Performance by country World Championships 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

[Flaya]

Hi everyone.

I had a bit of free time today and was so excited about the upcoming Worlds that I decided to "quantify" the performance by country from the last three Worlds to compare it to this year's. The goal is to find out what countries are doing better and worse over the last four years.

I came up with a nice system that enables us to see just that. It also could be easily applied to select 10 teams and alternates to an Olympic Team event.

What I did:
I did look at all four events and converted a top 24 finish to points. If a given country won, it got 24 points, if it placed 24th it got one points. I only used the highest result per country per discipline. Unfortunately in pairs we did not have 24 entrants any of these years, but I still used the same system not to mix things up. I chose 24 because one needs to be in top 24 in men and ladies' events to make the final (and it used to be the case in pairs and dance at one point in the past).

As I hate ties, I came up with the following solution.
In case if a country gets the same amount of points, then a country with a higher number of participants making the top 24 in all four events ends up higher, then if there is still a tie a country with a higher number of points out of 24, then if there is still a tie, a country that was represented in a competition with more entrants, then if there is still a tie... a country that was represented in one event that got a higher position in one of two parts of an event (SP or FS). I know that sounds complicated by it works in practice, at the end there are no ties in my rankings!

So let's start with 2012, then 2013 and then 2014.

2012 Worlds:

Country PAIRS/LADIES/DANCE/MEN

01 USA 17 / 21 / 23 / 17 / 78 points
02 CANADA 20 / 9 / 24 / 24 / 77 points
03 RUSSIA 23 / 23 / 20 / 8 / 74 points
04 ITALY 14 / 24 / 19 / 15 / 72 points
05 JAPAN 22 / 22 / 1 / 23 / 68 points
06 FRANCE 9 / 13 / 22 / 21 / 65 points
07 CHINA 21 / 18 / 13 / 11 / 63 points
08 GERMANY 24 / 5 / 14 / 5 / 48 points
09 SPAIN x / 10 / 6 / 16 / 32 points
10 UNITED KINGDOM 6 / 11 / 11 / x / 28 points
11 CZECH REPUBLIC x / x / x / 19 / 19 points
12 UKRAINE x / 8 / 10 / x / 18 points
13 KAZAKHSTAN x / x / x / 18 / 18 points
14 ESTONIA x / 12 / 3 / x / 15 points
15 GEORGIA x / 15 / x / x / 15 points
16 SWEDEN x / 14 / x / x / 14 points
17 AUSTRIA 3 / 4 / x / 3 / 10 points
18 BELGIUM x / x / x / 10 / 10 points
19 SWITZERLAND 7 / 2 / x / x / 9 points
20 AZERBAIJAN x / x / 8 / x / 8 points
21 ISRAEL 8 / x / x / x / 8 points
22 FINLAND x / 7 / x / x / 7 points
23 LITHUANIA x / x / 7 / x / 7 points
24 UZBEKISTAN x / x / x / 6 / 6 points
25 AUSTRALIA x / x / 5 / x / 5 points
26 NORTH KOREA 5 / x / x / x / 5 points
27 PHILIPPINES x / x / x / 4 / 4 points
28 BELARUS 4 / x / x / x / 4 points
29 MONACO x / x / x / 2 / 2 points
30 HUNGARY x / x / 2 / x / 2 points
31 BULGARIA 2 / x / x / x / 2 points


2013 Worlds:

Country PAIRS/LADIES/DANCE/MEN

01 CANADA 22 / 17 / 23 / 24 / 86 points
02 USA 16 / 20 / 24 / 18 / 78 points
03 RUSSIA 24 / 16 / 22 / 8 / 70 points
04 FRANCE 17 / 14 / 19 / 16 / 66 points
05 ITALY 15 / 23 / 21 / x / 59 points
06 GERMANY 23 / 6 / 15 / 14 / 58 points
07 JAPAN x / 22 / 5 / 21 / 48 points
08 CHINA 20 / 18 / x / 10 / 48 points
09 SPAIN x / 3 / 6 / 22 / 31 points
10 UNITED KINGDOM 10 / 5 / 12 / x / 27 points
11 SOUTH KOREA x / 24 / x / x / 24 points
12 UKRAINE x / 10 / 11 / 2 / 23 points
13 KAZAKHSTAN x / x / x / 23 / 23 points
14 SWEDEN x / 11 / x / 11 / 22 points
15 CZECH REPUBLIC x / x / 4 / 15 / 19 points
16 ESTONIA x / 9 / x / 3 / 12 points
17 LITHUANIA x / x / 10 / x / 10 points
18 UZBEKISTAN x / x / x / 9 / 9 points
19 AZERBAIJAN x / x / 9 / x / 9 points
20 SLOVAKIA x / 8 / x / x / 8 points
21 BULGARIA 8 / x / x / x / 8 points
22 POLAND 7 / x / x / x / 7 points
23 AUSTRIA x / 1 / x / 5 / 6 points
24 BELGIUM x / x / x / 6 / 6 points
25 AUSTRALIA x / 4 / x / x / 4 points
26 FINLAND x / x / 3 / x / 3 points
27 ISRAEL x / x / 2 / x / 2 points
28 DENMARK x / x / x / 1 / 1 point
29 HUNGARY x / x / 1 / x / 1 point

2014 Worlds:

Country PAIRS/MEN/DANCE/LADIES
01 RUSSIA 23 / 21 / 21 / 23 / 88 points
02 ITALY 16 / 12 / 24 / 22 / 74 points
03 USA 14 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 74 points
04 CANADA 22 / 14 / 23 / 14 / 73 points
05 JAPAN 8 / 24 / 7 / 24 / 63 points
06 FRANCE 15 / 16 / 22 / 10 / 63 points
07 GERMANY 24 / 11 / 14 / 13 / 62 points
08 CHINA 20 / 18 / x / 8 / 46 points
09 SPAIN x / 22 / 9 / x / 31 points
10 SOUTH KOREA x / 9 / x / 16 / 25 points
11 UNITED KINGDOM 7 / x / 16 / x / 23 points
12 CZECH REPUBLIC x / 15 / x / 7 / 22 points
13 AZERBAIJAN x / x / 13 / x / 13 points
14 ESTONIA 6 / x / 6 / x / 12 points
15 SWEDEN x / x / x / 11 / 11 points
16 LITHUANIA x / x / 10 / x / 10 points
17 ISRAEL x / 10 / x / x / 10 points
18 UKRAINE 4 / x / x / 4 / 8 points
19 BELGIUM x / 8 / x / x / 8 points
20 AUSTRALIA x / x / 1 / 6 / 7 points
21 SWITZERLAND x / 2 / x / 5 / 7 points
22 POLAND x / 3 / 3 / x / 6 points
23 PHILIPPINES x / 6 / x / x / 6 points
24 TURKEY x / x / 5 / x / 5 points
25 KAZAKHSTAN x / 5 / x / x / 5 points
26 BELARUS 5 / x / x / x / 5 points
27 ROMANIA x / 4 / x / x / 4 points
28 NORWAY x / x / x / 3 / 3 points
29 AUSTRIA 3 / x / x / x / 3 points
30 SLOVAKIA x / x / 2 / x / 2 points
31 BULGARIA 2 / x / x / x / 2 points

 

[Flaya]

And this is how the system is applied to tonight's event (Short Dance). Of course, only final positions will count but let's take a look out of curiosity...

USA 24 p.
Canada 23 p.
Italy 22 p.
France 21 p.
Russia 20 p.
Denmark 16 p.
Slovakia 12 p.
Spain 10 p.
Turkey 9 p.
Ukraine 8 p.
China 7 p.
Hungary 6 p.
Israel 5 p.
Austria 4 p. GUARANTEED
Japan 3 p. GUARANTEED
Estonia 2 p. GUARANTEED
Poland 1 p. GUARANTEED
No points: Belarus, Finland, Latvia, South Korea, United Kingdom.

 

[Flaya]

Surprisingly USA comes on top under this system which is really shocking as I thought Russia and to a lesser extent Canada were easily going to be the winners/in the top 2.

2015 Worlds

Country PAIRS/MEN/DANCE/LADIES

01 USA 18 / 21 / 23 / 21 / 83 points
02 Canada 24 / 20 / 22 / 14 / 80 points
03 Russia 20 / 18 / 18 / 24 / 80 points
04 France 16 / 16 / 24 / 15 / 71 points
05 China 23 / 15 / 6 / 16 / 60 points
06 Japan 6 / 23 / 3 / 23 / 55 points
07 Italy 14 / x / 21 / 5 / 40 points
08 Spain x / 24 / 11 / x/ 35 points
09 Kazakhstan x / 22 / x / x / 22 points
10 Slovakia x / x / 10 / 10 / 20 points
11 South Korea x / 6 / x / 13 / 19 points
12 Uzbekistan x / 19 / x / x / 19 points
13 Denmark x / x / 14 / x / 14 points
14 Sweden x / 2 / x / 11 / 13 points
15 Israel x / 8 / 5 / x / 13 points
16 Germany 10 / x / x / 2 / 12 points
17 Austria 7 / x / 4 / x / 11 points
18 Hong Kong x / 11 / x / x / 11 points
19 Czech Republic x / 10 / x / x / 10 points
20 Ukraine x / 1 / 8 / x / 9 points
21 Latvia x / x / x / 9 / 9 points
22 Turkey x / x / 9 / x / 9 points
23 United Kingdom 9 / x / x / x / 9 points
24 Norway x / x / x / 8 / 8 points
25 Belarus 8 / x / x / x / 8 points
26 Slovenia x / x / x / 7 / 7 points
27 Hungary x / x / 7 / x / 7 points
28 Australia x / 5 / x / x / 5 points
29 Philippines x / 4 / x / x / 4 points
30 Georgia x / x / x / 3 / 3 points
31 Estonia x / x / 2 / x / 2 points
32 Poland x / x / 1 / x / 1 point

unranked (no top 24 finish): Armenia, Finland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Switzerland

 

[QMATTERS]

I just know Russia will be making changes after this week. They were only successful in the women's competition. Glad and relieved that USA will have 3 men, women and dance pairs for next year in Boston.

 

[Flaya]

Four years trend:

2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014

USA 1 / 2 / 3 / 1
Canada 2 / 1 / 4 / 2
Russia 3 / 3 / 1 / 3
France 6 / 4 / 6 / 4
China 7 / 8 / 8 / 5
Japan 5 / 7 / 5 / 6
Italy 4 / 5 / 2 / 7
Spain 9 / 9 / 9 / 8
Kazakhstan 13 / 13 / 25 / 9
Slovakia x / 20 / 30 / 10
South Korea x / 11 / 10 / 11
Uzbekistan / 24 / 18 / x / 12
Denmark x / 28 / x / 13
Sweden 16 / 14 / 15 / 14
Israel 21 / 27 / 17 / 15
Germany 8 / 6 / 7 / 16
Austria 17 / 23 / 29 / 17
Hong Kong x / x / x / 18
Czech Republic 11 / 15 / 12 / 19
Ukraine 12 / 12 / 18 / 20
Latvia x / x / x / 21
Turkey x / x / 24 / 22
United Kingdom 10 / 10 / 11 / 23
Norway x / x / 28 / 24
Belarus 28 / x / 26 / 25
Slovenia x / x / x / 26
Hungary 30 / 29 / x / 27
Australia 25 / 25 / 20 / 28
Philippines 27 / x / 23 / 29
Georgia 15 / x / x / 30
Estonia 14 / 16 / 14 / 31
Poland x / 22 / 22 / 32

And these are the unfortunate countries that either "placed" in the last four years or managed to compete this year without making the top 24

Armenia x / x / x / x
Azerbaijan 20 / 19 / 13 / x
Belgium 18 / 24 / 19 / x
Bulgaria 31 / 21 / 31 / x
Finland 22 / 26 / x / x
Lithuania 23 / 17 / 16 / x
Monaco 29 / x / x / x
North Korea 26 / x / x / x
Netherlands x / x / x / x
Switzerland 19 / x / 21 / x

 

[Noolan]

I just know Russia will be making changes after this week. They were only successful in the women's competition. Glad and relieved that USA will have 3 men, women and dance pairs for next year in Boston.

Federation officials seem pretty positive in the interviews. Remember, two strongest pairs were not in the event and in Ice Dance the strongest athletes swapped partners, so the Federation espects Ice Dance to get better over the years as those partners get used to each other. Men are just bad though.

 

[Sugarpova]

Kazakhstan at #9

 

[Winnie_20]

Is there a medal for the worst country? :disapp:

 

[Flaya]

Is there a medal for the worst country? :disapp:

Everything is relative, but the worst country would have to be Switzerland as not only it placed in bottom three in both Ladies and Men (they qualified two entrants), a Swiss born Filipino skater also placed in the bottom 3 in Ladies. It almost looks like Stéphane Lambiel/Sarah Meier competed decades ago.

But mind you, some countries did not even qualify a skater. As example, Bulgaria which had Worlds Champions in Dance not that long ago.

Some traditionally stronger countries are on the slippery slope... Great Britain did not even manage to qualify skaters to single events. Finland, I won't even go there, it gets from bad to worse.

On the other hand, some others are clearly gaining ground. Spain with Fernandez and there is a new Pair that almost made the TES right before Shanghai. Also, Kazakhstan with Tursynbayeva going to seniors. Latvia doesn't look too bad either with Vassilievs going into seniors. And of course, China is getting stronger with Boiyang in Seniors next year and their Junior World Champion Pair too. Malaysia and Singapore qualified skaters to free skate in Juniors this year, so there is potential there too.

 

[Alba]

I just know Russia will be making changes after this week. They were only successful in the women's competition.

Russia are in working procces with ID, new and young couples there. Pairs are more than fine. Their Pair no. 3, 4 and 5, got 5th, 6th and 10th place at worlds. The only cuntry who can afford that. 2 of them were young Pairs (T&M and A&R), A&R have been together for 10 months, only. Other new couples are on the way. Men are what they are, at the moment.