (Germany) * Member of ISU Technical Committe. Judged at 2014 Olympics, Referee at 2018 Olympics
Hilary Selby (Great Britain) * Member of ISU Technical Committe* Judged at 2010 Olympics, Technical controller at 2018 Olympics
Jorn Lucas (Germany)
Prisca Binz Moser (Switzerland)
Iryna Medvedieva (Ukraine)
Ubavka Kutinou-Novakovic (Bosnia) (again...she was delated mid-season in 2023/24 season..the she was back last season..and now gone again)

New international judges:
Yu Dong (China)
Marcin Czajka (Poland)
Agnieszka Paszulewicz (Poland)
Laila Davidson (Sweden) * only ID judge for Sweden. First since the 90s.
Vera Medvedeva (Ukraine)
Stephanie Zastrow (USA)

Country switches
Elena Khmyzenko from Russia to Georgia. She is an ISU level judge.

Referees
Promoted to ISU level: John Millier (USA), David Molina (France)
Promoted to International level: Marcin Kozubek (Poland), Claudia Stahnke (Germany), Ron Conacher (Canada)

I will go through technical specialists later. There has not been an exam session this summer. So any changes would be retirements.

Sorry for any mistakes....by my side....or by ISU side (there are usually always a couple of mistakes in the list....for instance, there is a Han Young Kyung listed as ISU judge for South Korea. However, there wasn't any Han Young Kyung last season and exams for promotions to ISU status have not taken place yet. So probably she is a new international judge rather than an ISU judge).

 

[Andrea82]

Balczo's case
It refers to 2025 Bavarian Open, Junior Pairs event
She asked another judge to help the Hungarian pair to get the minimum for Junior Worlds.

On 22 January 2025, after the Initial Judges Meeting, the Alleged Offender approached another judge in the judges' room (the contacted judge) and asked if the contacted judge knew the new Hungarian Junior Pairs couple. The Alleged Offender mentioned that the Pair needed the minimum technical score for the Junior World Championships.

On the evening of 23 January 2025, the Alleged Offender approached the contacted judge again, apologized to the contacted judge and told her that should not think of her as a bad judge. The contacted judge replied that she was aware of her duties as a judge and the Code of Ethics. The Alleged Offender cried and said that she was under pressure from the Federation and added that it was also the government, and that they were all Russians. The contacted judge was not clear what the Alleged Offender meant by that. The contacted judge informed the Referee about this second conversation as well.

Subsequently, on 26 April 2025 the Alleged Offender delivered a short Supplement to her Statement of Response, in which she wrote that she did not mention the Federation; however, it was expected that the male member of the pair (as the only Hungarian-born skater) should be a participant at the World Junior Championships. This atmosphere oppressed her personally, so she made an inappropriate decision.

https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azurefd.net/isudamcontainer/CMS/Corporate-Site/Governance/Transparency/Disciplinary-Decisions/Case-2025-02-ISU-v-Balczo-Final-Decision-publication-version-1750696246-9981.pdf

 

[BittyBug]

Demoted to International judge
Laurie Jonhnson - USA

Is there a backstory here?

 

[Andrea82]

Tech specialists retired/delated

Single
ISU
Terry Kubicka (USA) * He is 69. Theoretically, he could have served another season
David Kirby (USA)
International
Jordi Lafarga (Spain)
Serhii Vaypan (Ukraine)

Demotion from ISU to International status
Vadim Fedchenko (Ukraine)

Pairs
ISU
David Kirby (USA)
International
Hang Cong (China)

Technical controllers...following their retirements as judges
Single: Anna Sierocka, Dan Fang and Prisca Binz Moser
Pairs: Anna Sierocka
Ice Dance: Hilary Selby, Ingrid Charlotte Wolter

Is there a backstory here?

There are usually 3 reasons for demotions

• lack of service (for judges: have served, during the three seasons preceding July 1st of the calendar year of the nomination, as a Referee, Judge, or Technical Controller in one International Competition)
• lack of seminar attendance (in the previous 4 seasons if attended in person, in the previous 2 seasons if it was an online service)
• negative assessment of the service done

Johnson last served internationally at Skate America 2023. So she has the service requirement.
She has not judged in international events last season. So she can't have accumulated too many mistakes.
Therefore I would guess she hasn't done the required seminar attendance.

There is another demotion from ISU to International status which I forgot to highlight earlier:
Francis Betsch (France) both as judge and technical controller.
Also in his case, his last appearance was in the 2023/24 season (Cup of China). I would guess seminar is the same issue.