The International Figure Skating Federation has decided to raise the minimum age to compete for seniors from 15 to 17 years old.
The International Olympic Committee had encouraged international federations to impose a minimum age to participate in senior competitions, the ISU has done so. The International Skating Federation has indeed decided at its congress in Phuket, Thailand, that it will now be necessary to be 17 years old, and no longer 15, to compete among seniors. A decision taken by delegates from 100 countries, which will come into force gradually: minimum age of 16 during the 2023-24 season and 17 during the 2024-25 season. The ISU assures that raising the age limit was on its agenda even before the Beijing Olympics, which had been the scene of a controversy around the young Kamila Valieva. Then 15 years old, the Russian, just crowned European champion and favorite of the Olympics, had been authorized at the last moment to participate in the free program, when she had tested positive for a product banned before Christmas. She had then fallen many times and made many mistakes, and her trainer had been particularly cold towards her, accusing her of having “given up”.
Skateboarding also in the sights
Many voices were then raised to raise the minimum age, especially since a few months earlier, the podium of the women’s skateboarding events at the Tokyo Olympics, with four medalists out of six aged 13 and 14, was also shocking, in particular because the presence of families was prohibited due to the coronavirus pandemic. It now remains to be seen whether the other federations will take the same decision to establish a minimum age, knowing that it obviously cannot be the same for all sports, due to the disparity between each discipline, which requires more or less of physical maturity. At the last World Figure Skating Championships, the medalists in the women’s category (the problem is less acute for men) were 22 (Kaori Sakamoto), 22 (Loena Hendrickx) and 16 (Alysa Liu).
