2013 ISU World Team Trophy, April 11-14, in Tokyo

[A.H.Black]

Something I still don't understand.

- Can Japan compete in this competition without a pair team?
- Do we know for sure?

- I understand there will be up to 10 countries in the Team Competition at Sochi. Are there 10 countries that can field teams in all four disciplines? Can a country compete there without an entry in one discipline? Do we know yet?

[Sylvia]

- I understand there will be up to 10 countries in the Team Competition at Sochi. Are there 10 countries that can field teams in all four disciplines? Can a country compete there without an entry in one discipline? Do we know yet?

For more information on the team event in Sochi, see this Sochi qualification thread: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...=1#post3872936
ETA: There's a preliminary calculation of the top qualified teams based on 2013 ISU Championships results in post #45.

[Zemgirl]

- I understand there will be up to 10 countries in the Team Competition at Sochi. Are there 10 countries that can field teams in all four disciplines? Can a country compete there without an entry in one discipline? Do we know yet?

Yes, though in some cases there are notable weak links. Looking at entries to this season's ISU Championships, in addition to the six WTT entries (Japan will be able to field a pair by next season), there's also Italy, Germany, the UK, Ukraine, Austria and Belarus. Possibly Poland as well? I am not sure whether Spain has a pairs team at the moment. But IIRC, it is allowed to field a team with skaters in only three disciplines.

[casken]

Scott Moir hates WTT - do V/M have to go?

I hope they do. It was fun watching Moir grumble through the whole thing.

[pinky166]

I hope the USA will send Abbott to the team competition.

Probably they will, provided he's healthy and wants to go. Miner laid an egg at his last 2 competitions so some time to rest and regroup and get his confidence back is the better call at this point I think, then if Max wants to go I'm sure he'll get the 2nd spot, and if he doesn't, probably Rippon or Dornbush will go, but probably Rippon.

[PinkFeathers]

I'd like to see a Max and Jeremy team. Max needs all the international experience he can get, and Jeremy.. well, he's just a sentimental favorite. He may or may not want it, though. WTT is likely one of the best things about the season ending, so I'm sure it'll be great regardless. I'll miss Team Italy's antics in the K&C tho.

ETA: I hope the ISU airs it for free again on their stream. That was so very awesome of them.

[Marco]

Didn't Abbott turn down 4CCs saying he had to keep training for Worlds as he was 1st alternate? If he had kept training, I would love to see what he could produce in this high level but low pressure event.

[kwanfan1818]

According to this post, W/P are Canada's dance entry at WTT:
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...=1#post3880291

[Piper]

Russian team:

Kovtun, Menshov
Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva
Volosozhar/Trankov
Bobrova/Soloviev

http://www.team-russia2014.ru/article/9834.html

upd. Not so sure anymore...Federation is trying to be strategic again. Waiting for Friday.

[homura]

Japanese Team
Men : Daisuke Takahashi, Takahito Mura
Ladies : Mao Asada, Akiko Suzuki
Pairs : none
Dance : Cathy Reed / Chris Reed

[Coco]

Yeah! Akiko!

[Lara]

Wow, I'm surprised but hope Akiko can rebound and leave the season with a gorgeous NHK/4CC performance of her LP.

[IceIceBaby]

How is Team Japan going to compete without a pair? Will they automatically place last or could they still even medal?

[Sylvia]

Re-posting from the Top 24 Season Best Scores Updated thread:

Technically, although the rules seem to be worth the toilet paper they're printed on, Lipnitskaya would have to be the substitute if either Sotnikova or Tuktamysheva pulled out, because one of her scores was used to qualify Russia for WTT

For the third year in a row the Feds are selecting whoever they want for WTT. I dont think the rules are even worth the paper.

There are two criteria in the announcement:

Only the skaters whose points have been used for the qualification calculation are eligible (unless injured or ill).
If the skaters are Top 10 at Worlds and one of the top two highest-ranked in that country, they must skate or are subject to not doing shows until WTT and other sanctions.

There's also a provision that says that says that a team can be dropped if the top skaters aren't made available.

So far, all of the Russian team meets both criteria. Hanyu has a well-documented injury and has an out, and since only his and Takahashi's scores were used, and both are top 2 WS from Japan, the Japanese Fed can appoint any other man they want, in this case Mura.

I suspect that P/B and V/M will also be excused because of injury (her legs), and if not, SC is ignoring the first criteria, but sending a dance team that meets the second. So far, they've basically followed the rules, in their own fashion, the ISU way.

Weaver/Poje reportedly are going to WTT (refer to link in post #68); Scott Moir has confirmed in a radio interview that he and Virtue are not going.

ETA typo correction for kwanfan1818's list: "Kovtun (WC 551)" should read "Kovtun (WC 222)." The 551 WS points were for his 5th place at Euros and the calculation criterion reads:

If Skaters/Couples of a Member have not obtained World Standing points in the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2013, then it is possible to use the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2013 respectively the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2013 and if needed the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2013.

[kwanfan1818]

Thank you for pointing that out, Sylvia. It should actually read:

Kovtun (WC 222, EC 551)
Menshov (GP 292)
Voronov (GP 324)

Kovtun's Worlds score has to be counted first, before any EC results are used.

As far as V/M being out, last year, RUS sent B/L, who were similar to W/P, in that they had a Top 10 finish at WC and were the 2nd-ranked WS Pairs team for RUS.

[Skittl1321]

How is Team Japan going to compete without a pair? Will they automatically place last or could they still even medal?

Do they do total points or ordinals based on placement in each event? Because it seems like if it is ordinals, the pairs team would probably just get the last placement, and they could possibly still medal on the strength of other disciplines, though that is really unlikely (since their dance team won't place high either). If they do total points, there is no way they could make up a 0 in pairs.

[Sylvia]

From the Announcement linked in post #1: http://isu.sportcentric.net/db//files/serve.php?id=3967

10. ISU JUDGING SYSTEM – RESULT DETERMINATION
...
To determine the final result of the ISU World Team Trophy the following rule will be used:
For each category points will be awarded assigning 12 points to the first placed Single Skater/Pair Skating, Ice Dance couple and decreasing in descending order by one point, i.e. 12, 11, 10, 9, etc. The last placed participant in the Single categories (if all Skaters have completed the event) will receive 1 point and similarly the last places in the Pair Skating and Ice Dance categories will receive 7 points.

The team having earned the highest number of aggregate points is the winner; the team having earned the second highest number of aggregate points is ranked second and so on.

[Jenifer]

They do ordinals. However, if I remember correctly from last year, the first place singles skaters got 12 points and the last place 1, while the first place dance and pair teams also got 12 points, the last place teams getting 7. My question would be, if Japan has no pair team, do they get 7 points for placing "last" or no points for not fielding a team? Given that the scoring system is heavily biased in favour of countries with strong singles skaters and weak pairs and ice dance teams (i.e., Japan), I would at least hope that they wouldn't get 7 points without even having an entry while other countries have to make up for singles skaters earning only 1 or 2 points.

[pinky166]

Are we sure Voronov wasn't offered WTT and just turned it down, hence the assignment of Kovtun? The situation might be as simple and unpolitical as that honestly..

[Skittl1321]

Reading that official document it doesn't seem like there has been any thought given to what happens when a country doesn't field a team in a discipline.

It does seem weird that the event is weighted so singles counts more than pairs and dance.