On Wednesday, it finally happened. Ilia Malinin became the first skater to ever land the quadruple axel, a jump that requires 4.5 rotations. There have been attempts from others over the last 4-5 years, most notably Yuzuru Hanyu's effort to master the jump, which he attempted at the Beijing Olympics, only to under-rotate the element and fall. Honestly, watching Ilia do it was unbelievable. He barely had a set up- just threw himself up into it.
Watch the first Quad Axel: https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/1570224475232141312?s=20&t=aYNKX4zidodzqpPEeSqPYw
But unfortunately such a momentous occasion fell a tad flat and unsatisfying, considering the competition conditions in which it was completed. The US International Classic is the first "Senior B" competition of the year, so there was not a large audience anticipated. But because the event was held in the middle of a week, in Lake Placid NY, the audience was non-existent.
However, the biggest barrier to the enjoyment of the competition and the quad axel was the fact that there is now no official footage available of Ilia's program. Skating fans were informed this week that Peacock will no longer store replay footage of skating competitions. This comes after a lawsuit late last spring from a band who's music was used in Knierim/Frazier's program during the Olympics. One can argue for or against artists seeking payment for music used in skating programs (especially this rather small band few people had heard of), but the result seems to be that, while Peacock can air livestreams of competitions, they cannot store the replays for viewing after the competition ends.
This is a devastating blow to skating fans and skating accessibility, particularly for viewers in the United States. Because NBC/Peacock owns the rights to show major competition footage in this country, US fans do not have free access to footage offered on YouTube from the ISU internationally. Without Peacock providing replays, the only option US fans have to watch competitions will be to drop their subscriptions and pay for a VPN to access international streams that are then stored and available on Youtube. USFS and Peacock have not responded with any details about when replays could be made available in the future. This change in viewing opportunity also comes at a time when USFS is doing the absolute minimum to advertise any other event taking place in the country. For the past month, national qualifiers have been taking place at rinks across the US, but no livestreams have been provided and phone videos have been repeatedly taken down. This contrasts sharply with skating competitions in Russia, where every single event, even local competitions, are live-streamed on Youtube and internationally available to watch.
If this pattern of inaccessibility continues, I really do fear for the future of this sport, particularly in the United States. How is the sport supposed to gain attention, viewers, sponsorship, and invite new skaters in if no one can watch it? It's embarrassing and disappointing when a skating federation has to provide a clipped phone footage of a record setting jump, at a competition so poorly attended and poorly covered. It's a shame, really.
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