I think we have to be more specific about what we mean by "meeting senior level requirements" or "make it to the novice event in the US."
The senior ladies' short program currently requires a double axel and at least two different triple jumps. So we could say that those jumps, including the two easiest triples, are requirements for competing at the senior level.
However, it is possible for any skater who has good double axel and triple jumps to miss one or more of those jumps elements on any given occasion. It is even possible to miss one of those elements and still place well if the other jumps and spins and the basic skating are of high quality.
A skater who cannot successfully complete double axel and one or two triples on a regular basis will not place well in ISU championships or Grand Prix-level events but if the rest of the skating is good she may be able to place higher than skaters who do have those jumps on the occasions when the usually better jumpers have a bad jump day.
Different countries' skating federations have different means of determining who qualifies to skate at the senior level within that country -- skating tests, competition results at lower levels, age limits, or some combination of the above.
Within the US, passing the senior moves in the field test (skating skills) and senior freestyle test (which includes some required elements with the hardest required jump being double lutz) qualifies a skater to enter senior-level events.
There are over a hundred senior ladies competing in the US in any given year. Probably a majority do not have consistent, fully rotated double axels and triples, and so they are unable to skate a clean short program and can only do a clean freeskate by limiting their jump content to single axels and double jumps. Others are capable of jump content up to two, three, four, or five different triple jumps but are inconsistent with those jumps. Of the above, some struggled to meet the moves in the field test standard and some have world-class skating skills but struggle only with jumps, and everywhere in between.
And a smaller minority but still sizable compared to most other countries have several consistent triple jumps *and* strong skating skills *and* strong non-jump elements and can place well in international competition.
Some other countries may require successful triple jumps before certifying a skater as senior level.
The ISU only requires the skater to have turned 15 by the previous July 1 to be eligible to enter a senior international competition.
Entry in the Grand Prix competitions requires invitation based on prior international results.
Otherwise, it's up to each federation to determine what level of skating, including but not limited to jump content, they require from a skater before sending her to a senior "B" international or to the ISU senior championships (European Championship, Four Continents Championship, World Championship). Some federations are willing to send out skaters who would struggle to pass the US senior tests much less skate a clean SP or earn component scores above, say, 5.00; others expect the capability to contend with at least the second-tier world-class skaters before sending a skater to international competition at all.
So how do you determine whether a skater is "senior" or "not good enough for senior"? There isn't a firm dividing line that's consistent across federations or internationally established by the ISU.
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There are a couple hundred skaters in the US who compete at novice level each year. The highest jump requirements on the US novice freestyle test are double loop and double-double combination. The highest jump requirements in the novice short program are single axel, solo double jump, and double-double combination, so any skater who has passed the novice test in the US is capable of skating a legal novice short program. The highest jump content allowed in the novice SP is double axel, solo triple jump, and triple-double combination. So the successful novices in competitions across the US tend to have at least double axel and/or one triple jump.
The way the US qualifying system works, only 12 novice ladies qualify to compete at Nationals -- well under 10% of all US novices. These top novices tend to have double axels and usually one or more triples, or at least strong consistent doubles, and component scores in the 4s.
So I think it is fair to say that many of the skaters who finished in the bottom ranks of the ladies' short program at Worlds would not qualify for the US national championships at the novice level. However, they would have no problem passing the US novice tests, even the US senior tests, and could place in the upper middle ranks of US novice or junior competition at the regional level.
In fact, some of them did, before deciding to represent a different country.
). After twenty years of developing their skating programs, and sending their best off to the World Championships each year, they produced Shen and Zhao, Zhang and Zhang, and Pang and Tong.
