2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics - Figure Skating Qualification

Andrea82 said:
Skate Canada announced their nominations

Men panel: Leanna Caron. Already judged Ice Dance at 2018 Olympics.
Pair panel: Karen Howard. Judged Women at 2014 Olympics
Ice Dance panel: Leslie Keen. Olympic debut.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1187186583456142&set=a.623460849828721

Skate Canada have quite a number of their judges officiating at more than 1 Olympic edition.
USFSA, on the other hand, tends to spread the Olympic judging assignments between more people (we will see if they continue like this this year), with judges usually serving only in 1 Olympic.
Click to expand...


According the minutes of October USFSA board meeting, USA juges will be:
Janis Engel, Kristina Lundgren, Peggy Graham, and Kevin Rosenstein
https://usfigureskating.org/documents/2025/12/4/BOD_Minutes_2025_10_13_FINAL.pdf (paragraph Milano planning)

Engel is the Ide Dance one.
The document indicates that Rosenstein will also serve in the Team Event. So it is the Women panel judge (USA team event judge is the USA Women panel judge according to the draw results).

Lundgren (Women) and Graham (Pairs) also officiated in Beijing 2022 games.
Interestently, it is the first times in ages since USA judges served in back to back Games (apart when they were referees or technical controllers nominated by ISU). To get an American judge who served as judge twice at Olympics, I have to go back to Elaine DeMore (1992 and 1984).
 
Andrea82 said:
To get an American judge who served as judge twice at Olympics, I have to go back to Elaine DeMore (1992 and 1984).
Click to expand...
DeMore judged in 1994 (pairs) and 1984 (dance)

The most recent to do two is Lucy Brennan (2002 and 1988)

Ramona McIntyre judged back-to-back Olympics in the same discipline (men)

Janet Allen Carpenter and Yvonne Sherman competed at one Olympics and judged two Olympics for a total of three. Of note, Yvonne competed in both singles and pairs at the same Olympics and judged two events at one of her Olympics as a judge; 11 Olympic segments as a competitor and official must be the American record. (Competed in ladies' figures and free, pairs free; judged pairs short and free, men's figures, free, ladies' figures, short, free)

Mary Louise Wright and Hugh Graham both judged two. Hugh's sister Margaret Anne Wier judged the Olympics after she was an alternate judge (under 6.0, the alternate judge judged alongside the panel during the event and stepped in if a panel judge was unable to finish a segment for any reason) which is essentially judging back-to-back Olympics. (Also of note: Peggy Graham (2022 and 2026) is the daughter of Hugh Graham. Lorrie Parker (2018) is the daughter of Margaret Anne (Graham) Wier, later Margaret Anne Holt)

Elaine DeMore and Mary Louise Wright each judged one Olympics as a dance judge and one as a singles/pairs judge. Very few officials hold ISU-level appointments in both S/P and ice dance, and to judge Olympics across the two disciplines is rare.

There may be others I'm forgetting.
 
Re Switzerland decision on Kaiser
The timeline is

20th January: Swiss Skating Federation should send the Swiss Olympic Committee their proposed selection.
The Skating Fed selection committee is composed by Richard Leroy, Sandor Galambos and Roland Mader.

22th January: Swiss Olympic Commitee makes their final decision. The Swiss Olympic Committee selection committee is made by
Ruth Metzler-Arnold (Présidente Swiss Olympic), Ralph Stöckli (Chef de Mission), Mario Gyr (Swiss Olympic Executive Committee member), Matthias Kyburz (Swiss Olympic exécutive commette member, representatives on the Athletes Commission).
 
Next deadline is on Monday

January 12, 2026: Entry by Name in ORS (ISU Online Registration System) must be made by all NOCs/ISU Members which have been allocated an entry to the OWG, including those with remaining stand-by entries, no later than January 12, 2026. In the case that not all NOCs use their full quota of entries and the available entries are reallocated to NOC with remaining stand-by entries, the
NOCs receiving these reallocated entries will be informed by the ISU Office by latest January 25, 2026. These entries do not replace the entries as indicated below [the below refers to Milano-Cortina 2026 Entry by Name set for 26th January].

Let's see if Uzbekistan will finally forfait their Pair spot..
 
This was such great news on a Friday, this really made my day :love:

I´m so happy the waiting time is over for them and they also got the news and confirmation before Euros next week so they don´t need the uncertainty and a lot of questions about citizenship there.
 
I´m reading the press release on the Team Sweden Olympic site and they also got the promising athlete exception like Andreas - "Framtidskriteriet" - based on that they are a new ice dance team that they think will develop.

So Nikolaj Majorov I believe is the first skater that has gotten in twice - so the different discipline thing has something to say.
 
skateblessing said:
I´m reading the press release on the Team Sweden Olympic site and they also got the promising athlete exception like Andreas - "Framtidskriteriet" - based on that they are a new ice dance team that they think will develop.

So Nikolaj Majorov I believe is the first skater that has gotten in twice - so the different discipline thing has something to say.
Click to expand...
Skateblessing, are you Swedish? If so, I’m curious if you think the citizenship worked out so easily because she’s Norwegian. Or would they have done it for anyone in similar circumstances?
 
Absolutely wonderful news. I am so happy for them. I hope they skate lights out in Milano.

Also hoping that Kaiser gets the nod. She had to overcome a lot of adversity to earn that Olympic spot last year. And her “I”ll always love you” short programme is cheesy but heartfelt and beautiful :D
 
PRlady said:
Skateblessing, are you Swedish? If so, I’m curious if you think the citizenship worked out so easily because she’s Norwegian. Or would they have done it for anyone in similar circumstances?
Click to expand...
I´m Norwegian, but I have been trying to catch up on as much information as possible about how the process is. Nordic citizens has the shortest outcomes from all applications with average of about 2 months for 75% of the applications according to information on Migrationsverkets site. Which is a lot shorter then the average of 37 months for adults without any such connection (this is the longest waiting time for the average of 75%). So the Nordic citizen part is making a lot of difference. After the Nordic citizens, applicants from the age of 18-21 get some sort of priority, but this is longer then Nordic citizens. She is 20 so maybe the combination of both pushed her abit ahead of the applicants.

Formally they have said that she filed the application on December 1 because of the residency requirements of 2 years (she lived 2 years in Sweden in December), so it was the quickest she could formally apply or be considered. Which would mean on average she would get her citizenship by around February 1. That would mean that the timeline was awfully tight. But also todays article says she started the process already in March and they had made sure that everything was right. When they first looked at her application, it was pretty straightforward. She doesn´t have any family either, she is filing for herself, got work, has a biometric Norwegian passport - so it was going to be very quick the minute they looked at her application.

It´s hard to know if the nature of her application being so easy and straightforward is the reason she got it so quick, or if they actually made a priority on her. It took a little over a month and the average is around 2 months, but the other Nordic citizens that are applying - we don´t know if their cases is more complex - maybe they are applying for whole family, don´t have their paperwork right and must ask for more information, and that is why it´s taking two months for most others Nordic citizens. I don´t think it´s completely unheard of that she got it so quick with the average time of 2 months, and that is the overage of 75%, we don´t know if the other 25% are usually quicker or slower - I guess it´s a good mix depending on the individual cases. But I wouldn´t rule out that they put in a letter at her application to consider making her a priority because of Olympics and that might have helped a little, but that is about it of what I think the Fed could have done - I don´t think they had much power in such process to lobby - if Milla hadn´t been a Nordic citizen it´s unlikely she would have gotten her citizenship so quick.
 
Last edited:
Anyways - her new passport is probably in the making now, she might need an emergency passport going into Euros next week if she hasn´t got it back before they travel - but normally that shouldn´t be an issue getting an emergency passport when the reason is that a new one is the making.

Edit: If she has a dual citizenship - I think that is allowed, she might not need to hand in her Norwegian passport in the process.
 
Andrea82 said:
Re Switzerland decision on Kaiser
The timeline is

20th January: Swiss Skating Federation should send the Swiss Olympic Committee their proposed selection.
The Skating Fed selection committee is composed by Richard Leroy, Sandor Galambos and Roland Mader.

22th January: Swiss Olympic Commitee makes their final decision. The Swiss Olympic Committee selection committee is made by
Ruth Metzler-Arnold (Présidente Swiss Olympic), Ralph Stöckli (Chef de Mission), Mario Gyr (Swiss Olympic Executive Committee member), Matthias Kyburz (Swiss Olympic exécutive commette member, representatives on the Athletes Commission).
Click to expand...
So if Swiss Olympic Comittee doesn´t give Kaiser the spot, the next in line would only have a working day (the 23rd) to figure out if their Olympic Committee will send them since the deadline is Monday the 26th - I don´t know if this is normal or not, but i´m wondering if this has happen before and then it was too late for the sub to get things sorted out and basically Olympic will be with one skater less.
 
skateblessing said:
So if Swiss Olympic Comittee doesn´t give Kaiser the spot, the next in line would only have a working day (the 23rd) to figure out if their Olympic Committee will send them since the deadline is Monday the 26th - I don´t know if this is normal or not, but i´m wondering if this has happen before and then it was too late for the sub to get things sorted out and basically Olympic will be with one skater less.
Click to expand...
Well, chances are good that there's been a "what-if" discussion already for the fed & NOC of the first alternate.
 
skateblessing said:
So if Swiss Olympic Comittee doesn´t give Kaiser the spot, the next in line would only have a working day (the 23rd) to figure out if their Olympic Committee will send them since the deadline is Monday the 26th - I don´t know if this is normal or not, but i´m wondering if this has happen before and then it was too late for the sub to get things sorted out and basically Olympic will be with one skater less.
Click to expand...
Typically, the federation instructs alternates to prepare as if they have been selected. Most do, especially if the nominee has a history of injury.
 
The question here though isn’t alternate readiness, but bureaucrat readiness. Even NOC’s that accept Federation nominees with no additional requirements or where the NOC’s requirements are clearly met need the NOC to submit the skater’s name as an entry. And if they need to make an actual decision, they need everyone involved to convene, based on their selection procedure.
 
Our US Ladies have put the world on notice for the Olympics! Yes, I know, scores are often inflated for national championships. But what a display of talent and skill! The top 3 ladies were so exciting to watch, even if from my chair at home in front of a tv. 3 standing ovations!
 
And the Team USA Announcement -
Karen-W said:
Press Release announcing the Olympic team and alternates -

usfigureskating.org

U.S. Figure Skating Nominates 16 Athletes to 2026 U.S. Olympic Team - U.S. Figure Skating

U.S. Figure Skating today announced the 16 skaters nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
usfigureskating.org usfigureskating.org

Women - Amber Glenn, Isabeau Levito, Alysa Liu
1st Alternate - Bradie Tennell, 2nd Alternate - Sarah Everhardt, 3rd Alternate - Starr Andrews

Men - Ilia Malinin, Maxim Naumov, Andrew Torgashev
1st Alternate - Jason Brown, 2nd Alternate - Tomoki Hiwatashi, 3rd Alternate - Jacob Sanchez

Pairs - Emily Chan/Spencer Akira Howe, Ellie Kam/Danny O'Shea
1st Alternate - Audrey Shin/Balazs Nagy, 2nd Alternate - Valentina Plazas/Maximiliano Fernandez, 3rd Alternate - Chelsea Liu/Ryan Bedard

Ice Dance - Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko, Madison Chock/Evan Bates, Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik
1st Alternate - Caroline Green/Michael Parsons, 2nd Alternate - Emily Bratti/Ian Somerville, 3rd Alternate - Oona Brown/Gage Brown

ETA - I really hate this revamped website from the USFS where they don't have a landing page that has all the press releases like they used to.
Click to expand...
 
Seems like Seniuks passport situation might resolve in last minute. On Wednesday the cabinet voted 16-9 that the prime minister would be handed over the authorities temporary to sign those documents that are needed, as there still is no interior minister. After he has signed, the passport will need to be printed and athletes will have to pick them up. Article is here.

So all in all - they have about a week to get all this done, which seems awfully tight but probably doable when it´s a priority. I imagine Seniuk must have travelled directly to pick up her passport after Euros. I noticed that she didn´t do any mixed zones interviews at Euros and wonder if it´s because of this situation.
 
Fedir Kulish has officially been confirmed for Latvia's 2nd men's spot in Milano-Cortina!

www.instagram.com

Kristal Ice on Instagram: "WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE MILANO KORTINA WINTER OLIMPIC GAMES 2026 OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED Thank You for all the people who supports us ! Special Thanks for super support for Prizma & Volvo Ice rink , especially for Paul

181 likes, 19 comments - kristal_ice_lv on January 20, 2026: "WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE MILANO KORTINA WINTER OLIMPIC GAMES 2026 OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED Thank You for all the people who supports us ! Special Thanks for super support for Prizma & Volvo Ice rink , especially for Paulis & Miks...
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
Andrea82 said:
Olivia Smart will be one of the Spanish flag bearers at the opening ceremony.
Click to expand...
Link to the press release: https://www.coe.es/noticias/detalle...uipo-olimpico-espanol-en-milano-cortina-2026/
I posted Olivia's TikToks here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/olivia-smart-youtube.113246/#post-6875728
ETA link to her video on Insta today:
www.instagram.com

Olivia Sophie Smart on Instagram: "It’s happening!!!!!!! 🤩🇪🇸 Not only am I leaving for my second Olympic Games in just under 2 weeks… I’m also one of Spains Flag bearers for the opening ceremony!!!!! Am I dreaming!!! I cannot wait to lead Team Spain

oliviasmartx on January 21, 2026: "It’s happening!!!!!!! 🤩🇪🇸 Not only am I leaving for my second Olympic Games in just under 2 weeks… I’m also one of Spains Flag bearers for the opening ceremony!!!!! Am I dreaming!!! I cannot wait to lead Team Spain into the start of the Winter Olympic Games in...
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com

Team Italy officially was confirmed yesterday (Jan. 20):

Italian national teams for the five ice sports confirmed: 87 Azzurri ready for the Milano Cortina Olympic Games

Italian National Olympic Committee News
www.coni.it www.coni.it
FIGURE SKATING (9)
Men (5): Daniel Grassl, Matteo Rizzo, Niccolò Macii, Filippo Ambrosini, Marco Fabbri
Women (4): Lara Naki Gutmann, Sara Conti, Rebecca Ghilardi, Charlène Guignard
 
Last edited:
With the confirmation of Kaiser, here's what we're waiting to hear officially -

Estonia's man - should be Aleksandr Selevko, but haven't seen an official announcement yet
Israel's woman - waiting on confirmation that Seniuk has received her passport & has been named by the Israeli OC to the team
Uzbekistan pairs - waiting for official relinquishment & reallocation to France, which will then allow Poland to send a dance team for the Team Event
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

  • ... and 2 more.
    • Total: 18 (members: 8, guests: 10)

    Similar threads

    E
    Milano 2026 ticket prices revealed
    8 9 10
    Replies
    277
    Views
    55K
    Plusdinfo
    P
    Sylvia
    Russian Skaters Allowed to Compete as Neutrals (AIN) to Qualify for 2026 Winter Olympics
    19 20 21
    Replies
    618
    Views
    123K
    Vagabond
    Vagabond
    Sylvia
    2026 Art on Ice in Switzerland + other shows/tours in Europe
    Replies
    1
    Views
    761
    Sylvia
    Sylvia
    Sk8swan
    2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Mascottes revealed
    2
    Replies
    37
    Views
    7K
    Vagabond
    Vagabond
    Sylvia
    Interesting "facts" re. figure skating before/during the 2026 Olympics
    Replies
    6
    Views
    866
    AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)
    AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)
    Back
    Top
    Do Not Sell My Personal Information