Someone earlier said that the number of spots for qualifying for the Olympics at Nebelhorn would be 6 for Ladies and Men, 4 for Dance, and 3 for Pairs (I may be wrong in my memory of Dance and Pairs

). Do these new rules for qualification change these numbers when a country at this year's Worlds qualifies for more future spots than they have skaters making it to the Free Program?
Hi, Paul.

'Twas I who listed the numbers of OWG spots available per discipline via Nebelhorn.
If you are willing to bear with me

, my response to your question has two parts.
(1) If a discipline at Nebelhorn includes any federations trying to follow thru on Worlds results and to qualify for an additional OWG spot via Nebelhorn, that would not change the number of OWG spots available via Nebelhorn, AFAIK.
(And the success/failure of those federations at Nebelhorn would not change the number of spots available via Nebelhorn, AFAIK.)
(2) But I think the rule change for 2022 OWG possibly could have ripple effects in the following sense:
My understanding is that it would be possible for the number of OWG spots based only on Worlds results to not use up the full allotment earmarked solely for Worlds -- because for a federation with only one Worlds entry in a discipline, not qualifying for the FS/FD means no OWG spot (per
ISU Special Rules, page 29).
In such a scenario of any empty Worlds-based spot(s), the Nebelhorn allotment of OWG spots would increase accordingly to fill the total quota of OWG spots.
(I do not know how rare or not-so-rare it was for this scenario to arise for previous editions of OWG???)
For example, if the rule change had been in effect for Ladies for
2017 Worlds/2018 OWG:
(First of all, my apologies that when discussing Tursynbaeva in a previous post, I garbled the years. Her second place was at 2019 Worlds, so my discussion in the previous post really was about a hypothetical "2020 OWG." I have edited in corrections.)
By my count, applying the new rule to 2017 Worlds results would mean that only 22 ladies OWG spots would be filled outright (not using up the quota for Worlds of 24). The 22 spots that would be filled outright:
RUS 3
USA 3
JPN 2
CAN 2 (plus one Nebelhorn entry -- but not Osmond or Daleman)
ITA 1 (plus one Nebelhorn entry -- but not Kostner)
KAZ 1 (plus one Nebelhorn entry -- but not Tursynbaeva)
KOR 1 (plus one Nebelhorn entry -- but not Dabin Choi)
CHN 1
BEL 1
SVK 1
FRA 1
GER 1
HUN 1
LAT 1
ARM 1
AUS 1
Total = 22
No other federation had a lady who qualified for 2017 Worlds FS.
In this scenario, 2 unfilled OWG spots would be "left over" from Worlds, so the number of OWG spots available via Nebelhorn would be 2 + 6 = 8.
What
actually happened with 2017 Worlds/2018 OWG, according to the existing rules:
- All 24 spots available via Worlds were filled. LAT earned the 24th OWG spot via Worlds.
- ARM and AUS did not earn OWG spots via Worlds.
ARM sent Galustyan to
Nebelhorn, but did not earn an OWG spot. (She placed eighth.)
AUS sent Craine to Nebelhorn, and did earn an OWG spot. (She placed first.)
I find the pairs (19 entries) and dance (23 entries) kinda shifty. They need 5 groups anyway, why not round up the number?
The IOC (as opposed to the ISU) controls the size of the fields, and the IOC has been clear that its goal is to reduce the total number of athletes (added up from all sports) at the Games.
For 2022, the field size for pairs and dance has decreased by one entry since 2018.
ETA:
Forgot to add that for 2022, the "Additional Athletes Quota" for figure skating has been reduced to five skaters. Used to be ten. Presumably also a decision of the IOC (not ISU).
Also worth keeping in mind, IMO:
Per OWG rules, Korea as the host country received an otherwise-unearned 2018 pair spot.
So the
2018 OWG Pairs SP had six groups (with three pairs in Group 1 and three pairs in Group 2).
It so happens that 2022 OWG are in China, which will have no problem qualifying in pairs and in dance.
But conceptually, maybe the example of 2018 Pairs could be an additional reason that the IOC is not wed to quotas corresponding to five full groups?