Valieva case spotlights an old question in figure skating: Will age minimum be raised?

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Valieva case spotlights an old question in figure skating: Will age minimum be raised?

Would raising the minimum age in figure skating prevent another Kamila Valieva situation in the future?

It would not directly deal with the issue of doping that is at the center of this highly controversial case, which has utterly overshadowed the 2022 Winter Olympic figure skating competition for the week since it became public.

But it would address part of the multi-layered problem that may have contributed to Valieva, 15, having a banned drug, trimetazidine, appear in a doping control sample she gave Dec. 25.

Olympic champion Nathan Chen’s coach, Rafael Arutunian, has advocated raising the age minimum for several seasons. He thinks the Valieva case will put more pressure on the International Skating Union to do it.

“If you are skating in an adult competition, you should be an adult,” Arutunian told me this week via telephone.

NBC Olympics has confirmed a Russian TV report that the ISU governing council will put forward a proposal to raise the minimum age for Olympic-level (senior) international competition on the agenda of the ISU congress in June. The minimum would go from 15 to 17, cover only figure skating and be phased in.

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In Survivor: Nashville, a first national title for Mariah Bell

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In Survivor: Nashville, a first national title for Mariah Bell

It was something of a war of attrition, the women’s singles event at these 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Nashville, with Covid or physical issues eliminating one contender after another.

So it was no surprise that the survivor, Mariah Bell, was a skater who had doggedly stuck it out, season after season, before battling through the free skate Friday to win a first national title in her ninth try.

At 25, Bell also became the oldest U.S. women’s champion in the 95 years since Beatrix Loughran won at 26 in 1927.

And, most importantly, no matter that the decision won’t be announced publicly until Saturday afternoon, Bell also claimed a spot on the U.S. team headed to the 2022 Winter Olympics next month in Beijing. The other two places will almost certainly go to Karen Chen, who finished second, and Alysa Liu, forced out of the free skate after testing positive for Covid earlier Friday.

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At age 14 and just 4-foot-9, figure skater Isabeau Levito within reach of senior podium at nationals

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At age 14 and just 4-foot-9, figure skater Isabeau Levito within reach of senior podium at nationals

About 12 years ago, Chiara Garberi decided to check out the ice rink in her New Jersey neighborhood to see if it might be a place where she could skate for fun on weekends.

With her daughter, Isabeau Levito, in tow, Garberi arrived at a moment when competitive figure skaters were training. Levito, then age 2 ½, took one look at the situation and asked if she could go on the ice.

“I told her, `You need special shoes for that,’” Garberi recalled. “She saw a pair of rental skates next to the ice sheet and said, `Are those mine?’”

They would be, soon enough. Because what followed was a progression familiar to parents of kids who wind up in figure skating’s highest levels.

First came weekly learn-to-skate classes, which Garberi originally made a reward for her daughter if she finished her meals. Next, a year later, was asking a coach who was working with the beginners if Levito, at almost 4, was ready for a private lesson. (The answer was yes.) And then, a few years later, daily lessons. Now, all day at the rink, six days a week, with schoolwork fit in between and after skating sessions.

“Isabeau always tried to be better than everyone else, even in learn to skate,” said Yulia Kuznetsova, who has been Levito’s coach for 10 years.

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Alysa Liu changes coaches, location a month and a half before Olympic figure skating team selected

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Alysa Liu changes coaches, location a month and a half before Olympic figure skating team selected

Two-time senior national champion Alysa Liu, the most successful U.S. women’s figure skater this season, has changed coaches barely two months before the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The skater’s father, Arthur Liu, confirmed the switch Monday morning in a text to NBCSports.com.

Two days after returning from the NHK Trophy in Tokyo, which ended Nov. 14, Liu left coaches Massimo Scali and Jeremy Abbott in the San Francisco Bay Area and went to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to train with Christy Krall, Drew Meekins and Viktor Pfeifer.

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A “new” Alysa Liu in a good place for a transformative season

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A “new” Alysa Liu in a good place for a transformative season

UPDATE: Alysa Liu won the Nebelhorn Trophy, giving the USA a third women’s singles spot at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Choosing FaceTime rather than a telephone as the medium for an interview with Alysa Liu last week was fortuitous.

The video connection revealed a Liu who smiled constantly – and punctuated the smile with frequent laughs – during a 30-minute conversation.

Liu, talking from a hotel room in the small northern Italian town of Egna, clearly was in a good place.

And not only because the mountain scenery Liu could see outside the hotel is beautiful.

It also was because Liu’s new view of herself has put her in a good headspace.

“I’m much happier now,” Liu said. “I feel better. Mentally, I’m in a very good spot.”

You could see that clearly from Liu’s confident, mature skating in her first two events as an international senior competitor, the Cranberry Cup International in August and the Lombardia Trophy in September. She won both events by huge margins and, more significantly, her performance quality showed a striking maturity.

It was evidence that, at age 16, Liu has suddenly gone beyond the image of jumping prodigy that once captured her skating.

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