MOSCOW, June 17, Andrey Simonenko. Increasing the minimum age for participants in adult figure skating competitions to 17 years old will increase pressure on the mental health of young athletes, as competition will increase at their age level, says Alexander Kogan, General Director of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR). Skating Union (ISU) decided to gradually increase the minimum age for participants in adult figure skating tournaments from 15 to 17 years. This proposal was put forward by the ISU board, based on a study that talked about the psychological pressure on athletes at a young age. «This will further increase the pressure on the mental health of children — juniors will have tougher competition, since there will be more of them. They will crowd at our level. And now we need to think about how to add competitions to those age layers, otherwise there will really be a crowd of children,» Kogan told reporters.
