ISU Communication 2588: Officials for 2023/24 season

[Andrea82]

ISU published the annual list of Referees, Judges, Technical Controllers, Technical Specialists, Data & Replay Operators valid for season 2023/24 in Communication number 2588

https://www.isu.org/inside-isu/isu-communications/communications/31595-isu-communication-2588/file

As a reminder, based on the two qualifications (ISU and International), officials are allowed to judge in the different type of competitions.

Judges:

ISU level is needed to judge in ISU Championships (such as Senior Worlds, Europeans, 4 Continents and Junior Worlds), Grand Prix Final and Olympic Qualifying competition.
At Olympics, you need ISU level + having served twice in ISU Championships or Olympic Qualifying competition.
A recently introduced requirement for serving in Pairs panels at ISU Championships and Olympics is that the judge should have already served in Pairs in previous ISU Championships or having served (with a satisfactory evaluation) in in at least one International Competition and one ISU Event in Pairs during the 48 months preceding the draw.
For Senior GPs stages, Junior GPs stages, Challenger Series events and other International competition, international qualification is enough.

Technical controllers and specialists:

ISU level is needed for ISU Championships, GP Final, Senior and Junior GPs.
In Challenger Series events, at least two members of technical panel should have ISU qualification.
International level allows to judge in B international competitions.

Referees:

ISU level is needed ISU Championships, GP Final and Senior GPs.
International level allows to serve as referee in Junior GPs, Challenger Series and other international competitions.

 

[Andrea82]

I tried to check the changes compared to last season.

Preliminary admission:

a) I may have missed or misallocated something….eyes started to get confused while cross-checking two long files full of names
b) ISU may have done some mistakes too (I already spotted one)

Note

a) Examinations for new technical controllers and specialists were not held this year. Hence, the lack of promotion or new names.

b) Examinations for promotion to ISU judges will take place during Nebelhorn Trophy


Single and Pairs Judges

New International

Katrina Harburn (Australia)
Elizabeth Henningsen (Australia)
Sarah Coombs (Canada)
Genevieve Rosa (Canada)
Jinyi Hu (China)
Marjo Pesonen (Finland)
Isabelle Perolini (France) *
Ulrich Schmieder (Germany)
Alice Caverzaghi (Italy)
Marco Cicala (Italy)
Ando Yoko (Japan)
Regina Shamshilova (Kazakhstan)
Sylvia Bart (Netherlands)
Jorge Ormaeche (Perù)

Retired/delated
Janice Hunter (Canada)
Xixia Liu (China)
Tomislav Cizmesija (Croatia)
Sanja Amsel (Croatia)
Vera Kvarcakova (Czech Republic)
Miluse Safrankova (Czech Republic)
Elisabeth Louesdon (France)
Isabelle Degoutte (France) * I won’t be surprised if the delated Madame Isabelle Degoutte is the added Madame Isabelle Perolini after marriage/divorce.
Karen Archer (Great Britain)
Michelle Collett (Great Britain)
Brigitte Thiele (Germany)
Dagmar Lurz-Prott (Germany)
Corinna Gundlach (Germany)
Daniela Cavelli (Italy)
Masako Kubota (Japan)
Yuri Guskov (Kazakhstan)
Young Kyung Han (South Korea)
Hea Kyung Kim (South Korea)
Mona Adolfsen (Norway)
Malgorzata Sobkow (Poland)
Christiane Miles (Switzerland)
Rada Lamsam (Thailand)
Natalya Khakimova (Uzbekistan)

Demoted from ISU to International

Guangying Qin (China)
Nikolai Salnikov (Estonia) * this is the one who got drunk at JGP Egna 2019 and was suspended for two years.
Tuire Kuronen (Finland)
Andrea Gmelin (Romania)
Kveta Matejova (Slovakia)


Change of ISU member
Viktoria Sachkova; from Belarus to Poland

Single and Pairs Referees

Promoted to ISU level
Tatiana Yordanova (Bulgaria)
Nicole LeBlanc-Richard (Canada)
Agnieszka Swiderska (Poland)
Katarina Grof Mitrovic (Serbia)
Emilie Billow (Sweden)

New International
Tobias Steindl (Austria)
Jeff Lukasik (Canada)
Andrew Bosco (Canada)
Glenn Fortin (Canada)
Pernilla Böhling (Finland)
Angelika Ullm (Germany)
Eva Szilagyi (Hungary)


Ice Dance judges

New International
Hilary Quick (Canada)
Ge Gao (China)
Amélie Zanzola (France)
Meike Hammer (Germany)
Liam Meanwell (Great Britain)
Espen Rotterud Runas (Norway)
Albert Saadi (Monaco)
Mary-Elizabeth Wightman (USA)
Philipp Rey (USA) * Philipp Rey is now both Technical Specialist and Judge. I must check but he may be the first just like Julia Rey is the first to be both Technical Specialist and Technical Controller.

Retired/delated
Janice Hunter (Canada)
Brigitte Wendt (Germany) * But she has not been dropped from Single & Pair list
Garry Hoppe (Great Britain)
Yuri Guskov (Kazakhstan)
Malgorzata Sobkow (Poland)
Alexei Soutchkov (Russia)

Ice Dance Referees

New ISU
Christian Baumann (Germany)
Janis Engel (USA)

New International
Sabrina Wong (Canada)
Stephen Fernandez (Great Britain)


TECHNICAL SPECIALISTS

Single

Retired/delated

Yvonne Bokjanc (Austria)
Edgar Escuer (Spain)
Kristel Ojasaar (Estonia)
Asdis Ros Clark (Iceland)
Ricardo Olavarrieta (Mexico)
Mariusz Siudek (Poland)
Jason Dungjen (USA)

Demoted from ISU to International

Maksim Shipov (Israel)
Tunca Unlu (Turkey)

Pairs

Retired/delated

Jason Dungjen (USA)

Demoted from ISU to International

Mariusz Siudek (Poland)


Ice Dance

Demoted from ISU to International

Doreen Hoppe (Great Britain)
Arne Bayer (Germany)


Change of ISU member

Anna Krytskaya (from Belarus to Poland)

 

[Andrea82]

Results of the examinations to be promoted from International to ISU judge held two weeks ago in Oberstdorf

SINGLE AND PAIRS

Promoted to ISU level (those who can judge at ISU Championships and Olympics*)

Patricia Moritz (Australia)
Antony Grevisse (Belgium)
Andrew Bosco (Canada)
Laura Carr (Canada)
Glenn Fortin (Canada)
Margery Hilko (Ireland) * First ISU judge for Ireland
Greonne Bol (Netherlands)
Steven Hsu (USA)

Deletion from International judges list
Rahel Schmid-Gottschall (Switzerland) * Resigned

ICE DANCE

Promoted to ISU level (those who can judge at ISU Championships and Olympics*)

Aseniya Stratieva (Austria)
Patty Klein (Canada)
Clément Perrigouard (France)
Natacha Pontonnier (France)

Deletion from International judges list
Sara Seitz (Serbia) * Deceased


* to serve at Olympic Games, they also need to have officiate in 2 ISU Championship/Qualifying Competition for the Olympic Games.

 

[Andrea82]

Judges draw for ISU Championships

Senior Worlds

MEN


Austria
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Spain
France
Israel
South Korea
Switzerland
Sweden
Turkey

WOMEN

Bulgaria
Canada
Finland
Hungary
Italy
Japan
South Korea
Latvia
Norway
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
USA

PAIRS

Australia
Canada
China
Czech Republic
France
Georgia
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Ukraine
USA

ICE DANCE

Australia
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Japan
Lithuania
New Zealand
Poland
Slovakia

 

[Andrea82]

Europeans

Men
Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine

Women
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Great Britain, Georgia, Greece, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine

Pairs
Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Ukraine

Dance
Czech Republic, Finland, France, Great Britain, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Switzerland ,Slovakia, Ukraine

Four Continents

Men
Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, USA

Women
Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Taiwan, USA, Uzbekistan

Pairs
Australia, Canada, China, Croatia, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, New Zealand, Slovakia, USA

Ice Dance:
Australia, Canada, China, Spain, Great Britain, Japan, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Slovakia, USA


Junior Worlds

Men
China, Estonia, Finland, Great Britain, Georgia, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Taiwan, Ukraine

Women
Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden

Pairs
Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Sweden, Ukraine, USA

Ice Dance
Austria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine

Source: https://www.isu.org/inside-isu/isu-communications/communications/32133-isu-communication-2594/file

 

[4everchan]

oh lala.... no north american judges for Ice dance at senior worlds.....

 

[Andrea82]

oh lala.... no north american judges for Ice dance at senior worlds.....

The drawn was done among Feds with an ID entry at 2023 Worlds.
There were 26 countries. 2 (Belgium and Latvia) don't have an ISU Ice Dance judge.
It leaves 24 countries eligible to enter the draw.
The actual draw may have been on 23 countries depending if Men panel was drawn before or after (Pairs draw is always the last. The order of other 3 disciplines is drawn during the draw). That's because Azerbaijan have only 1 ISU judge who is qualified for both Single/Pairs and Ice Dance. And Azerbaijan is on the Men panel. So if Men panel was drawn first, Azerbaijan would have been omitted from ID draw (at ISU Championships, individual judges can't serve in more than one panel).
The 10 not drawn (if they all entered the draw) were: Canada, China, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Ukraine and USA.

 

[4everchan]

Thank you @Andrea82

How is the tech panel decided?

 

[Andrea82]

Thank you @Andrea82

How is the tech panel decided?

Tech panels for ISU Championships are appointed by Kim based on proposals of Lavoie (who should have consulted Bianchetti and Rettstatt).
So ISU President based on proposal of Vice-President-Figure Skating branch who should consult the technical committee.

The Organizing ISU Member may recommend to serve not more than two of its own Referees/Technical Controllers/Technical Specialists for Single & Pair Skating and one of its Referees/Technical Controllers/Technical Specialists for Ice Dance, including those who are also ISU Office Holders.
It is a recommendation but ISU doesn't seem to be picky as they accepted Feng Huang as technical controller for Olympics 2022. Huang just came out of a suspension (at 2018 OGs) and was anyway quite inexperienced as technical controller (passed the ISU exam in 2018 and never served at GP level before 2023).

However, the Code of Ethics added (post 2018) the following recommendation:
When appointing the members of the Technical Panel and the Referees for ISU Senior Championships, whenever possible, there shall be no appointments of Officials from ISU Members whose Skaters can reasonably be expected to place 1 – 5 in the respective discipline. In case this is not possible, all members of the Technical Panel and the Referee for the respective discipline shall, whenever possible, be from ISU Members whose Skater(s) can reasonably be expected to place 1 – 5 in the respective discipline at the ISU Championships concerned.

So they should avoid USA, Italy, Canada and Great Britain in Ice Dance.
Last season ISU didn't follow this recommendation strictly in Pairs.

 

[4everchan]

Tech panels for ISU Championships are appointed by Kim based on proposals of Lavoie (who should have consulted Bianchetti and Rettstatt).
So ISU President based on proposal of Vice-President-Figure Skating branch who should consult the technical committee.

The Organizing ISU Member may recommend to serve not more than two of its own Referees/Technical Controllers/Technical Specialists for Single & Pair Skating and one of its Referees/Technical Controllers/Technical Specialists for Ice Dance, including those who are also ISU Office Holders.
It is a recommendation but ISU doesn't seem to be picky as they accepted Feng Huang as technical controller for Olympics 2022. Huang just came out of a suspension (at 2018 OGs) and was anyway quite inexperienced as technical controller (passed the ISU exam in 2018 and never served at GP level before 2023).

However, the Code of Ethics added (post 2018) the following recommendation:
When appointing the members of the Technical Panel and the Referees for ISU Senior Championships, whenever possible, there shall be no appointments of Officials from ISU Members whose Skaters can reasonably be expected to place 1 – 5 in the respective discipline. In case this is not possible, all members of the Technical Panel and the Referee for the respective discipline shall, whenever possible, be from ISU Members whose Skater(s) can reasonably be expected to place 1 – 5 in the respective discipline at the ISU Championships concerned.

So they should avoid USA, Italy, Canada and Great Britain in Ice Dance.
Last season ISU didn't follow this recommendation strictly in Pairs.

So one more round for Halina (which is not ideal for my Canadian teams....)

 

[Andrea82]

So one more round for Halina (which is not ideal for my Canadian teams....)

I was thinking about Wolter (Germany) or Molina (France) who both sits on ISU ID Technical Committee.
Eliminating USA, CAN, ITA and GBR, you are left with
Halina, Kozubek (Poland), Molina, Hurth (France), Wolter, Baumann (Germany)

 

[4everchan]

I was thinking about Wolter (Germany) or Molina (France) who both sits on ISU ID Technical Committee.
Eliminating USA, CAN, ITA and GBR, you are left with
Halina, Kozubek (Poland), Molina, Hurth (France), Wolter, Baumann (Germany)

Sigh. I am not a fan of Molina. I guess the silver lining is that if ever Canadians do well at home, it will not be because they had a judge and a tech specialist on the panel... Haha