Thank you so much, Mrs. P. I was not aware of the changes.
1. Same as before: 30 in the SP; 24 in LP. So for the groupings: 5 for SP; 4 for LP.
1a That would mean "B" competitions count. hmmm.
1b. Why not? although I think some fans might want an all out battle on 1 competition from this year.
1c. That's the same as in previous years (betcha it's Austria)
2a. and 2b. is as we always knew it.
2c is a bit confusing to me. Can you give an example?
2d. I think what is being said, that if one top skater has a bye to the Worlds, the second skater still has to prove him/her self. That would be a big change if I'm reading correctly. I would think then, only the Winner of the previous Worlds' Federation can send more than one skater. Just guessing. I don't know.
Having a preliminary round to fill the slots is not new.
1c. I don't think it's a qualifying competition, but a round that would be done at the beginning of Worlds competition.
2c. An example would be Yuna Kim in 2007 Worlds. Up to that point, the one skater from SK never placed well enough to send more than one skater. If Yuna had held on to her lead after the SP or even got Silver, South Korea could have sent three skaters for the following year, but since she got bronze, she only scored well enough to get two skaters. Since then SK has had two skaters, but the two skaters combine placements have never been enough to gain a third.
2008 -- Yuna (3rd) + Kim Na Young (19th) = 22 --> They keep two skaters.
2009 -- Yuna (1st) + Kim Na Young (17th) = 18 -- > Two skaters
2010 -- Yuna (2nd) + Min-Jung Kwak (22nd) = 24 ---> Two skaters.
2d. Right, but that also depends on how the federation did the year before. Japan actually gets three direct entries in the Ladies competition because the skaters who represented them were all in the top 18. The entries are bond to the country not to the skater. So though Murakami did not compete last year she will not have to "prove herself" because Akiko placed well enough to do so.
In contrast, in the men's Oda's huge SP bomb (where he placed 28th and didn't go to the FS) actually cost Japan a direct entry. So one Japanese skater would have to go prove himself. Ironically Oda actually has the highest world standing, so if the competition was held today, it would actually be Kozuka who would have to go the QR. There's a theory that they chose not to send Oda to 4CC to allow both Daisuke and Kozuka to earn enough points so it would be Oda (who cause the loss in the first place) who would skate the QR.
Yes, having a preliminary round is not new, but what I think is new is that 1.) Not everyone has to skate into it (namely top skaters -- kind of similar to the byes given to the top finishers at U.S. nationals). 2.) You, in a way, have to qualify for the qualifying round with the minimal TES score requirement.
Clearly I think the ISU is trying to find a middle ground between having 50 people compete in the SP and making all 50 people do the a QR. This seems like a reasonable compromise.
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