Qualifying Round at Worlds

**Ogre Mage** · 01-26-2005, 03:45 PM

Now that the switch to CoP has been made, why are they still having a qualifying round at worlds? I don't get it.

**BravesSkateFan** · 01-26-2005, 05:12 PM

because its the ISU...nuff said

**gkelly** · 01-26-2005, 05:15 PM

Because there will be over 40 and possibly closer to 50 entries each in the men's and ladies' events and that's too many for one group of judges to judge in one big group.

**Kuchana** · 01-26-2005, 09:52 PM

Is there a good possibility that it will be abolished in the near future???? I'm hoping.

**Ptichka** · 01-26-2005, 10:02 PM

Originally Posted by Kuchana

Is there a good possibility that it will be abolished in the near future???? I'm hoping.

No. It is , though, remotely possible that they will stop counting QR toward final score. That's how it is done for Juniors.

**Kuchana** · 01-26-2005, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by Ptichka

No. It is , though, remotely possible that they will stop counting QR toward final score. That's how it is done for Juniors.

Thanks for the info

Another question not related to this is do you happen to know if the ISU is going to make it mandatory for skaters to compete in the GP series next year?

**R.D.** · 01-26-2005, 11:36 PM

I bet they'll keep the QR to weed out the competitive field. For example, only the top 25 or 30 finishers get to move on to the short program. The one thing they could eliminate is the score from the QR...not let it factor in the total placement.

**Mathman** · 01-27-2005, 08:44 AM

What's wrong with factoring in the scores of the qualifying round?

About requiring the skaters to compete in the Grand Prix, I don't think that will ever fly because it steps on the toes of the member federations. Each country has a right to send it's national champion to contest the world championship, regardless of that skater's competitive history.

Last year, India became a new member of the ISU. India has only four ice skating rinks, all left over from British officers' clubs during the raj. The new Indian skating federation misunderstood the ISU rules and thought they said that each country must send someone to Worlds. So they came up with a girl at about the novice level and sent her to Dortmund. When she got there it was realized that she didn't have to skate after all, so she withdrew.

BTW, I think that Cypress is a memeber of the ISU which has no ice skating rink in the whole country, has no skaters, and has never sent anyone to an international competition.

Hey -- is this an opportunity for some American skater of Cypriot ancestry to go to the Olympics?

Mathman

**chuckm** · 01-27-2005, 09:00 AM

I can see Speedy trying to institute a rule that the top 12 skaters/teams in each discipline at Worlds be required to skate at the GP in the following season. The top 12 are guaranteed 2 events each under current selection rules.

Whether or not the federations go along with that is anybody's guess.

**Joesitz** · 01-27-2005, 10:25 AM

One has to think of the number of entries for the judges to consider a correct placement in the qualifying round. Some of the entries will not make the SP round because there will be splatfests in both QRs. This can become very boring to the judges while scoring under the CoP. They have to be careful, too, if a prominent skater has a bad day.

From my experience at DC and Dortmund Worlds, there is little regard for any skater who does not come up to the standards of the last 18 to skate and even skaters 13-18 are not treated with any concern unless they have a super LP.
Skaters 19-30 are questionably placed which is sad for the skater. If you are in that lineup, it does matter to you that you get place 20 up from place 28 last year. Don't laugh, skaters have human feelings.

I think with the number of entries growing every year for Worlds, the judges really have a tough time scoring all this under the CoP system without a certain amount of ennui (except for the last 12 to skate). It's not easy for them, but there is no answer either.

Joe

**Linny** · 01-27-2005, 10:53 AM

Good point, Joesitz, about skater who places 20, up from 28 the previous year. In my sport, I'm a competitor who places 16th out of 20 and I surely wish to make it into the top 10 this year. That's a realistic goal.

I hope they keep the qualifying round... not to keep the poor officials from being bored, but to allow the second tier skaters a chance to skate at Worlds. What a FABULOUS opportunity.

Linny

**mzheng** · 01-27-2005, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Ptichka

No. It is , though, remotely possible that they will stop counting QR toward final score. That's how it is done for Juniors.

I'm sure hope they do so. IMO, it is unfair to count the QR into the final points if the different qualify groups were judged by different judge panel.

**Ptichka** · 01-27-2005, 11:45 AM

I'm not sure, but I believe they were going to use the same judging panel, just at different times. With CoP, this should be more fair than under 6.0 since it eliminates "Group A is stronger than Group B" type thing.

**chuckm** · 01-27-2005, 02:48 PM

But if you look at the Canadian QRs, where the skaters were culled separately from each group, some of those eliminated from one group had higher scores than ones who qualified in the other group. I would think it would be fairer to do the culling after all the groups had been through qualifying, then rank all the skaters by score.

**Linny** · 01-27-2005, 03:32 PM

Speaking from the point of view of the audience, and having attended a measly one Worlds, I'd say that QR was FABULOUS. In DC (the measly one Worlds I went to), Sasha rocked during QR. Even the skaters who didn't make it to the SP were lovely. The QR made the price of an all-event ticket totally worth it.
Linny