Japan closing borders due to Omicron--GPF canceled

[thvu]

I'm not talking qualified, I'm talking alternates. You can't be sure what skaters want. Someone like Morisi may want to go to GPF in April, as an example, but you can't convince "know it alls" so I'll leave it at that.

Surely you see the irony here.

 

[Carolla5501]

It’s gone. ISU will not want to hold this with the second tier skaters. And a lot of the leaders will probably not keep going after Olympics. Some of them will not even go to worlds as we’ve seen in the past. If they don’t go to worlds expecting to them hang around for this is really laughable.


And is it really Grand Prix final if a lot of the top qualifiers opt out? So let’s say the top three men get a medal in Olympics and decide they are done. And a couple of more like Jason or some others decide they’re done because it’s been a long career, it’s been fun, but you know the Olympics is kind of a capstone. maybe they’ll go to worlds and see if they can get a World medal because the top people are skipping but that’s probably all they want. I can easily see you’ve got a Grand Prix final where in a couple events you’re looking at skaters who finished way down the standings being the “next up”. Is that really a Grand Prix final?

 

[Frau Muller]

How many of the GPF-qualified skaters will be around in April? Heck, after an Olympics, many choose to not go to Worlds in March.

 

[SLIVER]

No one will give a rats ass about GPF in April. Or one day after the Olympics.

 

[skategal]

They should hold it at the end of the season if only to give the skaters the opportunity to earn the prize money.

Those earnings would be very helpful for up and coming teams if the bigger names don’t want to do it after Olympics and Worlds.

 

[quartz]

It would be nice if the top six skaters could at least get some of the prize money as a consolation, according to their points rankings earned during the Grand Prix events.

 

[clairecloutier]

I’m especially sad about this cancellation because the men’s event was looking so epic (even without Hanyu), and I was excited that Jason qualified. Also really wanted to see the changes to Nathan’s programs. ?

 

[Karen-W]

The only reason I can see it happening, even with a bunch of alternates on the senior level is for the JGPF qualifiers, some of whom might not qualify again.

 

[love_skate2011]

Rescheduling at end of the season, is also not feasible because some of these qualifiers will withdraw or will culminate their season after or before worlds.

 

[love_skate2011]

Why not Schedule end of December does
it conflict with alot of national competitions or Euros ?

 

[Firedancer]

I really don’t see the GPF being rescheduled. The season is already long and many of the top competitors won’t even go to worlds. I really wanted to see the changes to Nathan’s programs.

 

[Karen-W]

Why not Schedule end of December does
it conflict with alot of national competitions or Euros ?

1) Japan's current travel ban extends through the end of December.
2) RusNats and Japanese Nats are the week of 12/21-26, while US Nats & Sr Canadian Nats are the week of 1/6-9 - there is no way those 4 feds will agree to a GPF held the weekend after/before their respective Nationals.

 

[Karen-W]

I really don’t see the GPF being rescheduled. The season is already long and many of the top competitors won’t even go to worlds. I really wanted to see the changes to Nathan’s programs.

Agreed. No offense to Jimmy Ma or Eric Sjoberg but I kind of hope the USFS pulls one of them from Golden Spin and has Nathan go there instead. I don't think the Golden Spin organizers would object.

ETA - better yet, pull both and send Malinin and Chen along with Brown.

 

[giselle23]

There is no point in holding it at the end of the season. The Grand Prix is a build-up to Worlds and the Olympics. That is what makes it interesting. There is still Nationals and Europeans to provide input for the Russian team selection. The same for Japan, if they want to send their top skaters to Four Continents. As for the US, the GPF wasn't going to provide much input--and none for the ladies, since no US lady qualified.

 

[Coco]

Prize money is a good reason to hold it whenever they can. And at least in ladies, there will be 2 entrants who may not be at worlds or Olympics. That is probably the only discipline with that issue, except maybe one of the pairs. I haven't been paying close attention to that discipline.

 

[Karen-W]

There is no point in holding it at the end of the season. The Grand Prix is a build-up to Worlds and the Olympics. That is what makes it interesting. There is still Nationals and Europeans to provide input for the Russian team selection. The same for Japan, if they want to send their top skaters to Four Continents. As for the US, the GPF wasn't going to provide much input--and none for the ladies, since no US lady qualified.

Actually, it would have been another data point for both Brown and Malinin with regard to their international scores, and it would have given Thorngren another scoring event also. Both Malinin and Thorngren could have moved into Group 3 with good scores at the JGPF. It wouldn't have affected pairs or dance though, nor would it have impacted Chen/Zhou.

 

[zigzig]

Hold it on Zoom - they already use so many camera reviews anyway.

 

[Taso]

Honestly, I feel like holding it later in the season would be great for the JGP skaters, even if the GP skaters opted out.

 

[rfisher]

Honestly, I feel like holding it later in the season would be great for the JGP skaters, even if the GP skaters opted out.

I agree. It's the juniors who lose the most

 

[toddlj]

Agreed. No offense to Jimmy Ma or Eric Sjoberg but I kind of hope the USFS pulls one of them from Golden Spin and has Nathan go there instead. I don't think the Golden Spin organizers would object.

ETA - better yet, pull both and send Malinin and Chen along with Brown.

What about amending the rules to allow more than three from one country? They did it in the JGP for the Russian (and Korean, IIRC?) skaters.

 

[caseyedwards]

Overreact much

 

[mtnskater]

I’m personally bummed because the GPF is an important event, especially in an Olympic year. Was so looking forward to the men’s showdown in particular. Japan managed to successfully hold the Olympics while Delta was raging, so I don’t quite understand the shut down but that is their choice. Hopefully as others pointed out some of the skaters may be glad for the extra training time.

 

[mjb52]

Definitely agree it's worthwhile holding the JGPF at some point.

 

[4rkidz]

So sad for the skaters - can imagine this must be so frustrating for them. It's one thing for fans to be disappointed but for the skating teams their whole training schedules are really getting messed around. But we need to respect the individual countries that actually have safety policies in place, must not forget the bigger picture.

 

[Rob]

Prize money is a good reason to hold it whenever they can. And at least in ladies, there will be 2 entrants who may not be at worlds or Olympics. That is probably the only discipline with that issue, except maybe one of the pairs. I haven't been paying close attention to that discipline.

Agree and alternates can use the prize money just as much or more than the Top 6. If they call it the Grand Prix Final, its the Grand Prix Final. People have withdrawn before. Some of the qualifiers would go to get the prize money, the Olympic/Worlds winners might not but whatever. Could be the swan song for a few who are retiring but don't get a medal at the big events.

Better for them not to be traveling now and risk infection before their nationals or affecting training for the Olympics. Whether or not this is a knee-jerk reaction, it is Japan's to make. They just got through a nail biting Olympics during an upsurge and no-one needs another.

 

[Frau Muller]

Definitely agree it's worthwhile holding the JGPF at some point.

There’s Jr Worlds. Maybe have the JGPF qualifiers automatically entered to Jr Worlds (even though most would probably already be there). But we have the outside possibility of some, like Thorngren, being at both sr & jr worlds.

 

[Karen-W]

There’s Jr Worlds. Maybe have the JGPF qualifiers automatically entered to Jr Worlds (even though most would probably already be there). But we have the outside possibility of some, like Thorngren, being at both sr & jr worlds.

No way. Jr Worlds results determines the # of entrants a country has for the JGP the following season.

 

[Coco]

Is there a world team trophy after worlds this year?

 

[Sylvia]

Is there a world team trophy after worlds this year?

No but Russia may host a Channel One Cup with international skaters?

GSD thread:

Interview with Arutunian re. Chen, idea of Russia's Channel One Cup: "Arrange a jump tournament with men for the Tutberidze skaters."

In an interview with RIA Novosti correspondent Boris Khodorovsky, the coach of the reigning world champion Nathan Chen Rafael Arutyunyan spoke about the reasons for his student's defeat at the start of the Grand Prix series, about his plans for the Olympic season and the idea of holding a...

www.fsuniverse.net

 

[SLIVER]

Silver lining we won’t have to see Sinitsina/Katsalapov Rachmaninov Irish Riverdance one more time (or those RD shirts). Twice this year has been traumatic enough.