2024 ISU Congress Summary of Changes

The following is a brief summary of the rule changes from the 2024 ISU Congress and how they will be implemented domestically. This is not an exhaustive list changes. Coaches and officials should consult ISU documentation for the complete and finalized changes.

Ages

New upper ages for Junior Ice Dance (women) and Pairs (women and men) were approved for international competition:

Junior Ice Dance: have not reached the age of 21 for women and the age of 21 for men before July 1 preceding the competition. A maximum age gap of seven years is allowed between the two partners.

Junior Pairs: have not reached the age of 21 for women and the age of 23 for men before July 1 preceding the competition. A maximum age gap of seven years is allowed between the two partners.

The age requirements for domestic competitions will remain unchanged and are included in the Competition Program Requirements – Podium Pathway.

Program Requirements Singles and Pairs

There were several program requirement changes proposed for junior and senior singles and pairs. All have been postponed for implementation in the 2026-2027 season. There are no changes to the program requirements for the 2024-2025 season except for the normal rotation of elements in the short program for junior singles, and junior and senior pairs. Skate Canada Technical Documents will be updated with the confirmed program requirements and available on the Materials Catalogue.

Changes included in ISU Communication 2623 that were not pending Congress decisions are still in effect unless otherwise communicated future ISU updates.

Illegal Elements

Singles and Pairs

Somersault type jumps have been removed as illegal elements in Junior and Senior only. They will remain as illegal elements in all other domestic singles and pairs categories (including STAR, Adult, and Podium Pathway).

Synchronized Skating

The illegal elements were revised for synchronized skating to remove un-sustained lifts and include the following:

back spirals through the axis of intersection

illegal lifts as defined by Rule 990, paragraph 3 a. vi) a)

split jumps through the axis of intersection

unassisted/solo back flip(s)

Details on illegal elements for domestic categories will be published in forthcoming technical documents.

Ice Dance

All Ice Dance Technical Rule proposals were accepted. Therefore anything in ISU Communication 2630 that was pending ISU Congress decisions will be in place for the 2024-2025 season. The change to lift duration will be applied for all domestic categories.