Skating!
So World Figure Skating championships in Japan began today and already the WTFery is strong with this one. Aside from the continuing judges love for Hao Zhang and partner (which I have been DoNotGetting for over 8 years now), we have the president of the ISU coming out and saying that he wants to eliminate short programs because no other sport is judged over two sections. (There is so much wrong with that statement I cannot even, so I won't.) He also wants to keep anonymous judging. Because that's working out so well, especially post Sochi.
But as if that wasn't enough to have you choking on your cup of tea, there comes the news this evening from unnamed sources that Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov will skate in Japan and then split up. No word on what she'll do but he will apparently skate with Sinitsina. The Russian fed has allegedly signed off on this and will make it official post Worlds.
Some context for the WTFery- they won the bronze medal in Sochi. The two ahead of them have, for all intents and purposes, retired. Not only are they the red hot favourite for this title, they are the red hot favourite for all world titles up to 2018, and the OGM too. (Early days but there is that much hype with them.) They are Russian, a federation that has traditionally taken the "If you win us medals, you will skate together until your toes fall off" approach to partnerships. This whole thing is unheard of and I can't quite believe it on many many levels.
But as if that wasn't enough to have you choking on your cup of tea, there comes the news this evening from unnamed sources that Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov will skate in Japan and then split up. No word on what she'll do but he will apparently skate with Sinitsina. The Russian fed has allegedly signed off on this and will make it official post Worlds.
Some context for the WTFery- they won the bronze medal in Sochi. The two ahead of them have, for all intents and purposes, retired. Not only are they the red hot favourite for this title, they are the red hot favourite for all world titles up to 2018, and the OGM too. (Early days but there is that much hype with them.) They are Russian, a federation that has traditionally taken the "If you win us medals, you will skate together until your toes fall off" approach to partnerships. This whole thing is unheard of and I can't quite believe it on many many levels.