2019-20 GP Selection (19-20 June)

stjeaskategym

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1,397
I wish ISU would step in and reassign their ENTIRE roster for Ice Dance and for Pairs.

Rostelecom pairs is even more frustrating. They have only 2 teams they picked that have ever stood on a GP podium (and they are Russian, imagine that).. fast forward to the next week in Japan and all the teams but one have stood on GP podiums.

I agree it's frustrating that the GP fields can end up so lopsided. It's too much of a free-for-all in terms of who gets assigned where. The ISU should have full control of assignments (aside from host picks) and should make the fields as competitively even as possible based on Season's Best scores, etc.

Teams may end up with GP medals (and GP Final berths) based on who gets the easiest assignments moreso than who the best teams are, which is unfortunate and hurts the legitimacy of the series. The NHK pairs field is a World Championship quality field, not a GP one. It shouldn't be possible to have 4 of the top 8 from Worlds (including 2 of the top 3 in the world last season) in the same field.
 
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Willin

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2,598
@Jammers Somehow I don't think the ISU will care... they don't care about sketchy judging favoring Russian skaters that much. Yes, all countries get judging "favors" in certain disciplines, but I've never seen any as marked and covering as many disciplines as Russia's "favors." The ladies PCS is egregious, but can be excused as skaters from other countries also have egregiously bad PCS scoring at times. The men are generally judged with inflation along the lines of what we see for competitors of other countries. But examples #1 and 2 is looking at the crazy scoring jumps for their dance teams (to a lesser extent the pairs teams) from the 2017-2018 season to last season, and the synchro team scoring/rank jump around the time synchro started being seriously considered for the olympics. The ISU lets countries mess around with politicking without consequence and Russia's no exception, or perhaps Russia is the rule.

Why Ting? I am sorry I know she's loved on here, but I have never seen the "outstanding" skating everyone claims. Chen's a former US champion she probably deserves the spot and might sell a few tickets!
To be fair, Ting is also younger than Karen. I think she's about where Karen was when she first moved up to the Senior ranks. Also why anger when both Ting and Karen have two spots - if Ting took Karen's spots I'd sort of get it, but she didn't. To me I'm more excited about Ting for the future, if only because she's a lot more drama-free and she's been able to compete in what was a much more brutal Junior ladies field than Karen competed in. If Karen can get consistent and drama free I'll be a lot more excited to see her skate than Ting due to her performance quality, but until then I'm picking the more consistent skater.
 

Dobre

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Three back to backs for top dance teams - HD, CB, SK - I get maybe SA and SC with both being out west Cda/US, but there's a lot of travel and time zone changes for CB and SK with a week turnaround.

S&K probably didn't want to cross the ocean in order to compete at Skate Canada. I don't find this that surprising. (They got out with their GPF bid in tact last season. Why press their luck?)

H&D didn't have a choice and when they did last season, they were all for not crossing the ocean also.

C&B couldn't go to SA or SC. Russia probably didn't want to invite them, and Stepanova & Bukin likely had priority for NHK.
 

Dobre

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I’m not clear who you think is being protected there. Other than Sinitsina/Katsalapov, the other Russian teams that are assigned or will be assigned are third-stringers. The Polish and Spanish teams both rank decidedly ahead.

Skoptcova & Aleshin finished ahead of Kaliszek & Spodyriev at Tallinn Trophy this season.

We could maybe have a battle for the host spot. Based on Nationals, Popova & Mozgov are the most likely to get the host berth. We won't bet on that, but I'll use them as an example for the moment. They had a bad season this year, but they defeated McNamara & Carpenter at Warsaw Cup two years ago. McNamara & Carpenter defeated both Hurtado & Khaliavin and Kaliszek & Spodyriev this past season.

Chock/Bates could have gone to SkAm if they wanted to.

USFSA could have invited Chock & Bates to SkAm if they wanted. These two things are not necessarily the same.
 

kwanfan1818

RIP D-10
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I believe the rule is that a split team member (Michael Parsons) can carry their GP eligibility to their new team? The Parsons were guaranteed 1 GP based on their SB last season, so Green/Parsons got 1 GP. And I would expect them to get 2, with the host spot at SA.
According to the Announcement, they have to have placed 7-12 at an ISU World Championship last season or the season before to qualify.

Now if they mean by "an ISU Worlds, they mean Jr. Or senior, that would cover Green/Parsons, but not the Chinese team last season.

But as far as the rules go, it's not clear that such teams can qualify for the GP.
It's clear both Green/Parsons and the Chinese team last season don't qualify by any reasonable interpretation of what's written, but what's written is clearly not what's being done.
 

Dobre

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Now if they mean by "an ISU Worlds, they mean Jr. Or senior, that would cover Green/Parsons, but not the Chinese team last season.

Not the 7-12th part, you mean?

Gao & Xie were 4th at Junior Worlds in 2018. So if Junior Worlds placement was relevant, it could have been taken into account. The theory from someone above that athletes with scores/results high enough to earn GP berths with a former partner for the current season are being given consideration as split teams seems the most likely.
 

mjb52

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5,995
Shevchenko/Eremenko at Skate America and then not again until NHK is interesting. It's a big gap, I'll be curious to see how that works out with making their senior debut then a lot of time until they compete again (at least on the GP series, I guess there are so many other small competitions that are an option too if desired).
 

Carolla5501

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@Jammers


To be fair, Ting is also younger than Karen. I think she's about where Karen was when she first moved up to the Senior ranks. Also why anger when both Ting and Karen have two spots - if Ting took Karen's spots I'd sort of get it, but she didn't. To me I'm more excited about Ting for the future, if only because she's a lot more drama-free and she's been able to compete in what was a much more brutal Junior ladies field than Karen competed in. If Karen can get consistent and drama free I'll be a lot more excited to see her skate than Ting due to her performance quality, but until then I'm picking the more consistent skater.


I think it's great that Ting got 2 spots. The earlier post was complaining that she should have SA over Karen, but... I don't see the reason. SA needs to sell tickets. Karen is a past national champion (who even wrote a kids book!) Ting is an up and coming skater. I expect that at least some of the decision was driven by ticket sales. After all if you look at the seating charts... there are LOTS and LOTS of empty seats right now.
 

AngieNikodinovLove

Frangi & Piazza & Paul & Hektor & Theo. Oh My! 😝
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I fully expected Ting to get 2 GP spots I was just thinking hoping and then thinking again SkAm would be one of them. She is a hot up and commer. (sp? lol)

If Karen is still allowed 2 I think then the opposite..I think she should not be used as a host spot... she withdrew from everything last year and the year before that she didnt do much including if you ask me including getting a controversial Oly spot.

Its great she gets to have 2 but I think she should have to go out into the series to show what she's got.

After being absent for so long I think non-host spots should be enough. She is guaranteed 2 anyway so lets see if we could get Starr another or one for Megan or Amber..... Spread the wealth!

A junior World medalist is worth taking a bet on.... Karen...dunno.
 

CaliSteve

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1,114
I fully expected Ting to get 2 GP spots I was just thinking hoping and then thinking again SkAm would be one of them. She is a hot up and commer. (sp? lol)

If Karen is still allowed 2 I think then the opposite..I think she should not be used as a host spot... she withdrew from everything last year and the year before that she didnt do much including if you ask me including getting a controversial Oly spot.

Its great she gets to have 2 but I think she should have to go out into the series to show what she's got.

After being absent for so long I think non-host spots should be enough. She is guaranteed 2 anyway so lets see if we could get Starr another or one for Megan or Amber..... Spread the wealth!

A junior World medalist is worth taking a bet on.... Karen...dunno.

It just seems Karen (and team) are disorganized and can't get it together. There is always something going on with her injuries, boot issues, and other random excuses. Its disappointing that she dropped out of her GP assignments at the last minute and then goes to a B unprepared or injured. That was two GP spots that could have gone to someone else and USFSA resources that went towards her expenses to the B competition.
 

CaliSteve

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1,114
None of this is documented anywhere, and there are two theories about which selection is first.

Interesting. I always thought that seated skaters (and their Feds) get priority. Then again I thought that medalist had to compete at their home GP, but Alina is not so.....
 

Dobre

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16,954
I thought seeding is prioritized over host picks.

I think the evidence says the reverse. Hanyu is going to NHK, isn't he? (Though rumor said it fit Nathan's schedule better than France). Satoko went over Higuchi last season, though Higuchi was seeded higher.
 

Wyliefan

Ubering juniors against my will
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Happy tears? I hope so. That seems to be how people are taking it, anyway.
 

Jarrett

Go Mirai!
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After being absent for so long I think non-host spots should be enough. She is guaranteed 2 anyway so lets see if we could get Starr another or one for Megan or Amber..... Spread the wealth!
She wasn't guaranteed 2. She was eligible to receive 2 assignments. Starr, Megan and Amber are in no better position than Karen. Let's be honest pickings are slim.
 

AngieNikodinovLove

Frangi & Piazza & Paul & Hektor & Theo. Oh My! 😝
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^^^ yeah but c'mon Karen was gonna get 2... no reason for SkAm to go all in. At least leave them both TBD so the skaters can be serious and get to work if they truly want an invite.
 

Lanie

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Aw, bummer, I was hoping Med would be at Skate America! The rest of the roster looks great, though. I'm looking forward to SkAm.

I'm surprised Karen is still competing? For some reason I thought she was taking a longer break.
 

CaliSteve

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I think the evidence says the reverse. Hanyu is going to NHK, isn't he? (Though rumor said it fit Nathan's schedule better than France). Satoko went over Higuchi last season, though Higuchi was seeded higher.


Before today, I thought seeded skaters get priority, medalist don't compete against each other and get assigned to their home GP, if applicable. So Hanyu getting NHK makes sense. I thought Higuchi WD her GP assignments due to injury last year.
 

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