Grand Prix Final - Preview

Please exuse my ignorance or a lack of knowledge of the DETAILS of the Grand Prix system, but can someone please explain to me how Kimmie Meissner could win a silver and a bronze medal in her two events and not qualify for the Final? I mean, did Sarah Meier win another medal in the series besides her gold?I've thought for years that if you win 2 medals in the series, even if both are bronze, there's no way you won't go to the Final. Certainly no one can say that Kimmie "flopped" by winning "only" silver and bronze!

OK, I've looked at the USFSA charts - Kimmie, Joannie, and Sarah tied in total placement points - but, even though Kimmie had the HIGHEST TOTAL SCORE of the three girls for 2 events, she loses out because both Joannie and Sarah won a gold and Sarah had a higher score for her gold than Joannie had for hers -Am I correct? So, in the GP system, if there is a tie, just winning a gold takes priority over total score for 2 events - right? If you get a gold and place 4th in your 2 events, you beat someone with silver and bronze even if she has a higher judging score for her 2 events than you do for yours - right?

So, here we had Kimmie facing tougher competition than either Sarah or Joannie faced in their respective gold medal wins, and had a higher total score for her (Kimmie) 2 events than either Sarah or Joannie had for theirs, and Kimmie watches the final on TV? Right? Phooey!! Well, no one can say that Kimmie "flopped" with silver and bronze!

Not only do I not find it shocking that no American Ladies made the GPF, it bothers me in the least. I would have liked one of our gals to make it, but they didn't. They didn't skate well enough to do so. I want to see the best skaters compete in the finals. Nationality is of little importance to me as I can easily enjoy and find delight in great skating regardless of what country the skater is from.

If there is a top flight U.S. skater in any event, I will root for them to do well, while at the same time doing exactly the same for every skater in the event. I desire that every skating competition or event to have the highest level of skating possible. That is what is important to me!

My gold medal favourites:
Brian Joubert
Shen-Gao
Denkova Stavisky

jsteam4501s said:

So, in the GP system, if there is a tie, just winning a gold takes priority over total score for 2 events - right? If you get a gold and place 4th in your 2 events, you beat someone with silver and bronze even if she has a higher judging score for her 2 events than you do for yours - right?

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Right. The first tie-breaker is "highest placement in an individual event" and if two competitors are still tied (like Meier and Rochette), then the second tie-breaker is total CoP points.

I think the system was designed in the hope that there would be six individual events, then the winners of those events would square off in the finals. It didn't work out exactly like that (Suguri got in with two seconds, and Rochette didn't make it even though she was the winner at Skate Canada), but it was close.

Actually, I like this system. By emphasizing winning the event rather than CoP scores it elevates interest in each contest separately. Plus, I think the ISU was concerned that maybe the judging would not be totally consistent from contest to contest.

Mathman said:

Plus, I think the ISU was concerned that maybe the judging would not be totally consistent from contest to contest.

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I agree. There seems to be a lot of discussion about this.

I think the current system would be fair if all the individual events were equal in strength, but they were far from that. Cup of China and Cup of Russia were very low-echelon events, and Skate America and TEB were very, very tough.

The presence of Julia Sebestyen IN the final and Kimmie Meissner NOT in the final says it all, especially considering that Kimmie has the 5th highest total points of the 9 top skaters, and Sebestyen has the lowest, some 35 points lower than Kimmie.

CoC and CoR had some pretty dismal scorers on their rosters. The ISU should do a better job of policing the orginal assignments so that isn't allowed.
In previous years, there were rules about how many top 12 from Worlds each host could select, how many from the top 24 on the ISU rankings, etc. so the rosters tended to be more even in talent. Since they switched to the SEASONS BEST list, there were apparently no regulations about how high or low the selections could go within the same event. So some events were packed with talent, and others sparse.

If the new method of roster selection remains in place, then the GPF will continue to be a mixture of top and mediocre skaters instead of the true championship competition it was meant to be.

If the judging in CoP from one event to another were equal, we wouldn't need to worry about diversified judging. Two certified judges from any country would be sufficient with the referee making the final decision. That's the way it is in boxingland.

Joe