2012-13 Grand Prix Speculation

[fairly4]

this is what i would do.

only the skaters who went to senior worlds would get the required 2-3 spots. all other skaters would get the 1 spots if qualified.

any left over spots would go to next on rank list.

that is until if they ever get back to 12 per gp event.

 

[b-man]

Then only the 12 who went to senior worlds could compete for the GP final. You need 2 GP's to get enough points to make the final. The other 20+ skaters would be elliminated before they step on the ice.

 

[tulosai]

Then only the 12 who went to senior worlds could compete for the GP final. You need 2 GP's to get enough points to make the final. The other 20+ skaters would be elliminated before they step on the ice.

This. I think a better move would be to:
1) Not give people the option to do three
2) Up the number of skaters who can skate in each event from 10 to 12, especially in a year like this when SO many skaters will qualify to do one GP event.

 

[RemyRose]

This would have been my argument as well. Doesn't make sense to do it that way as a lot of skaters would not have the opportunity to skate in the GPF providing that they are better than any of the top 12 at worlds.

 

[Violet Bliss]

ISU was trying to save money and raise some with star power. There were few takers and those who chose 3 events had bad experiences. This experiment to entice top seeds has failed completely. The question is, what next?

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

Did it fail? Of the seven skaters that chose to do three, two of them are World Champions (Kostner, S/S), a further earned a medal (Leonova) and a fourth certainly cemented a higher position in the ice dance ranking (W/P). Brezina and K/S suffered, as did P/B (who didn't actually do three due to illness). I was rooting for it to fail, but I don't think that's an accurate reflection of what actually happened.

 

[Trewyn]

Did it fail? Of the seven skaters that chose to do three, two of them are World Champions (Kostner, S/S), a further earned a medal (Leonova) and a fourth certainly cemented a higher position in the ice dance ranking (W/P). Brezina and K/S suffered, as did P/B (who didn't actually do three due to illness). I was rooting for it to fail, but I don't think that's an accurate reflection of what actually happened.

Thanks for this information! I was wondering how it all balanced out. I only knew that for Carolina the strategy to compete as often as possible really worked.

I wonder who's going to do 3 next season...

 

[Mathman]

I would say it failed. I don't think attendance was any better at these events because of the presence of supposed stars.

Plus, there was one aspect of the way they handled it that was absolutely reprehensible. If a skater did three events then he/she/they could count the highest two out of three results in the final standings. (In previous years at least they had to designate in advance which would be their non-scoring event.)

This is wrong. You can't have an athletic contest in which the favored athletes have a two-out-of-three advantage over everyone else. That's just cheating.

 

[Violet Bliss]

Thank you IPogue for pointing out the balancing facts. Brezina wearing out and P/B being penalized financially due to illness have left a strong negative impression with me and I think their examples will be very discouraging to other top seeds contemplating doing 3 events, especially for financial reasons because it can backfire badly. If event attendance did not improve, then I still deem this formula a failure, particularly when the spots deprived non seeded skaters are taken into consideration.

 

[Becki]

Didn't Carolina and Alena benefit from doing two three events? Well definitely Alena cuz she made the GPF because she placed better in her third GP event.

 

[chuckm]

I hope they do away with 3 GPs for seeds. With only 10 spots for singles and 8 for pairs and dance, it definitely limits opportunities for up-and-coming talented skaters. And for skaters whose federation isn't a host, it may mean no opportunity at all.

 

[R.D.]

I'm with MM in that while I don't have a problem with certain skaters doing 3 events, they should at least be required to designate which one they wish not to count toward their total in advance, as opposed to simply having the highest two scores count.

 

[Dragonlady]

I hope they do away with 3 GPs for seeds. With only 10 spots for singles and 8 for pairs and dance, it definitely limits opportunities for up-and-coming talented skaters. And for skaters whose federation isn't a host, it may mean no opportunity at all.

But chuckie, the GP events are “championship” events for established skaters, not events for up-and-comers. The ISU has been very clear that these are not development competitions at all and they don’t want no stinking new kids.

 

[enlight78]

But chuckie, the GP events are “championship” events for established skaters, not events for up-and-comers. The ISU has been very clear that these are not development competitions at all and they don’t want no stinking new kids.

Well it makes more logical since to develope them at the GP instead of throwing them into Euros, 4CC, and Worlds.

 

[mskater93]

They should be sent to Senior B events to get their feet wet according to ISU.

 

[NMURA]

Doing three GPs is beneficial for (top) skaters. They have the better chances of making GPF and earn more prize money. They can also reduce pressure on each events. Quite frankly, they can use the first GP as a warmup, instead of Nebelhorn or Finlandia trophy (on the expense of the ISU and the host federations). I doubt Brezina is sincerly regretting. What he has learned is that it's better to avoid tight schedules. There's no point of designating which events to gain points. The ISU wants more top skaters to appreciate its merits.

 

[Dragonlady]

Well it makes more logical since to develope them at the GP instead of throwing them into Euros, 4CC, and Worlds.

You can't go to 4CC, Euros or Worlds unless you meet the minimum scoring requirements. You can't go to the GP events unless you go to Worlds and make top 24 or get on the top 24 season scores.

 

[conga]

You can't go to 4CC, Euros or Worlds unless you meet the minimum scoring requirements. You can't go to the GP events unless you go to Worlds and make top 24 or get on the top 24 season scores.

Yeah...does seem like a catch 22, doesn't it, especially when there is any depth of field?

 

[Mathman]

I think the Grand Prix should be the beginning of the new season, not the end of the old. Last year's world champion -- that's old news. I do not see the necessity of requiring, come hell or high water, that each event must have exactly one form 1-3 and exactly one of 4-6 from last year in each discipline.

Personally, I would rather see Weaver and Poje than more of the same Virtue and Moir and Davis and White, or Caroline Zhang than...well, actually I wouldn't mind more Carolina Kostner.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

Thanks for this information! I was wondering how it all balanced out. I only knew that for Carolina the strategy to compete as often as possible really worked.

I wonder who's going to do 3 next season...

Some stats....

Of the 24 eligible to select three GP events

a) Four didn't participate in the GP series (Kim, Ando, Pang/Tong, and technically, Yankowskas/Coughlin)
b) Thirteen chose to do two events.
c) Seven chose three

Of the seven...

a) Only one didn't follow through (Pechalat/Bourzat withdrew from SC due to his bronchitis)
b) Six were from Europe (only Weaver/Poje represented the four continents nations)
c) Five train in Europe (again, only W/P and P/B train in North America)
d) Two were medalists at the 2011 World championships (Savchenko/Szolkowy, Kostner)
e) Three were from non-host nations (Brezina, S/S, Kostner)

Skaters the trained in Europe went for three GPs more but only one went to two European GPs (Brezina did CoR and TEB). Skaters in the lower half were more likely to go than the upper half (with the note that we saw a couple medalists at Nebelhorn and Finlandia last season). If I were projecting, I'd argue that all the skaters (except S/S) had something to prove and/or make up for.

So, who would I guess goes for three this year, Trewyn?

Men: None
Ladies: Suzuki and Leonova
Pairs: Duhamel/Radford, Bazarova/Larionov
Dance: Ilynikh/Katsalpov, Cappellini/Lanotte