Figure skating’s rules have changed more in the last 22 years than they did in the entire 20th Century.
Since the sport thoroughly revised its scoring and judging systems beginning with the 2004-05 season, its officials have acted in a way that admits their International Judging System remains a work in progress. They have felt compelled to tweak or dramatically alter the way results are decided so frequently it has been hard to keep up.
It is as if the officials take a Zamboni out to clear the record books every season in an effort (Sisyphean?) to balance the sport’s emphasis between athleticism, i.e. jumps, and everything else in a free skate singles program, loosely defined as artistry.
Bring a large bag of asterisks.
When IJS was adopted, ISU officials touted the idea of world records as a fan appeal in the new system.
Yet the changes in 2018, expanding the grades of execution from +3/-3 to +5/-5, wiped out all the historical numbers, both world bests and personal bests, from the first 14 seasons under IJS.
And that is the case again this season, which moves into full glide this weekend in Angers, France, with the first of seven senior Grand Prix events.
All the world and personal bests set since 2018 now have been invalidated by reducing the number of free skate jumping elements from seven to six and jump combinations from three to two.
That lowers the possible point totals substantially, especially in men’s singles, where the accompanying rise in spin base values won’t come close to compensating for the loss of double-digit points from the missing jump element and combo.
“For the media and for the public, it's more difficult to understand why the scores are now lower or higher, and so on,” Leena Laaksonen of Finland, chair of the International Skating Union Technical Committee for Single and Pairs Skating, said in a video roundtable last week.
“So, we do take (that issue) into consideration in our decisions, but we try to think about the sport, what's best for the sport, and what's best for the skaters, so that they can develop the sport and push the sport.”
This may look like the Ilia Malinin rule, penalizing the three-time world champion and most dynamic jumper in the sport’s history, who became last season the first to cleanly land all six types of quadruple jumps and seven quads overall in a free skate.
Feb 13, 2026; Milan, Italy; Ilia Malinin of the United States of America competes in the men’s singles free program during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images
James Lang/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
No one had been able to compete with him from the 2024 World Championships until the 2026 Olympics, when he came completely undone at the free skate. (He rebounded to win 2026 Worlds by some 22 points after margins of 30 and 24 the previous two seasons.)
At those 2024 Worlds, two months before the ISU approved the changes going into effect this season, runner-up Yuma Kagiyama of Japan laid out the conundrum plainly.
“If we both perform at 100% of our ability, I don’t think that I will be able to win,” said Kagiyama, the two-time Olympic silver medalist, who is taking this season off from competition.
Yet, at 2026 Worlds, both Kagiyama and Malinin expressed disapproval of the rules changes.
“For me, the rules as they are currently do bring out the beauty of our sport, and I would like that not to change,” Kagiyama said through an interpreter.
“Looking at the specifics of some of these changes, I think it really takes away the level of competition that we as skaters have developed over the years,” Malinin added.
Malinin, whose first Grand Prix event is to be Skate America in mid-November, declined further comment through his representative, who said the skater was not doing more interviews until Skate America.
“I wouldn't say at all that it's a Ilia rule at all,” Laaksonen said. “That was not in our intention. It was to give more emphasis on the artistry, which was going a little bit backwards (so) that only the jumps counted so much in the program.”
Jimmy Ma of the United States, who is competing in Angers, felt Malinin is good enough in all aspects of his skating to remain dominant.
“He has such good body mechanics that I think that he can adapt to almost anything that's thrown at him,” Ma said. “And I don't think that it's going to be a challenge for him to continue winning.”
At age 31, on the verge of retirement until U.S. Figure Skating told him in June he had two Grand Prix assignments, Ma thinks “one less jump (element) makes it a lot easier on the body, a little easier on the mind.
“Overall for the sport, it's good. For the people who want to push the sport technically, they have the freedom to do so.”
Ma is among the many skaters for whom two quads is the maximum. He focuses on competing with that group and figures Malinin may find other ways than six or seven quads to express his singularity.
“He’ll do quad-quad-half loop-quad,” Ma said, with an impish grin. “I have no doubts he could try and pull that off.”
Sarah Everhardt of the U.S., who competed in her first senior world meet last season, is only 19 but can appreciate the chance to reduce some of the wear and tear on her body with fewer jumps. Everhardt, who trains under Malinin’s coaches, had to postpone the start of her competitive season until the Grand Prix of France to recover from stress reactions in both legs.
“My program isn’t any easier because we took out the jump (element),” Everhardt said. “The first couple of weeks of doing run-throughs, I noticed that it's more like showing off my skating rather than just doing jumps back-to-back-to back. It doesn’t feel like I am rushing to do everything so much.”
Everhardt, who considers herself a better jumper than a spinner, doesn’t feel more jump reductions are needed to push the emphasis even further toward artistry.
“It is a sport, and I think it needs to be difficult,” Everhardt said. “Seven jump (elements) was difficult, and six is obviously difficult as well. But if you just keep on taking more jumps out of the program, then it'll end up being like solo dance.”
Everhardt almost certainly will have more attention on her among U.S. audiences with reigning Olympic champion Alysa Liu having decided not to compete at all this season and Olympic team event gold medalist Amber Glenn likely to withdraw from her two November Grand Prix assignments should she continue advancing on Dancing With The Stars.
“I'm not sure (about being more prominent,)” Everhardt said. “I just try to focus on myself and practices, just do what I can do and what I can control.”
Jan 9, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, UNITED STATES; Sarah Everhardt competes in the championship womens free skate competition during the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images
Jeff Le/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Even the skater who led the quad revolution in women’s skating, Alexandra Ignatova (née Trusova) of Russia, no longer is counting entirely on big jumps as she and some of her compatriots return to international competition after a four-year ban imposed after Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine.
Ignatova, 22, who gave birth to a son 14 months ago by Caesarean section, landed five quads that were given full base value in finishing second to countrywoman Anna Shcherbakova at the 2022 Olympics. She has, impressively, landed a fully rotated quad lutz in each of her two Challenger Series events this fall, the latter earning her a spot in the Cup of China Grand Prix field. The lutzes have been her only quad.
“I try not to expect anything from myself and to give myself permission to do things freely,” Ignatova told Russia’s Match TV after winning the Denis Ten Invitational in early October. “I am very happy that it is going so well. . .
“. . . I still did not expect such overwhelming support, with everyone standing up at once. I think, ‘Compared with what I used to do, this performance does not seem that extraordinary,’ but the audience still stands and some people cry. It is very touching.”
During the last two Grand Prix seasons before the 2022 Olympics, Trusova won three events as Russian women won 14 of 15 medals. This season, she is the only Russian woman so far to get a Grand Prix assignment, under rules allowing them back in dribs and drabs. Pairs team Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovski, 2021 World bronze medalists, are the only Russian entry at the Grand Prix of France.
Everhardt, who speaks Russian, never has been in an event with a Russian.
“They are such strong skaters,” she said. “It will be very fun competing with them.”
And speaking to them in Russian?
“I would probably be too scared to talk,” Everhardt said, with a laugh. “I wouldn’t talk to (Ignatova) because I’d be too much of a fan girl.”
Philip Hersh, who has covered figure skating at the last 13 Winter Olympics, is a special contributor to NBCSports.com.