Winter Olympics 2026: Kamila Valieva saga sparks proposal to raise figure skating’s age limit to 17
- International Skating Union exploring raising the minimum age for senior competitions from 15 before 2026 Games in Milano Cortina
- ‘Allowing underage athletes to compete may subject them to risks that are thought to be inappropriate for their age,’ medical commission says
The International Skating Union (ISU) has proposed raising the minimum age for senior figure skating competitions to 17 from 15 before the 2026 Winter Olympics to help young athletes cope with the physical and psychological demands of the sport.
Under proposals listed in the agenda for its 58th congress in Thailand next month, the sport’s governing body said it hoped to gradually increase the minimum age over the next three years before the Milano Cortina Games.
“It is conceivable that allowing underage athletes to compete may subject them to loads and risks that are thought to be inappropriate for their age,” the ISU’s medical commission wrote in the proposal.
“Not only physically, but in terms of the psychological and social development of the child. Junior athletes need to cope with multiple stressors on their pathways towards elite sport.”
The proposal comes after then 15-year-old Russian Kamila Valieva tumbled to fourth place in the women’s singles event at the Beijing Winter Olympics this year, yielding to the pressure of a doping controversy.