Updated Short Track ISU regulations

The new season is just around the corner. Time to provide everyone with the information needed for the new season.

Yesterday a great article about the matter was published on this website, so I propose everyone reads this first as it explains it very well: https://passionpvss.blogspot.com/2018/09/short-track-continues-to-evolve-new.html

However, besides this, there are a number of things which are not covered by the article and which I, therefore, would like to point out.

New safety regulations and guidelines

As coaches and athletes, we are very pleased to read ISU communication 2128 where the safety of our athletes on the ice is brought up a notch. Depending on the classification of the competition at hand, we now have a framework for what minimum requirements are needed to host the competition. The different classifications can be found in this table:

It is especially nice for us that there are also rules for competitions for younger categories such as Junior C/D. This means that for the Star Class competitions, these minimum requirements should also be used. Last year at the Europa Cup Final, we found ourselves in a situation where the padding was only 20 cm thick around the whole track (defined as basic padding). Luckily the organization manages to add some extra paddings by the afternoon session to make it safer. Therefore, we are very thankful that there now is a clear list of requirements towards the safety of our athletes.

There was a discussion whether or not this table is a guideline or a minimum requirement so we contacted the ISU Technical Committee for clarification. Hugo Herrnhof, who apparently wrote the communication, clearly stated that they are minimum requirements. However, the system used in national competition may be decided by each national federation separately. Of course, we encourage them to also follow the mandatory requirements in the table above.

Off-track interpretation

It was decided that a penalty for off-track should only be granted when a skater skates on the inside of the corner by his own actions. If he is pushed inside the blocks, this will no longer count as an off-track. Also when falling inside the blocks, the off-track penalty will no longer be granted as there will be no advantage for this fallen skater. The reasoning behind it is that going back in order to redo the corner is much more dangerous to both skater and ice officials. Executing a take-over maneuver on the inside, but skating inside the blocks to avoid collision with another skater, will still be resulting in an off-track. That makes sense, although it could be the safer option, it would still lead to an advantage for that skater as he could easily take over a skater in that way.

Stopping and restarting races

A race can be stopped when the safety is not guaranteed for the fallen skater(s) or for the skaters still in the track. However, when a race is stopped, there is now clarity towards whether or not a skater has to leave the ice. If a skater falls on its own and the race is stopped, the skater has to leave the ice if the fall was his own fault and he deliberately did not stand up. If the crash was caused by another skater to whom a penalty or card is assigned for this action, the penalized skater has to leave the ice and the fallen skater may restart (if he can). If the fallen skater is stuck in the padding (e.g. the blade in the padding) that skater is not able to get up and may, therefore, restart the race as well. In case there is a fall with multiple skaters, all skaters (or teams) involved with the crash must leave the ice if no penalty or card is assigned to any team. Otherwise, only the penalized skater (or team) must leave the ice. This new rule may result in races with few participants after a restart, but will hopefully put an end to skaters which deliberately lay on the ice in a hope that they may take part in a restart of the race.

On Saturday, August 25th, 2018, the ISU broadcasted a video over the streaming service of Youtube in which the new rules are explained. You can find the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e7PJBJ3jSo.

What are your thoughts on the updated rules? Did we leave anything important out (not covered by this and the article of Carl Savard)?