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Scoring System ‘Huge Success’

By Helene Elliott
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The proposed cumulative scoring system, which got its second test at Skate Canada, was declared “a huge success” by International Skating Union consultant Ted Barton. However, ISU officials said they must refine some provisions, such as weighting elements according to their difficulty and defining the “well-balanced program” skaters must perform.

An expert observer identified each move to an inputter, who displayed it on the computers before 14 judges. Judges rated the execution on a scale of minus-3 to plus-3 for the technical mark and then awarded a presentation score. A computer randomly selected seven scores to determine the marks, but the ISU wouldn’t say if the results matched those of the interim system being used.

ISU Secretary-General Fredi Schmid said a finished version could be in place next season.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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