Lengthening the Long Program

[rack]

During the Skate America men's coverage, Dick Button mentioned that men's programs used to be 5 minutes (he said it was boring to watch).

Five minutes sounds long to me too, but what if men's long programs were expanded by 15-20 seconds and ladies by 10-15 seconds? Since athletes in every other sport are better conditioned now than they were 20 or more years ago, I figure it's safe to assume the same is true of skaters, and they could handle the additional time once they adapt to it.

Do you think if the time were expanded, and the triple/quad jumps remained the same (thanks to the Zyack rule), there would be greater emphasis on footwork and in-betweens, needed to fill up the extra time? Would skaters return to those nifty single axels of yesteryear? Maybe get the men doing Russian split jumps again?

Or is shorter better?

[Lee]

I think the increased technical demands of the jumps takes a lot more out of skaters than jumps did in the past; I think lengthening programs would 'kill' most skaters. The body can only handle so much of that kind of energy expenditure in one fell swoop -- I'd hate to think what kind of injuries we'd start seeing then. Either that, or programs completely front-loaded so that skaters could just 'coast' through the final couple minutes of that program without having to put out huge bursts of energy for the jumps...

[A.H.Black]

I think, as with all things, it would depend on the skater. If the skater is a wonderful artist with great choreography and presentation skills, we would still be begging for more. On the other hand, those awful skaters whose programs go on forever --- those programs would be interminible.

[RobinA]

I think an expanded program would give more time to more "artistic" elements and maybe get rid of the skate-skate-jump look of the long programs these days. However, skaters expend WAY more energy jumping than they did in Button's day, so I certainly wouldn't think expansion is a good idea. I'd rather see a limit on the number of jumps with a corresponding increased emphasis on the quality of the jumps that skaters do include. I'm getting REALLY tired of jump-heavy programs where the jumps are of poor quality.

[AxelAnnie22]

I don't think it is a good idea. I suspect what we would see is people frantically trying to put in a jump they missed, or another combo. I don't think it will lead to improved artistry. How 'bout a jump limit - maybe 5!

[Leanne]

Five minutes sounds long to me too, but what if men's long programs were expanded by 15-20 seconds

Uh, right now the men's long program is between 4:20 and 4:40 minutes (4:30 +/- 10 sec). So adding 20 seconds would make some of the programs 5 minutes long.

[loveskating]

I totally agree with Lee.

[rack]

I always thought men had a 4 minute 20 second limit- I didn't realize they could go to 4-40.

Is my face red! (actually it isn't all that red- I've been embarrassed far worse in my day, but I can't resist this smilie).:oops:

[Dustin]

Like Lee said, back when they were 5 minutes men weren't expected to do 2 or 3 quads and 2 triple axels in one program. The level of techincal ability has greatly increased and I don't think many could handle a 5 minute program - even with a lot of training.

[sk8rzmom]

Think of the poor judges, having to sit through 5 minutes of some very dull skating if the skater is not of at least sectional level calibre!

[melanieuk]

Five minutes is too long....but it might work if skaters were DEDUCTED marks for attempting more than 5 triples and ONE quad in that time.
A slow part - a minimum of 2 minutes would have to be slotted in - of music would allow artistry some extra playing time.