If they weren’t high enough to get two to begin with, they always used to assign one if they got selected to be replacement? But two? it seems like if you were high enough to get two, you would’ve gotten two. Would like to see more people on the circuit that were in the middle level tier.
No, not at all. I outlined what happened last season with the women, specifically, earlier this week - it was obvious the host feds were skipping over the higher ranked skaters, even ones who didn't have any GPs, in favor of lower-ranked ones. It is less obvious in ice dance because withdrawals rarely happen.
With the Men last season, Mark Gorodnitsky started off with one GP on the initial assignments list and never picked up a 2nd despite being SB 25 from 22-23, same with Max Naumov (SB 32) and Conrad Orzel (SB 33). Men who picked up 2nd assignments or 1st assignments instead were:
Kapeikis SB 36 (GP Espoo - there were 3 WDs from the initial list and I don't recall who replaced who) - 2nd assignment
Gogolev SB 38 (replaced Grassl at GPdF) - 2nd assignment
Shmuratko SB 41 (GP Espoo) - 1st assignment
Chiu SB 42 (replaced Grassl at NHK) - 2nd assignment
Starostin SB 45 (GP Espoo) - 1st assignment
I'd argue that it was extreme BS of the host feds to pass over Gorodnitsky, Naumov and Orzel in favor of guys who were anywhere from 10-20 spots lower on the SB list - especially 1st assignments.