However quickly after that, the Worldwide Skating Union (ISU), skating’s worldwide governing physique, made the choice to ban backflips from competitors due largely to the excessive danger of head and neck accidents. In actual fact, Kubicka reported his personal coach, Evy Scotvold, suffered a head damage working towards the transfer as a member of the Ice Follies, in accordance with Ice Skating Worldwide—a reality Kubicka solely discovered after his Olympics flip. (Different banned sports activities strikes embrace the Korbut flip and the Thomas salto, each in gymnastics, for context.)
For the following 47 years the ban stood, although just a few skaters nonetheless carried out backflips in competitors as a present of defiance. In 1998, French skater Surya Bonaly did one on the Nagano Olympics, although her rating was decreased because of this. Extra lately, one other French skater, Adam Siao Him Fa, did one at each the 2024 European Championships and the 2024 World Championships (and acquired comparable penalties).
“I knew that I used to be shedding a few factors, however I needed to push our sport, to maneuver it ahead and to deliver again this ingredient,” Siao Him Fa defined at his European World Championships look, in accordance with Ice Skating Worldwide.
Exterior of competitors, some skaters additionally carried out backflips at non-scored occasions like exhibition galas, together with Olympians Scott Hamilton, Keegan Messing, and Nathan Chen. In 2022, each Messing and Chen did backflips at a gala on the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
How a current rule change is shaking issues up
All the things modified on the 59th Bizarre ISU Congress in 2024. Held in Las Vegas, the five-day assembly resulted within the elimination of “somersault-type jumps” from Rule 610—the rule detailing what strikes can’t be carried out in competitors.
