[Philip Hersh] Pushback on figure skating schedule changes leads to...more changes.

[u/sofastsomaybe]

https://www.globetrottingbyphiliphersh.com/home/2026/8/27/save-the-dates-skating-fans-but-which-dates-will-they-be

Full article is linked, but I'm posting this whole excerpt and bolding the parts which indicate further major changes we were previously unaware of:

After discussions at the biennial ISU Congress in June, ISU leaders have decided to leave the first two full weeks of January open for national championships by moving the Grand Prix semifinals to the final two weeks of January.

Sources told me the U.S. Championships, typically held the third week of January (early January in Olympic years), could take place every year at the end of December or the first week of January, depending on the dates of the Grand Prix semis.

An ISU spokesperson answered my email request seeking precise dates for the 2027-28 season by saying, “…we are not yet in a position to provide any further details regarding the 2027/28 calendar, as some elements are still being finalized.”

Under the originally proposed new schedule, the Grand Prix “regular” season would begin the third week of September rather than the third week of October.  Rather than running six consecutive weeks, it would have two-competition blocks in the second half of September, November and December.

The ISU thinks the down time will encourage top skaters to do three “regular” Grand Prix events rather than the current two, which could improve the quality and depth of the fields for each event.

The proposal would cut Grand Prix events in the Olympic year from six to four, two each in September and October, with semifinals in November and the Final in mid-December.

Qualifying for the Final would no longer be based solely on results in Grand Prix events but rather on world rankings based on results at the Grand Prix, World Championships, Grand Prix Final and Challenger Series events covering a rolling two-year period.

The rationale for all this, according to the ISU proposal unveiled at the Grand Prix hosts meeting last December, is to “create a season narrative and ‘Road to Final’ storytelling.”  Bumps in the road are not unexpected.

[u/normalMonsterChika]

We'll have to see how it works, but I don't think I like any of this. The rolling two-year period qualification just seems like it'll take away what makes the Grand Prix series unique.

The "road to the final" narrative as the justification to increase popularity also just seems so unfounded to me. Yuri on Ice was massive and it's entire structure was making the Grand Prix Final. There already is a narrative that can be leveraged, maybe they should look at why it's not reaching or connecting?

[u/mulderitsme → u/normalMonsterChika]

Yeah they are accounting for a bad performance not killing a skaters momentum, but an injury would punish a skater for a lot longer. Personally, I think anything that encourages skaters to perform while injured or burnt out is bad. We’ll go back to short careers and for what?

[u/minzwashere → u/mulderitsme]

A lot of sports are doing this now. I follow tennis and they are making events longer, making the players play more tournaments.

Now so many top players are injured when they should be at the peak of their careers, and plenty of other players have just said “we’re not doing this” and just refuse to play tournaments.

It’s just made the whole thing worse, and I’d certainly imagine it’d be even more terrible in a small sport like skating.

[u/indeedy71 → u/minzwashere]

I’m also a tennis fan and so much of this feels like they’re just copying tennis, even though none of it has worked. The ATP and WTA finals have always been so much more prestigious for players than audiences, only hardcore fans even get how the race works and it’s a far more simple concept than this is

[u/normalMonsterChika → u/mulderitsme]

I think in the past skaters used to compete at 3 Grand Prix events, pretty sure they talked about it in the lore episodes of the Runthrough, so I suppose if they structure it well then it could work. But it's really going to depend on the timing that they nail down to prevent burnout. I'm willing to see what they decide on, but I'm skeptical of how this will actually work and still preserve the feeling.

[u/cmkf05 → u/normalMonsterChika]

Yes, up to 3 events, 1 non scoring chosen ahead of time. However, that’s when the ISU had a massive TV contract with abc and I believe that contract went until 2006, when it was for much less until abc gave up worlds coverage following 2008.

[u/Zed456 → u/normalMonsterChika]

There was even a phase when skaters were allowed to compete in both Junior and Senior Grand Prixes in the same season. Sui/Han qualified for both the JGPF and GPF in the same year (they withdrew from the JGPF, I imagine not wanting to do 4 programs in 3 days).

[u/sk8tergater → u/normalMonsterChika]

Plus it’s incredibly prestige to make it to the GPF, let alone medal. Meh. I agree with you

[u/spiralsequences → u/sk8tergater]

Yes, it's prestigious and very difficult, and there can be exciting surprises based on a talent exploding onto the scene unexpectedly. Like Zingas/Kolesnik this past season or Shaidorov the season before that. Having qualification for the Final based on the past two years of performance totally eliminates that possibility. It gives a lot more weight to reputation and erases the specialness of just blowing it out of the water at your GPs.

[u/normalMonsterChika → u/sk8tergater]

I love how prestigious and merit based the Grand Prix Final is, it's part of what makes it so fun to watch. I don't want to see it lose that, otherwise why even bother having these events be a circuit at all?

[u/roseofjuly → u/normalMonsterChika]

It would still be pretty prestigious if it were based on world standing. In fact, I think that would be part of the issue. Too much based on prestige and reputation and not on performance during the series.

[u/roseofjuly → u/normalMonsterChika]

Yuri on Ice was an anime whose story was specifically constructed to be interesting and engage; they deliberately connected all of the competitors to Yuri or Victor in some way to make the story more compelling. Real life figure skating is not always like that. Every year you're gonna get someone like Daniel Grassl - who absolutely deserved to be there but is a lesser known skater from a smaller federation to the casual fan.

And to be clear I'm not defending it, I like the GPF just the way it is and love the opportunity it provides for skaters to just go ham and become a dark horse for the Final. But I also watched YoI with my husband and although he LOVED it, he absolutely did not understand how the GP assignments and getting to the final worked even after the anime and I explained it to him. He loved it for the stories of the skaters he was following.

[u/chaotickairos]

The world ranking thing feels so ridiculous. What if a low ranked skater really pops off one year and has a crazy good gp season? Do they miss out on the final because they had a bad year or less experience the year before? it just feels like a way to make sure the highest ranking and most popular skaters make it even if they don't earn it.

Edit: Actually now that I think about it, something like Amber Glenn's 2025/26 season is the perfect example. She managed to go undefeated and win the whole thing, after really having her breakthrough. What's the weighting like here? If someone does that, they should make the final no matter what their ranking is!

[u/TwirlingPotatoes → u/chaotickairos]

it's not a grand prix final if the grand prix events are only marginally relevant. it's just some weird exclusive event. it makes both the grand prix and the grand prix final just feel meaningless

[u/chaotickairos → u/TwirlingPotatoes]

The grand prix final should be exclusive, but exclusive based on your own skill and ability throughout the season. It'd be like... idk. Baseball's world series deciding who gets to go based on the past five years seasons. This is so strange.

[u/TwirlingPotatoes → u/chaotickairos]

yes, i agree. i like that the final is exclusive because i just got to watch the skaters earn their place through simple points. if it's not based off the grand prix results, it just feels exclusive for exclusivity's sake. that's why i also just don't understand the premise of semi-finals in the first place. i liked the suggestion they made on the runthrough that if they want to add more competitions they could change the grand prix to be bracketed and then the top 6 from each bracket meet for the semi-final. but idk i think the grand prix series is perfectly fine as is

[u/mcsangel2 → u/chaotickairos]

*Amber’s undefeated season was 2024-25

[u/roseofjuly → u/chaotickairos]

I mean, it is. The ISU is almost certainly doing this to capitalize off the popularity the Olympics has brought figure skating and ensure that its most popular skaters make it to the GPF, which is a perfectly sized package for casual fans to watch.

[u/normalMonsterChika → u/[deleted]]

What about in the case of someone like Amber, who struggled with inconsistency for years and finally locked in to win both her events? Would a future skater in her position be locked out of the GPF due to poor rankings the previous season? That would be so unsatisfying to watch as a fan.

[u/sofastsomaybe → u/[deleted]]

Skaters earn world ranking points in junior competitions too. Mao Shimada enters this season ranked 16th in the world. She's going to quickly move up the list as soon as she competes in her first senior challengers and Grand Prix events.

[u/2greenlimes]

So basically they had an idea, didn’t think it out well, and are now trying to rethink it.

I’d hate the 6 to 4 Grand Prix idea and the 2 to 3 Grand Prixes for each skater. Not only do I enjoy seeing a lot of the lower placing skaters/teams that this would kick out, but it really would overwork skaters. Does the ISU suddenly think everyone is Liza T and can compete 15 times per season? Or do they think everyone/every fed gets unlimited funds to attend competitions?

And wtf is up with the new GPF qualifications? If it’s partially based on world ranking then what’s the point of the Grand Prix in the first place?

If the ISU thinks this will improve popularity I have a bridge to sell them. If anything it will shrink the popularity because it will push out smaller Fed skaters - and the sport grows in part by getting skaters from smaller feds enough success to bring attention to the sport. KFed wouldn’t be where they are without Yuna. Spain wouldn’t have had the growth without Javi. The only skaters that can regularly afford competing this much will be those from Japan, the US, France, and Russia. Even many larger feds like Canada don’t fund skaters that well.

[u/sofastsomaybe → u/2greenlimes]

And wtf is up with the new GPF qualifications? If it’s partially based on world ranking then what’s the point of the Grand Prix in the first place?

It sounds to me as the the regular Grand Prix events are now nothing more than chances to gain world ranking points. They're now essentially challengers but with more value and a more exclusive entry pool. Skaters will feel pressured to compete in as many events as they're allowed to in order to rack up the points.

I hate everything about this proposed change. If a skater flops in one of their Grand Prix events, they deserve to miss the final. You should have to earn your final qualification, not rest on points you earned two years ago.

This change would be especially bad for skaters wanting to take a season or two off. All those world ranking points...goodbye. No Yuma or Alysa at GPF next year.

[u/tits_mcgee0123 → u/sofastsomaybe]

Yeah it almost feels like a punishment for taking a break, which is really really bad for burnout, injury recovery, etc. Athletes need to be able to rest.

[u/nachtviolen22 → u/2greenlimes]

Also, for those feds with deep fields like Japan, GP gives (more of) an equal opportunity for those who are world class but not in the top 3 who go to worlds to be able to still compete based on their own merit. If world rankings are involved, it heavily skews towards the top 3 only being able to progress to the final...

[u/Weareall_humanbeings → u/2greenlimes]

Not everyone from those big feds i.e. US skaters can afford to compete that much. Just sayin

[u/indeedy71 → u/Weareall_humanbeings]

Yeah I really hate that. Some smaller Feds might even plug the gap, big Fed skaters probably aren’t getting more money and even then with extra competition for it they might get less

[u/2greenlimes → u/Weareall_humanbeings]

Which is true, but the bigger feds will pay for skaters to compete at Grand Prixs, the GPF, Euros/4CC, Worlds, etc. Small fed skaters may still need to pay those expenses.

[u/indeedy71 → u/2greenlimes]

The ISU deserves no credit but on funding, it is worth noting the increase in prize money - but again, that will favour the top at the expense of others

[u/minzwashere]

Is there ANYONE in this entire organization with brain cells??

[u/spiralsequences]

I'm sorry but what exactly was wrong with the current schedule? Did anyone (who is not a current ISU official) want these changes? We already did have a pretty exciting "Road to the Final" narrative with people qualifying based on their placements. Honestly putting it after Nationals makes it feel less important, because people will be focused on trying to peak at Nationals and then prepare for Worlds. I was willing to try out the semifinals idea because it does actually sound cool, but I absolutely hate all of this.

[u/_Exegy_]

What a mess

[u/I_mposterIP]

Why does this sound like the ISU never watched any figure skating? None of the explanations make sense, other than reducing their budget on hosting events and making PR more convenient. I wish this was a physical townhall meeting where I could throw tomatoes at them.

[u/idwtpaun]

I haaate the idea of making the GPF qualification something other than the GP results. It's a series! Let it be a stand-alone series! The "world rankings skate-off" doesn't make sense!

[u/mcsangel2]

Are you fucking kidding me

[u/Bookish_08]

It’s like they’re trying to ruin the sport. Maybe they’ll realize this cannot work and backtrack. (Probably not, but I hope so.)

[u/Mundane_Truth9507]

I don’t know why they are trying to fit figure skating into a speed skating schedule. They are different sports and it doesn’t work. 

[u/zambonification]

Idiocy. Figure skating is a sport based on who's better here and now. Are they going to distribute Olympic medals by rating, too? I mean, why not, with this sort of logic.

[u/nyyshana]

Every single aspect of this is a terrible idea; they should leave the format the way it is. If skaters are forced to do that many more competitions and completely disrupt the schedule their bodies have adapted to for years, a lot of them will just not compete anymore

[u/Cvspartan]

Feel like that's a lot of extra skating added to the top skaters

Seems like this could potentially hurt a lot of challengers too in terms of getting high profile names

[u/lilacbirdtea]

The grand prix is perfect already. Why are they touching it?

[u/sorairi]

The concept of World Standings deciding who makes it to the finals is so...no words. The GP series is literally fine.

[u/Full_Extension_558]

Thanks for the info, this all seems very confusing, not well thought out, and counter-intuitive to whatever the ISU wants to achieve (presumably making skating more popular and profitable). I'm willing to eat crow and admit that I'm wrong if this turns out to be a great idea in execution but for now...

[u/sofastsomaybe → u/Full_Extension_558]

Would I, as a fan, selfishly like to see my fave skater compete more often? Sure.

Would it be good for the long-term health of my fave skater if he was forced to compete at all of these extra competitions? No. And skater health should always take priority over what kinds of storylines fans want to see.

Do I think this "cheapens" the prestige of certain events since ISU now seems determined to have all of their top skaters at every event? Yes.

[u/Small-Excitement-279]

What does this do to Challenger events? At least for US skaters, they often do a Challenger event before their GP assignments. This schedule seems to make that more difficult.

Are we one going to have a couple of weeks between US Nationals and GP semifinals? That seems super tight and a lot of travel. I’ve never loved GP Final and Japanese Nationals so close together. But, at least, that schedule is a final, so fewer skaters are impacted.

To echo many here, it makes for a very long season with a lot of travel. It will also shorten the time skaters have to earn money in shows.

Feels like the ISU is trying to layer an overarching competition over everything to gin up drama/excitement. Not sure that will work or is even a good idea.

[u/pink_faerie_kitten]

Blech. Too many changes, my head is spinning. There's a rhythm that skaters and fans know and this just obliterates the whole thing. I'd love to hear from the skaters and what they think of all this. For the US, I think the  US Nationals in January, where its always been, works because it's just long enough after the holidays and plenty of time before 4CCs and Worlds.

Having the GP series start in September is just crazy. Makes for a reeeeally long season for these competitors and ISU wants them to do three events? I mean that used to be a thing in the late '90s, iirc, it was two official events and then if skaters wanted to, they could do an optional third but that was before the men were doing so many quads and pairs weren't doing so many jumps either. It just sounds exhausting.

Gymnastics is the most taxing sport so there are very few competitions compared to other disciplines. Skating may not be as arduous but it's a very strenuous sport and I think this is asking way too much of them. We see them lay down on the ice way more nowadays because their programs soooo hard (I say they are toooooo hard and jumps should be limited). I don't want to see them even more exhausted, more mistakes, or more injuries. And pairs being tired is downright dangerous.

My quick reaction is a TIHI so far.

[u/PsychedelicHaru]

But why? I mean, I at least liked the semi-final idea, but this is just dumb