- Joined
- Jun 3, 2009
Anyone knows if there will be any ordinal factors similar to the 6.0 era for SP and FS? The way I understand it, the team with the lowest total ordinal wins, therefore, in principle skater/couple who finish 1st = 1 and the skater/couple finish 10th = 10. For the SP though, will these ordinals be factored like the 6.0 era? That is 1st = 0.50, 2nd = 1.0, 3rd = 1.5 and etc. For the FS, I imagine it would be 1st = 1.00, 2nd = 2.00, so on so forth. I am not up to date with respect to the Team Event rules, would be curious to know.
No, there is not.
If you're first in either the short of the long program, you get 10 points. 9 points for second, 8 points for third, etc. The thing is that only five teams compete in the long, so the last place finisher in the long gets six points (places fifth). The last place finisher in the short gets only one (ranks 10th). The quoted below is copied from the ISU Communication on the subject (I can't find the link, but I have the PDF on my computer if you'd like me to send it to you). The emphasis is mine
For each discipline and segment placement points will be awarded as follows:
1st10 placement points
2nd 9 placement points
3rd 8 placement points
4th 7 placement points
5th 6 placement points
6th 5 placement points
7th 4 placement points
8th 3 placement points
9th 2 placement points
10th 1 placement point.
So a bad performance in the short program really hurts, especially in a broad field. To give you an example of how cruel this can be, I'm going to use the compulsory dance of the 2007 Worlds (top five) and pretend that it was in the team event.
1. Canada - Dubrueil/Lauzon (10 points)
2. Bulgaria - Denkova/Staviski (9 points)
3. Russia - Domnina/Shabalin (8 points)
4. France - Delobel/Schoefelder (7 points)
5. USA - Belbin/Agosto (6 points)
Now, it doesn't matter which teams make it if Bulgaria and USA both make the long. Bulgaria, as long as they're two spots (or less) behind the USA, have won more points in ice dance. But Denkova/Staviski (who contributes 9 points to Bulgaria) only outscored Belbin/Agosto by 0.25 points! But in this event, that means three full places ahead. Ice dance this season is the best example because P/B, I/K, B/S, C/L and W/P (depending on who competes, of course) can end up in literally any order and it would be unsurprising. It's not just how good you are relative to your opponents. It's how good your opponents are relative to your other opponents (I swear, the only great thing about the team event is analyzing the game theory behind it).
But it's not only that. The teams that don't make the long/free programs have some major spoilers as well. For example, Wende/Wende may not make the finals for Germany, but a strong skate from them will beat a weak skate from say James/Cipres (but France > Germany overall). And in every discipline, there are probably two or three spoilers (though, again, that depends on how well everyone skates). Japan might not make the free, but man will they put back virtually every team that does