Be Fair for all figure skaters!

These are parts of step sequences by Kim Yuna at the Korean National 2014 and Maria Sotskova at the Junior GP Final 2013.
The both skaters were supposed to perform the same combinations of 3 difficult turns in their step sequences.
The followings are supplementary explanations for Youtube Video, in case you didn’t understand them clearly.

Maria Sotskova
StSq3 3.30+GOE 0.64 =3.94
Yuna Kim
StSq4 3.90+GOE 1.93 =5.83

Yuna Kim's StepNotice the turns which start at 2:46.	You can watch the Slow motion. Notice the turns which start at 45s.
Sotskova's Step Notice the turns which start at 1:35.	Yuna's Combination Steps animation GIF

This combination of turns is “RBI Counter Turn / RFI Twizzles / RFI Rocker Turn”.

The acronyms mean:
R=Right Foot L=Light Foot F=Forward B=Backward
I=Inside-Edge O=Outside-Edge
RBI Counter means: do a “Counter” Turn, enter with the Right-Foot on the Inside-edge, traveling to Backward.

The frame forward images of transition from the Twizzles to the Rocker Turn

Direction of Travel→
She faced to the front while rotating and entered to the next turn with very smooth movement without drifts.

On the other hand, Kim Yuna,

The frame forward images of transition from the Twizzles to the Rocker Turn.


Look at the 2 frames just before finishing the Twizzle rotations.
Do you see that she skated on the right-foot on the outside-edge to backward?
Then, just after “the bump”, do you see that her edge was changed on inside-edge to forward?
These movements are called the“three-turn”.

In the “International Skating Union Special Regulations and Technical Roles” (Rule Book), the combinations of 3 difficult turns has to be composed by 3 turns from “brackets”, “rockers”, “counters”, “twizzles” and “loops”.

So, this “three-turn” should not be put in this series of difficult turns.
And this combination of 3 difficult turns by Kim Yuna should be considered as “Failure”

This fact will be easier to understand with watching the videos.
The combination of 3 difficult turns by Kim Yuna looks apparently that she lost her body balance during the rotations and couldn’t help putting a three-turn between the RFI Twizzles　and the RFI Rocker Turn.
She was supposed to be mentioned as the greatest figure skater of all time, wasn’t she?

Precisely speaking, the “combination of 3 difficult turn” permits 3 or more turns, so, up to some skillful skaters, they do combinations of 4 or 5 difficult turns.

For your information, the “three-turn” is one of basic turns and most skater use it in their programs, but the rule book does not define this turn as one of difficult turns.

Yuna Kim's StepNotice the turns which start at 2:46.	You can watch the Slow motion. Notice the turns which start at 45s.
Sotskova's Step Notice the turns which start at 1:35.