I was doing a little reading and came across something interesting. It's long been assumed that Lucius Kazanecki does not have the tech minimums required for the Olympics and that he's missed his window to get them. But I think he actually already meets the requirements. I'm not saying he should be selected (I don't think he's ready), I'm just saying I think he has technically already satisfied the minimum technical requirements which means he's more or less already in the selection pool.
There's three documents at play that I could find.
ISU Communication No. 2732 which states that CTES must be obtained at senior-level events but that explicitly applies to ISU championship events, not the Olympic Games.
ISU "Road to Milano-Cortina 2026" website has no such senior-level stipulation, just that the score must be come from an ISU-recognized competition. The Euros/4CC CTES minimum score must be satisfied, but the source of the score is less restrictive by my reading. There is no senior stipulation. Emphasis mine, also I struck through a word I think does not belong and really confuses the paragraph.
I wish I could find a more official document rather than their informational website, but I cant seem to find an "ISU Communication" style document for the Olympic games, just this website which suggests to me that he has indeed met the requirements.
ISU Communication No. 2754 regarding the Olympic Games re-iterates the minimum scores but not the source of those scores. That is a communication/clarification on the Team Event, I wish I could find a similar one for Singles but haven't been able to. That document makes zero mention of the word "senior", I don't think the Winter Olympic Games cares about such distinctions, just the scores and ages of the skaters. The aforementioned web page for the Games also never uses the word "senior" anywhere.
Again, I'm not saying that he should be sent. I'm just saying that I think he has met tech minimums and is fully eligible to be sent. And remember, even though JGPF gave him a huge boost in the selection pool criteria, that only qualifies him for consideration and that score doesn't represent a ranking that must be followed in their final selection. The top 5 using those numbers get into the selection pool, along with other inclusion criteria (I think top 5 nats and top 24 ISU season rankings). If he continues his run of good luck and somehow absolutely crushes it at nats, well, that's just going to make their decision and the fan arguments a lot more exciting.
Lastly, this interpretation also opens the door for Patrick Blackwell. Though, his going to Jr Nats muddies the waters as he's not in direct head-to-head competition with the other Olympic hopefuls. I do think he has a higher scoring potential than Lucius (and other seniors if he lands a 4S at nats), but, he has real consistency problems. But the Olympics aren't about consistency, it's the about shooting for medals and national glory and his higher tech ceiling goes a long way, even if consistency decreases his probability of medaling.
Thus concludes my Ted Talk. I know I'm somewhat of a newcomer to figure skating fandom, but I'm pretty good at parsing rules and my reading of what is publicly available suggests that they're fully eligible.
You might think I actually want this to happen, but honestly nothing would make me happier than sending Max and making his parents proud.
May the best man win.
