Figure skatingCompetitions involve balancing act

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Having the Four Continents event in North America will only make skaters like Canada's Kirsten Moore-Twoers, right, and Dylan Moscovitch better. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

There was a time in figure skating when international competitors at the senior level basically had to prepare for their national competition, and maybe one other event aside from the world championships.

In 1999, the ISU's first vice president, figure skating David Dore, was the head of Skate Canada and part of the team responsible for the creation of the Four Continents competition.

The inaugural event was in Halifax that year.

"It was hopefully to have a parallel event for the Europeans [championships] which is quite a tradition," says Dore. The European titles were worth quite a bit in reputation and it really bulks up that performance for those skaters going into worlds. We had nothing that paralleled that on our side of the world. For Canadian skaters, it meant they went from Canadians to worlds, and this event was needed - not just for Canadians - to build confidence towards the world championships."

At the time, getting the ISU to agree was not difficult as it was in previous years as the organization was looking for new properties to showcase the sport.

Are there differences between the two regional events? Absolutely. The European championships have many more member nations participating (35 in 2011) compared to only 16 for the Four Continents event.

"I think that the Four Continents has come into its own although the 'tradition' side is still evolving," says Dore. "The level of skating at the top is very high [at the Four Continents] while the level at the bottom is still quite low. At Europeans there is more of a general range of ability."

The tradition to which Dore is referring to is the way that the European championships are revered amongst skaters and fans alike; it is the event to attend regardless of anything else on the calendar.

Dore explains that part of the reason for that is the easy accessibility to venues and cities in the geographically more compact region.

Balancing act

Dore gives an honest assessment of events in today's figure skating, acknowledging the delicate balancing act between the needs of the skaters and the competitions against the need for making sure the events are TV and spectator friendly.

For instance, a preliminary round was put in place this year for skaters to qualify for a spot in the short program or dance in their discipline.

The preliminary round is based on the results of the previous year for the competition in question. The top 18 ranked in singles along with the top 12 in pairs and ice dance are entered into their respective short programs directly.

The rest of the field has to qualify by way of a preliminary round for the remaining 10 spots in singles, and eight spots in pair and ice dance. This system is probation until 2012, at which point it will be revisited. The idea is to invite spectators in the arena, and from home, to witness the best in the world compete from the moment the events are officially under way.

The preliminary rounds - if the numbers of entries warrant - take place prior to the official competition on the same ice surface so that competing skaters are still eligible for the funding from their home nations.

"We want the best of the best competing in the final," says Dore. "If there is a short program event with 54 entries that can take up to nine hours to judge and if we want to attract the public to the stands, we have to look at ways at making the event more precise."

Dore is not afraid to push for what he thinks will be good for the sport. Events are one way to showcase the talent for a host nation while also generating interest. He feels that the wealth must be shared.

"I am very pleased that events are starting to come back to North America and will be here for the next three years; like the ISU Grand Prix Final in December 2011 in Canada, the ISU Four Continents in 2012 in Colorado Springs, and the ISU worlds in 2013 in Canada [London, Ont.]."

He declined to disclose the host city for the GP Final but did say that Skate Canada is going to be naming the city at a soon to be held press conference.

"I fought for this within the council; that it was time for the events to start to come back to North America and not only be in Asia, because we have skaters and programs and we have to also have a way of showcasing this."

As with everything else in the sport, events are a work in progress.

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