Menshov Snubbed for Worlds

[silverlake22]

Well let's see how Kovtun does first. If he holds up under the pressure, then, well, maybe he IS the new star. And even if he makes mistakes, he can still become a star in the future. His ascent just this season has been pretty incredible already.

[gmyers]

he could be a star in the future but based on how he skates sochi 2014 olympics may not be in order. But even if he did well and two spots happened he would have to do well in 2014 euros. I was going to say russian nationals but LOL russian nationals are just one of many measures.

[drivingmissdaisy]

I don't think that sending Ricky to Senior Worlds was the right decision for the US. I don't think it particularly helped his career either. Guys that skate the fall JGP as juniors should go to Jr. Worlds unless they win the Senior championship outright; it's too much of a shock of a way to start their Senior careers.

Perhaps, but I think of poor NNN who never got a chance to skate at Worlds because the one time she placed high enough, she wasn't age eligible. If Ricky never reached that level again, it would have been great to have had the opportunity to skate at Worlds once, having earned the spot. Ricky will have plenty more opportunities to skate at Worlds, but we thought the same about NNN in 1999.

[Icey]

Not applicable for worlds, but doesn't the IOC have rules against age discrimination in choosing athletes for the Olympics. Of course, that would probably be very hard to prove.

[dorispulaski]

It's an interesting question. Certainly members of the Russian federation would probably be well advised not to make comments indicating that Kovtun was chosen over Menshov because of age.

However, considering that Plushenko is older than Menshov, the Russian fed is in better position than most feds to make a defense against ageism.

[LRK]

And older than anyone else in the field, I think? "What? Ageism? Us? Why, we've got the oldest man here!"

ETA for Clarification: I meant the men's field, natch.