I have to start today by confessing two biases First, Ilia Malinin isn't just from my home country (USA). Not just my home region (metro area: Washington, DC). He's from my hometown (Vienna, Va.). You could run a 5k road race from my home to his high school. I know people who've taught him. I know people who've skated with him. I could easily bump into him on a fast-food run this summer
It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations, an ISU spokesperson said. The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness. The reassurance comes as scrutiny focuses on the scoring submitted by the French judge on the nine-member panel.
