By Hiro Yoshida

The talk of the men’s event in Kaunas, Lithuania was not about Adam Siao Him Fa’s feat of becoming the first Frenchman in 60 years to win consecutive European title, but his inclusion of a backflip in his free skating routine. I caught up with two-time Olympic bronze medallist and French television commentator Philippe Candeloro at the championships to get his views on the currently illegal element.

Candeloro does not believe the backflip is technically challenging to perform. However, he does feel that there is a certain amount of risk involved and that it should be approached with caution. 

“When you do a triple jump or quad jump, jumping the backflip is not very difficult,” he said. “But it is a dangerous jump because you can fall on the head if you miss the toe.”

Candeloro did the backflip in his show programmes and introduced another element of his own, the Candeloro Spin, into his competitive routines even though he was informed by International Skating Union officials that it would have no value as part of the technical mark. He proposes that perhaps the ISU could treat the backflip in a similar way.

“I never did the backflip in competition because I knew it was not allowed,” he said. “When I did the Candeloro spin, the ISU said we cannot accept it (as an element) as the blade is not on the ice. They said I could continue to do the spin, but not as an element. I wanted to keep it because I knew the public loved to see it, but I had to do an extra spin. For the backflip, it could be the same. You cannot give 10 points for a backflip, but maybe you add some artistic impression.”

Naturally some elements in figure skating carry greater risk than others. Candeloro believes that the backflip is not necessarily any more dangerous than other elements allowed in the sport. For him, it makes no sense to permit those elements and not the backflip.

“If you look at pairs skating, it’s even more dangerous than backflip execution,” he said. “Nobody understands why they want to keep as they have in the rules that you are not allowed to do it.” 

Candeloro sees Siao Him Fa’s decision to put the backflip in his free at Europeans as a conversation starter to getting the element allowed in competition.

“This is why we appreciate Adam because he is trying to push the ISU to get the rules changed.”

Even with a mandatory two point deduction, Siao Him Fa still finished almost 20 points ahead of the rest of the field at Europeans. Bearing in mind the fine margins that will determine the World medallists in two month’s time, the Frenchman is unlikely to try the backflip in Montreal as things stand.