Few came as a surprise to the decision of the Congress of the International Skating Union (ISU) to gradually increase from 15 to 17 years the minimum age for athletes to participate in adult figure skating competitions.
Demands to increase the age limit began to sound most actively after the scandal surrounding the positive result of the doping test of the Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. On February 8, 2022, literally the day after the end of the Olympic team figure skating tournament in Beijing, where the Russians won gold, information about the results of the tests appeared. In a sample taken on December 25, 2021, during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, Kamila Valieva was found to have a prohibited cardiac drug. Due to her age (Camila was 15 at the time of the Olympics), the figure skater was considered a “protected person”.
Young Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva after performing at the Beijing Olympics in February 2022
A recent decision by the Congress of the International Skating Union stated that this measure is being taken “in order to protect the physical and mental health, as well as for the sake of the emotional well-being of skaters.” According to the decision of sports officials, this season the bar for entering adult competitions will remain at the current level – 15 years. In the 2023/24 season, the age limit will be increased to 16 years, and in 2024/25 – to 17 years of age. DW collected the reaction of German and Russian experts to the ISU decision.
Opinions of German experts
The decision of the Congress of the International Skating Union was fully supported by the German figure skater, two-time Olympic champion in single skating Katarina Witt. In an interview with the sports news agency Sport-Informations-Dienst (SID), she called the innovation “historic”. “By raising the minimum age to 17, the ISU is on the right track, in the spirit of the times, and first of all protecting athletes from their sometimes overly ambitious managers. Now they will be forced to take a much more careful approach to the careers of young athletes,” stressed the legend of the German figure skater. Katharina Witt, by the way, won the Olympics for the first time at the age of 19.
Two-time Olympic champion Katarina Witt, 2022
Claudia Pfeifer, sports director of the German Skating Union, in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, supported the ISU’s decision: “This is the right signal, which I hope will lead to a change in the image of this sport.” At the same time, she noted that the German Skating Union would prefer that next winter there would be no athletes under the age of 17 in European and international tournaments.
Former head of the national figure skating training base in Berlin, Reinhard Ketterer, is confident that the ISU decision “removes the psychological and physical burden” from young skaters. And perhaps longer sports careers will become a reality again, German news agency dpa quotes Ketterer.
Former European figure skating champion Norbert Schramm describes the decision of the International Skating Union Congress to raise the minimum age to 17 as insufficient. He believes that juniors under the age of 18 should not be allowed to compete. “This is the first step, but I don’t think it can benefit the sport. It’s just not enough. 17-year-olds have no place in professional sports,” the now 62-year-old German figure skater told sports agency SID. Norbert Schramm, who became European champion in 1982 and 1983, described the new rules as “dust in the eye”: “Underage must compete among juniors, they have completely different requirements for size and weight. It makes no sense to mix older athletes with young ones.”
The reaction of Russian experts
Olympic champion in pair figure skating and coach Maxim Trankov has a different opinion than German athletes and functionaries. “I wouldn’t lift anything at all. I’m not interested in looking at those women whom everyone is promoting. It became interesting after our quads began to jump. Before that, women have always been the most uninteresting kind,” Trankov was quoted by Sport-Express.
Russian figure skater, multiple European, World and Olympic medalist, successful coach Alexander Zhulin is concerned about other problems. “I don’t care about raising the age limit. Accepted and accepted. What’s the difference? Where should we perform? The main question now is when will we finally be able to perform? “, – quotes the words of Alexander Zhulin, the Russian edition of Sport24.
Honored coach Tatyana Tarasova reacted to the decision of the ISU as follows: “For us, the increase in the age limit does not matter.” “We will have the best at any age,” she told Sport-Express.
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