The International Skating Union has modified its rules to allow figure skaters to perform to music with lyrics for the fist Olympics ever, and Pyeongchang athletes are leaping at the opportunity to put some pop in their routines.
While ice dancers have been grooving and gliding to vocals since the late ’90s, figure skaters had been restricted to instrumental selections; now lyrical music from all genres are fair game. The post-Sochi change marks an attempt to appeal to a younger audience for the 2018 Winter Games and other international competitions.
“I think that bringing this different dimension kind of opens doors for skaters that weren’t there before,” Canadian skater Eric Radford told Billboard recently. “It’s probably one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a skater.”
We’ve rounded up some videos of pop songs that have been or will be skated to in the coming days at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
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