The Skating Session - A New Show

zebobes said:
I don't know if anyone realized this, but when Taiwan held competitions (4CC or JW) the tickets were always completely free, and I feel so spoiled to be able to see so many competitions for free. I assume that this was only possible because it was sponsored by the Taiwanese government, but I always found it such a shame that the competitions held here were so poorly attended (I suppose that with no financial pressure, there was less motivation to properly market the competition). I cannot imagine paying so much money to attend competitions elsewhere, and I'm grateful for getting to see Davis and White, Patrick Chan, Kevin Aymoz, both Maos, Sui and Han... the list goes on and on, but it was all free.

I suspect that competitions will not be held in Taiwan for a long time considering the political situation around the world... but if it ever returns, people should consider coming to visit a beautiful country, while getting to attend a figure skating competition for free.
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When Australia hosted the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Brisbane in 2017, tickets for that event were free as well. While the event was held in a small but stylish venue, we're happy to say that audiences filled the building to capacity for each session.
 
jägerbomb said:
Skating is so inherently inaccessible in most parts of the world -- that makes things that much more difficult to attract younger audiences, particularly in today's fragmented media landscape.

Others have noted the high cost of attending competitions. Hell, I'm probably in the top percentile of skating fandom, and I only see live skating once every few years--I'd rather spend my money and vacation time drinking on a warm beach than spending more money in a cold rink.
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Back in the day when we backpacked across North America between the year-end break from university in Australia, we would mix sightseeing with skating competitions. We also did it on a shoestring budget, staying at budget hostels and travelling on a standby airline ticket. (Do those things even exist now?)

Hard to believe that premium all - event tickets to US Nationals and Canadian Nationals were $75 a piece as well.

Oh, how times have changed!
 
Episode 10! (Special episode on buying Prague Worlds Tickets)

The Skating Session - Episode 10 - 2026 Worlds Ticket Portal Experience w/ Tony & Thomas​

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Glad you guys got tickets! I had a similarly frustrating experience buying Oly tix (due to multiple credit cards being rejected) but at least the site was in English (and i only needed to choose the category, not ind seats).
 
aussieSKATES said:
Back in the day.....

Hard to believe that premium all - event tickets to US Nationals and Canadian Nationals were $75 a piece as well.
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That must have been quite some time ago, because so-so all-event tickets (corner, at least 15 rows up) for the first US nationals I attended in the mid 90's were already at least several hundred dollars. The program book alone was $10. (I found my ticket stubs but they don't have pricing on them.)
 
BittyBug said:
That must have been quite some time ago, because so-so all-event tickets (corner, at least 15 rows up) for the first US nationals I attended in the mid 90's were already at least several hundred dollars. The program book alone was $10. (I found my ticket stubs but they don't have pricing on them.)
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Haha. I'm not that old and from memory Detroit was a pretty hard sell, which probably explains the lower ticket prices.

But for the record, it was 1994.
 
According to the March 31, 2025 Apple Pay legal agreement:

When you use Apple Pay in apps and on the web, information necessary to process the payment is shared with the app or website. Your actual card number isn’t shared with the merchant.
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https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/apple-pay/

My understanding is that, like Shop and other processors, the merchant does list what cards they will accept, and if you try to use an Amex, for example, and that merchant doesn't accept Amex, they'll flash an error message, but that's card-issuer-specific, not account-specific.
 
aussieSKATES said:
We found that unless you have a credit card that has an end date after an event is being held, they most likely won't be accepted.
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All three of my cards expired after the event. I also had used one of the cards to book a hotel in Prague a few weeks ago with no issues. For some reason, Ticketportal did not like my credit cards. ?‍♀️
 
@tony - I think the GP News article was just a generalized article regarding the 7-12 finishers at Worlds getting two. The top 12 in Pairs at Worlds definitely didn't get two GPs this year - VLDigs were 12th in Boston and only got 1. Of course, the top 15 at Worlds in Dance did wind up with 2. It's all a function of the lack of spots in pairs. :cry:
 
Karen-W said:
@tony - I think the GP News article was just a generalized article regarding the 7-12 finishers at Worlds getting two. The top 12 in Pairs at Worlds definitely didn't get two GPs this year - VLDigs were 12th in Boston and only got 1. Of course, the top 15 at Worlds in Dance did wind up with 2. It's all a function of the lack of spots in pairs. :cry:
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Yeah I figured it was just the ISU being lazy with their words!
 
Now also a podcast!

rss.com

The Skating Session | Podcast on RSS.com

Hosted by lifelong figure skating fans Tony Wheeler and Thomas Vu, The Skating Session dives deep into the world of competitive figure skating with sharp analysis, historical context, and a millennial lens. From dissecting Grand Prix assignments to unpacking Olympic rule changes and iconic...
rss.com rss.com

podcasts.apple.com

The Skating Session

Sports Podcast · Hosted by lifelong figure skating fans Tony Wheeler and Thomas Vu, The Skating Session dives deep into the world of competitive figure skating with sharp analysis, historical context, and a millennial…
podcasts.apple.com podcasts.apple.com

Spotify and Amazon to come!
 
Excellent, good to have you back!

Random question, since you talked about killing the step sequences... what were the step sequence rules in earlier iterations of IJS, or pre-IJS? The super long step sequence needs to go, but I wonder if there are other options than just killing it.
 
beckab81 said:
Excellent, good to have you back!

Random question, since you talked about killing the step sequences... what were the step sequence rules in earlier iterations of IJS, or pre-IJS? The super long step sequence needs to go, but I wonder if there are other options than just killing it.
Click to expand...
Pre-IJS, the ladies had to do one step sequence in the short program either circular, straight-line, or serpentine. The spiral sequence was considered the second step sequence. The men had to do two different step sequences, not repeating the same pattern.

I’m not 100% sure about timing, but I think a serious ‘well-balanced program’ suggested list came in around 1998 or 1999 and skaters were supposed to do one if they wanted to be within that criteria. Of course, they really should have always had one in the free skate prior but I don’t know if there was ever an official document saying so. Things like the Zayak rule were already in place, so there was probably long-standing documentation that was not accessible easily to the fans. There wasn’t really a set requirement for what needed to be in any of them, though. Some people buzzed through them with simple three turns all in the same direction, Candeloro and then Yagudin really made use of the toe pick action, etc.

I have all of the version 1 COP files still saved, and here’s what constituted each of level 1-2-3 for the singles skaters back then:

 
beckab81 said:
Random question, since you talked about killing the step sequences... what were the step sequence rules in earlier iterations of IJS, or pre-IJS? The super long step sequence needs to go, but I wonder if there are other options than just killing it.
Click to expand...
Kwan from what I recall didn't do a step sequence in Lyra Angelica.

2004-05 you could get a maximum of level 3 on steps.

After that it changed to level 4.

In both programs in IJS, men needed to do two step sequences, and women needed to do one step sequence (along with a spiral sequence).

After the Vancouver Olympics, this was changed, both needed to do only one step sequence in the SP, no spirals for women, and in the LP the second element was replaced with 'choreographed spirals' for women, 'choreographed steps' for men.

Up until the beginning of the 2012-13 season, step sequences needed to be done on patterns (straight line, serpentine, circular), after that the patterns were removed. This season also shifted choreographic steps and choreographic spirals to 'choreographic sequence' that we see to this day.

I think going back to the 2013-14 rules would be enough for steps. Current spin rules (minus the toe tap rules and the difficult exits) are fine, although I'd like a comeback for the 'all 3 basic positions performed on both feet' feature for combo spins.
 
Thinking specifically of ladies here but pre-IJS step sequences were all over the map. Before the 2000s, some of the step sequences women were doing were so basic and perfunctory they might as well have skated to the side and taken a smoke break at the boards.

90s Michelle was the KWEEN of short and sweet step sequences that were intricate, interesting, difficult and perfectly timed with the music. They were more like little choreographic flourishes (I can't remember without rewatching but I think her Salome and Lyra programs didn't even have full step sequences in the traditional sense but the in-betweens were so complex they were sort of sprinkled throughout her program - that to me is so much more satisfying than a hard stop HERE'S MY STEP SEQUENCE thing that a lot of skaters did).

ETA
Ok I did rewatch her Salome and it did not have a full patterned step sequence but wonderful moments throughout the program like these:

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And her Taj Mahal program did have a full circular step sequence but it was quick and BRILLIANT:

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From what I remember, step sequences are more interesting now than they were when they first started taking like over a minute to do. I remember being super bored with all the step sequences in like 2008-2010. One positive is that they were more interesting than the fugly compulsory and out-of-place spiral sequences done with dropped torsos and/or flat feet.

zigzig said:
Thinking specifically of ladies here but pre-IJS step sequences were all over the map. Before the 2000s, some of the step sequences women were doing were so basic and perfunctory they might as well have skated to the side and taken a smoke break at the boards.

90s Michelle was the KWEEN of short and sweet step sequences that were intricate, interesting, difficult and perfectly timed with the music. They were more like little choreographic flourishes (I can't remember without rewatching but I think her Salome and Lyra programs didn't even have full step sequences in the traditional sense but the in-betweens were so complex they were sort of sprinkled throughout her program - that to me is so much more satisfying than a hard stop HERE'S MY STEP SEQUENCE thing that a lot of skaters did).

ETA
Ok I did rewatch her Salome and it did not have a full patterned step sequence but wonderful moments throughout the program like these:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
youtu.be youtu.be

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
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And her Taj Mahal program did have a full circular step sequence but it was quick and BRILLIANT:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
youtu.be youtu.be
Click to expand...

I agree. I think a balance is needed, but I hate the short programization of the free skate… except I guess it’s fairer in most respects even though you have no idea where the GOE and PCS marks are coming from for many skaters. I’d prefer shorter step sequences and inventing a new element where you have to do like 3 separate and short step sequences at different parts of the program or something… actually… nvm. They’d just make it as lame as the choreo sequence where I sometimes felt like I blinked and then missed it.
 
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So I just checked the 2006-07 rules, versus the 2007-08 rules.

Here's what they were.

2006-07:
Level Rules:


1) Variety (complexity for Level 4) of turns and steps throughout (compulsory)
2) 4 changes of skating or rotational direction
3) Modest (full for Level 4) use of upper body movement
4) Quick changes from steps to turns

Definitions:


Step Sequences. Definition of Turns and Steps (turns with change of foot are considered as steps)
Basic: Turns Three turns
Steps Progressives, chasses, Mohawks
Variety: Turns Must include three different methods of turning eg three turns, twizzles, brackets
Steps Must include three different steps eg progressives, toe steps, chasses, Mohawks
etc
Complex: Turns Must include more than three different turns eg brackets, counters, rockers,
twizzle
Steps Must include three different steps eg:(running steps, progressives, toe steps,
chasses, choctaws etc) used in multiple directions.
Turns and steps must be balanced in their distribution throughout the sequence.
Click to expand...


2007-08
Level Rules:


1) Variety (complexity for Level 4) of turns and steps throughout (compulsory)
2) Rotations (turns, steps) in either direction (left and right) with full body rotation covering at
least 1/3 of the pattern in total for each rotational direction)
3) Modest (full for Level 4) use of upper body movement
4) Quick changes of rotational direction executed by rockers and/or counters, twizzles and/or
quick rotational toe steps immediately following each other

Definitions:


Turns: three turns, twizzles, brackets, loops, counters, rockers.
Steps: running steps, toe steps, chasses, mohawks, choctaws.
Various types of turns and steps must be balanced in their distribution throughout the sequence.
Variety: Must include at least 4 different types of turns and 2 different types of steps. Each of these types of turns
and steps must be executed at least twice during the sequence.
Complexity: Must include at least 5 different types of turns and 3 different types of steps all executed at least
once in both directions.
Click to expand...

To me, it's no surprise that skaters who were raised in 6.0 (as most would have been leading into the 2007-08 season) started struggling to make things interesting for some two seasons, when there were significant changes in what a step sequence even is. More focus on turning, stepping and multidirectionality, less on performance, speed, and edging.

In that particular sense, I can see why some may think the current steps (despite being even more complicated and even longer) are better. Personally, I think it's like mastering a specific skillset, or at least mastering how to make it interesting.

Whether it has any relevancy in terms of choreography or musicality is fully up for debate.
 
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