2025-26 British and Irish figure skating

[Skating_fan22]

Noticed a skater at the US Golden West Championships skating for “National Ice Skating Association of UK”? I didn’t think this was an international competition or that anyone was sent to compete?

Results

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Noticed a skater at the US Golden West Championships skating for “National Ice Skating Association of UK”? I didn’t think this was an international competition or that anyone was sent to compete?

Results

Alexa is coached by Michal Březina and Danielle Montalbano as part of Rafael Arutunian's setup in California. So, she enters competitions over there in between the British competitions. I don't know if she was competing as a guest skater or as a full entry, but either way it's good that she gets to compete regularly without having to travel halfway across the world all the time. She's only 10, after all.

At the August Qualifier in Sheffield last week, she was 10th in the SP; 3rd in the FS; and 7th overall in Advanced Novices.

Thank you for flagging up that she has been in action again so soon.



CaroLiza_fan

 

[Skating_fan22]

Thanks for the info! Looks like she finished 6th overall with a 3S<b1 in the FS. Impressive!

 

[CelticRose22]

Countries who qualify in at least 3 or the 4 disciplines can participate in the team event if they are ranked within the top ten eligible countries. There are five spots available in total for countries which have only qualified in three disciplines to add their 'missing' skater. These can only be used for the team event. Priority is given to the Olympic hosts (not relevant as Italy have already qualified skaters in all four) and the spots are then distributed based on the country's ranking. At the moment, there seem to be quite a lot of countries which have only qualified 3/4 disciplines. If more than five of these countries qualify for the team event, the lower ranked ones will not be able to add a skater and would need to compete in the team event with one discipline missing. Therefore, even if we do qualify for the team event (which is not certain) it is not guaranteed that Ed would be able to compete unless he qualifies a spot for men's singles in Beijing.

Gubanova should really qualify at Chinese Nebelhorn. I like the Japanese Ice Dance team anyway so I hope they qualify too - that would then take us to 5 countries with a full complement. Will be tough for the Kovalevs to qualify so I envisage them getting 2 out of the 5 quota spots for the team event.

I think it's going to be hellishly difficult for Ed at Chinese Nebelhorn but I think it will be good experience anyway to compete in a high stakes competition. But hopefully he can go for the Team competition whatever happens.

Given how hard it is to qualify for the Olympics in the regular 4 disciplines now and also the fact that the depth isn't really there i do wonder if the team competition shouldn't be restricted to 8 countries going forward. Will make it harder for GB to qualify but looking at the bigger picture that makes sense to me.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Given how hard it is to qualify for the Olympics in the regular 4 disciplines now and also the fact that the depth isn't really there i do wonder if the team competition shouldn't be restricted to 8 countries going forward. Will make it harder for GB to qualify but looking at the bigger picture that makes sense to me.

I don't really know if removing two countries from the team event changes much. The bigger issue is that more countries now have a) success in only some disciplines (see Korea) and b) only singular successful skaters, so fewer teams qualify a full team and there aren't enough spots that can be redistributed to fill those teams.

At the last Olympics, two teams competed with only three disciplines at the Team event, but only because of positive Covid tests, while it's not unlikely that there will be multiple teams who might have to compete as incomplete teams here (unless the ISU doesn't allow for that to happen, in which case we might have a pretty small Team event). Only three countries have qualified in all four disciplines so far, and in the worst case scenario (Japan, Georgia and France all fail to qualify in their missing discipline at the Qualification event, and no other team manages to qualify in all four disciplines), only 6 countries would be able to compete as full teams (5 redistributed quotas). I'm not hoping for that to happen, but I do wonder how that situation would be handled.

 

[FlossieH]

Gubanova should really qualify at Chinese Nebelhorn. I like the Japanese Ice Dance team anyway so I hope they qualify too - that would then take us to 5 countries with a full complement. Will be tough for the Kovalevs to qualify so I envisage them getting 2 out of the 5 quota spots for the team event.

I think it's going to be hellishly difficult for Ed at Chinese Nebelhorn but I think it will be good experience anyway to compete in a high stakes competition. But hopefully he can go for the Team competition whatever happens.

Given how hard it is to qualify for the Olympics in the regular 4 disciplines now and also the fact that the depth isn't really there i do wonder if the team competition shouldn't be restricted to 8 countries going forward. Will make it harder for GB to qualify but looking at the bigger picture that makes sense to me.

I wouldn't rule out the Kovalev's so quickly. They have just done well in the French Masters. It was one of their highest ever scores. Yes, I think French judging is more favourable towards them, but it is a much better start than they had last season.

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

I wouldn't rule out the Kovalev's so quickly. They have just done well in the French Masters. It was one of their highest ever scores. Yes, I think French judging is more favourable towards them, but it is a much better start than they had last season.

They were really good. Maybe working with Massot helped them...

 

[NanaPat]

Only three countries have qualified in all four disciplines so far, and in the worst case scenario (Japan, Georgia and France all fail to qualify in their missing discipline at the Qualification event, and no other team manages to qualify in all four disciplines), only 6 countries would be able to compete as full teams (5 redistributed quotas).

In this "worst case scenario" wouldn't there be 8 "full teams"; the three that qualified all four disciplines, plus 5 teams that got a quota for their "missing discipline"? I think adding a pair takes one quota, not two (count entries, not skaters). Especially since it says that any NOC can only get one additional quota.

 

[Ruthypegs]

Sadly, it looks like Phoebe Bekker and James Hernandez have withdrawn from the Bolero Cup this week. Also, Molly Hairsine and Alessio Surenkov-Gultchev have withdrawn from today's ice dance qualifiers, which is a pity.

Also, Charlotte Man and Toby Palmer aren't on the entry list for the qualifiers - have they retired? (I hope not, I always enjoyed their skating).

 

[Weetos]

September Qualifier for Ice and Solo Dance

Event results for September Qualifier for Ice and Solo Dance

bisresults.co.uk

Results link for the dance qualifier starting today

 

[Jumping_Bean]

In this "worst case scenario" wouldn't there be 8 "full teams"; the three that qualified all four disciplines, plus 5 teams that got a quota for their "missing discipline"? I think adding a pair takes one quota, not two (count entries, not skaters). Especially since it says that any NOC can only get one additional quota.

See, that's where I'm confused - The overview article makes it sound like how you interpreted it (so 5 additional entries), but the actual qualification system document very clearly states 5 additional skaters. However, these quotas are somehow connected to the host country spots (which aren't needed here), and there 5 makes no sense either way (they'd only need 4 if it were by discipline and 6 if it were by skater).

I don't think we ever were in this situation before, and we might not even end up in it this time (if Gubanova and Yoshida/Morita qualify on their own volition), but the rules should be written in a way that would cover such a case clearly.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

September Qualifier for Ice and Solo Dance

Event results for September Qualifier for Ice and Solo Dance

bisresults.co.uk

Results link for the dance qualifier starting today

Thank you so much for the reminder. I didn't realise that the September Qualifier and Bolero Cup were this week. For some reason, I had it in my head that they were next week.

Right, I'll start whipping up the table for the OP in the event thread. But, it won't be ready in time for the first competition, which starts in just over 5 minutes from now, because I am currently re-installing Windows on the desktop, and so need to keep an eye on what it is doing.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[FlossieH]

See, that's where I'm confused - The overview article makes it sound like how you interpreted it (so 5 additional entries), but the actual qualification system document very clearly states 5 additional skaters. However, these quotas are somehow connected to the host country spots (which aren't needed here), and there 5 makes no sense either way (they'd only need 4 if it were by discipline and 6 if it were by skater).

I don't think we ever were in this situation before, and we might not even end up in it this time (if Gubanova and Yoshida/Morita qualify on their own volition), but the rules should be written in a way that would cover such a case clearly.

I thought that it was 5 additional skaters and that this was limited by the total number of athletes who could be accommodated at an Olympic games.

 

[FlossieH]

See, that's where I'm confused - The overview article makes it sound like how you interpreted it (so 5 additional entries), but the actual qualification system document very clearly states 5 additional skaters. However, these quotas are somehow connected to the host country spots (which aren't needed here), and there 5 makes no sense either way (they'd only need 4 if it were by discipline and 6 if it were by skater).

I don't think we ever were in this situation before, and we might not even end up in it this time (if Gubanova and Yoshida/Morita qualify on their own volition), but the rules should be written in a way that would cover such a case clearly.

I thought that it was 5 additional skaters and that this was limited by the total number of athletes who could be accommodated at an Olympic games.

 

[NanaPat]

See, that's where I'm confused - The overview article makes it sound like how you interpreted it (so 5 additional entries), but the actual qualification system document very clearly states 5 additional skaters. However, these quotas are somehow connected to the host country spots (which aren't needed here), and there 5 makes no sense either way (they'd only need 4 if it were by discipline and 6 if it were by skater).

I don't think we ever were in this situation before, and we might not even end up in it this time (if Gubanova and Yoshida/Morita qualify on their own volition), but the rules should be written in a way that would cover such a case clearly.

I thought that it was 5 additional skaters and that this was limited by the total number of athletes who could be accommodated at an Olympic games.

To keep things together, here is the correct link for the qualifications system document.

Well, you're right! It does say 5 skaters in the additional athletes quota, not 5 quotas. What would happen if a country needed a pair to complete their team, but countries above them had already used up 4 additional athletes? Would a lower-ranked team below them who only needed 1 skater be able to complete their team? Inquiring minds want to know.

Also, it states that each team must participate in 3 disciplines of the team event, but doesn't say whether this includes or excludes skaters they might pick up in an "additional athletes quota". I think it wouldn't, but could see a country that was high in the standings, but with only 2 disciplines qualified for individual events, might have a different interpretation.

 

[Ruthypegs]

Sadly, it looks like Phoebe Bekker and James Hernandez have withdrawn from the Bolero Cup this week. Also, Molly Hairsine and Alessio Surenkov-Gultchev have withdrawn from today's ice dance qualifiers, which is a pity.

Also, Charlotte Man and Toby Palmer aren't on the entry list for the qualifiers - have they retired? (I hope not, I always enjoyed their skating).

Sadly, Eleanor Hirst and Anthony Currie also withdrew from today's qualifiers.

 

[FlossieH]

Okay, I'm dim - I've only just realised that the Kinoshita Group Cup this weekend is a Challenger event and not the Japanese domestic cup event I had been thinking...

Only one GBR entry - Tao Macrae in senior men.

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

To be fair, they had Kinoshita Trophy earlier this summer. It's hard to keep up with all the events if they're named that similar.

 

[FlossieH]

We finally have our first Irish entry on this season's JGP - Julianna Farrell at Gdansk (Solidarity Cup).

 

[FlossieH]

To be fair, they had Kinoshita Trophy earlier this summer. It's hard to keep up with all the events if they're named that similar.

'Trophy' sounds more Challenger-like than 'Group Cup' does.