2022 Four Continents Comes To Rude Euro Land (Relocation to Tallinn)

[Spikefan]

Guys, the Olympics aren't getting postponed. But, if for some reason everything goes further toward hell in a handbasket in the next month then we're going to be staring down a situation where Euros and 4CCs will most definitely have also been canceled.

Definitely, does not matter what part of the world. If Omicron turns out to be horrible there is no part of the world that will be spared. I do not foresee that but I also never count anything out anymore.

 

[VGThuy]

Definitely, does not matter what part of the world. If Omicron turns out to be horrible there is no part of the world that will be spared. I do not foresee that but I also never count anything out anymore.

True. If Omicron turns out so bad that the Olympics are canceled, ain’t no way 4CC is happening either. Bye bye rest of the skating season and probably the Fall season of the next one too.

 

[Sylvia]

Estonian news article today The international skating competitions taking place in Tallinn in January received a special permit (Dec. 16, 2021):

Jaanuaris Tallinnas toimuvad rahvusvahelised uisuvõistlused said eriloa

Valitsus arvas 12.-16. jaanuarini 2022. aastal toimuvad Euroopa meistrivõistlused ja 19.-23. jaanuarini aset leidvad nelja kontinendi meistrivõistlused Tondiraba jäähallis ülekaaluka ühiskondliku mõjuga sündmusteks ja lubab üritustele igal võistluse päeval kuni 3000 pealtvaatajat.

sport.err.ee

Machine translation:

... The European Championships will take place from [12-16 January] ... The championships of the four continents will take place [20 to 23 January] in the ice rink of Tondiraba for events with an overwhelming social impact and will allow up to 3,000 spectators to the events on each day of the competition.

The events are organized by the Estonian Ice Skating Union. The ice rink in Tondiraba has a maximum of 5,840 stationary seats. Spectators are going to be split between the first and second levels and will not come into contact with competitors or organizers. Spectators are obliged to wear masks throughout the event and are not allowed to use trumpets, whistles, loudspeakers, etc.

35 countries have registered for the European Championships and 13 countries for the four continents. Both competitions take place just before the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The tops of their area are expected in Tallinn.

Live broadcasts of both competitions can be seen on ERR channels.

 

[Karen-W]

Estonian news article today The international skating competitions taking place in Tallinn in January received a special permit (Dec. 16, 2021):

Jaanuaris Tallinnas toimuvad rahvusvahelised uisuvõistlused said eriloa

Valitsus arvas 12.-16. jaanuarini 2022. aastal toimuvad Euroopa meistrivõistlused ja 19.-23. jaanuarini aset leidvad nelja kontinendi meistrivõistlused Tondiraba jäähallis ülekaaluka ühiskondliku mõjuga sündmusteks ja lubab üritustele igal võistluse päeval kuni 3000 pealtvaatajat.

sport.err.ee

Machine translation:

... The European Championships will take place from [12-16 January] ... The championships of the four continents will take place [20 to 23 January] in the ice rink of Tondiraba for events with an overwhelming social impact and will allow up to 3,000 spectators to the events on each day of the competition.

The events are organized by the Estonian Ice Skating Union. The ice rink in Tondiraba has a maximum of 5,840 stationary seats. Spectators are going to be split between the first and second levels and will not come into contact with competitors or organizers. Spectators are obliged to wear masks throughout the event and are not allowed to use trumpets, whistles, loudspeakers, etc.

35 countries have registered for the European Championships and 13 countries for the four continents. Both competitions take place just before the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The tops of their area are expected in Tallinn.

Live broadcasts of both competitions can be seen on ERR channels.

So, just over 50% spectator capacity. Not too shabby!

 

[aussieSKATES]

Ice Skating Australia announced their athletes going to the event earlier today. The fifteen-strong team will be the country's largest contingent ever in the history of the championship.

ICE DANCE
Holly Harris & Jason Chan
Chantelle Kerry & Andrew Dodds
India Nette & Eron Westwood

MEN'S SINGLES
Jordan Dodds
Brendan Kerry
James Min

PAIRS
Maria Chernyshova & Harley Windsor
Anastasia Golubeva & Hektor Giotopoulos Moore

WOMEN'S SINGLES
Victoria Alcantara
Kailani Craine

 

[aussieSKATES]

We forgot to add that the event is going to be used as qualification for Olympic & World Team selection as well.

 

[Karen-W]

Ice Skating Australia announced their athletes going to the event earlier today. The fifteen-strong team will be the country's largest contingent ever in the history of the championship.

ICE DANCE
Holly Harris & Jason Chan
Chantelle Kerry & Andrew Dodds
India Nette & Eron Westwood

MEN'S SINGLES
Jordan Dodds
Brendan Kerry
James Min

PAIRS
Maria Chernyshova & Harley Windsor
Anastasia Golubeva & Hektor Giotopoulos Moore

WOMEN'S SINGLES
Victoria Alcantara
Kailani Craine

That's just so awesome!

 

[bardtoob]

Such irony in the 4CC being held on a 5th continent.

 

[Japanfan]

A spokesperson for the National Hockey League (NHL) in Canada said on the news tonight that the Canadian hockey team might not attend.

 

[Colonel Green]

A spokesperson for the National Hockey League (NHL) in Canada said on the news tonight that the Canadian hockey team might not attend.

There will be a Canadian hockey team, it just isn’t (at this point) likely to include NHL players.

 

[PeterG]

A spokesperson for the National Hockey League (NHL) in Canada said on the news tonight that the Canadian hockey team might not attend.

The hockey players are not going to attend the figure skating competition?

 

[Sylvia]

I've posted about the NHL players in this thread in Other Sports:

2022 Winter Olympics status updates, news articles, etc.

My main purpose is creating this thread was in response to seeing this question posed in GSD: What measures have they put in place for Beijing 2022? I'm having a hard time finding any specific info online. (And preferably not to focus on the political aspects...) Excerpting the first part of...

www.fsuniverse.net

 

[seabm7]

A spokesperson for the National Hockey League (NHL) in Canada said on the news tonight that the Canadian hockey team might not attend.

I know this is not a hockey thread, but NHL players did not particpate in the 2018 Winter Olympics. For NHL, Winter Olympics complicates their logistictics and competition schedules, so the Game is not always welcome to them.

 

[MsZem]

The hockey players are not going to attend the figure skating competition?

They can't handle the toe pick.

 

[Karen-W]

I know this is not a hockey thread, but NHL players did not particpate in the 2018 Winter Olympics. For NHL, Winter Olympics complicates their logistictics and competition schedules, so the Game is not always welcome to them.

The NHL, IOC and Beijing organizers had worked it out and the intent was for the NHL players to compete for their countries in Beijing but these recent outbreaks are making it so that the NHL is having to cancel games for individual teams and there are challenges with quarantining the players long enough to be able to play in the Olympics. If it wasn't for Omnicron, we'd be seeing the NHL players at this WOG, but at this point, I doubt they will be able to go.

 

[Andrea82]

Entries are out

20 Men (3x USA, CAN, JPN, KOR, AUS + 2 KAZ + 1 Hong Kong, Mexico, South Africa)
21 Women (3 x USA, CAN, JPN, KOR + 2 AUS, MEX + 1 Philippines, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Taiwan)
8 Pairs (3 x USA, CAN + 2 AUS)
11 Ice Dance (3 x USA, CAN, AUS + 1 New Zealand, Japan)

https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00111022.htm

 

[tony]

No Chinese team, and still don’t know why Fukase/Cho are substitutes when they could just go outright.

 

[Frau Muller]

Slim pickings. Interesting that Korea is sending its top 3 ladies. More power to them.

 

[Andrea82]

Panels of judges drawn were

Men: AUS, CAN, CHN, JPN, KOR, MEX, RSA, USA, UZB
Alternates: GRE; ITA, BUL, RUS

Women: AUS, CAN, CHN, JPN, KAZ, KOR, MEX, NED, USA
Alternates: UKR, FIN, SRB, BUL

Pairs: AUS, CAN, CHN, FIN, ITA, JPN, KOR, SRB, USA
Alternates: AUT, BEL, CRO, NED

Ice Dance: AUS, AUT, CAN, CHN, ESP, FIN, KAZ, KOR, USA
Alternates: GEO, ITA, RUS; UKR

I would guess some alternates will be called.
Some countries (New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan) didn't enter the draw in first place in first place .
Seeing no Chinese athletes, China may not send their judges either.
Australia didn't use their drawn judges spot at 2021 Worlds but this season they had a judge at Nebelhorn, Finlandia Trophy, JGP Linz and bizarrely at Nice Trophy. However, in 3 of the 4 events, it was the same man.

 

[skatingguy]

Slim pickings. Interesting that Korea is sending its top 3 ladies. More power to them.

The Korean Skating Federation has some sort of quantity of quality thing that I don't understand.

 

[Sylvia]

South Korea holds a separate competition for 4CC (ranking competition earlier this month) and the top ISU senior age-eligible women were assigned (3th-5th place finishers are too young) - results/info here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/korean-skating-news-updates.104356/page-14#post-6134995

 

[kates8]

IF (big IF) the Olympics get postponed - and assuming 4CC takes place - it might be wise for those countries like Can and US who have not yet designated 4CC entries if they put their Olympic Team members as the subs so they could gain valuable points if Olympics gets postponed. There seems to be many Olympians attending Europeans since its held earlier than 4CC so they will have advantage on gaining standing points with their European placements.

 

[Karen-W]

IF (big IF) the Olympics get postponed - and assuming 4CC takes place - it might be wise for those countries like Can and US who have not yet designated 4CC entries if they put their Olympic Team members as the subs so they could gain valuable points if Olympics gets postponed. There seems to be many Olympians attending Europeans since its held earlier than 4CC so they will have advantage on gaining standing points with their European placements.

The Olympics aren't getting postponed. We are pretty much beyond the point of no return for that. Athletes will start traveling to Beijing as early as next week.

 

[Colonel Green]

IF (big IF) the Olympics get postponed - and assuming 4CC takes place - it might be wise for those countries like Can and US who have not yet designated 4CC entries if they put their Olympic Team members as the subs so they could gain valuable points if Olympics gets postponed. There seems to be many Olympians attending Europeans since its held earlier than 4CC so they will have advantage on gaining standing points with their European placements.

If the Olympics are postponed, 4CC and Euros are not happening.

 

[MacMadame]

Didn't we have this conversation just one page ago?

 

[Andrea82]

Australian Skatig Association's assignment page now have Golubeva/Moore and Kerry/Dodds crossed out 4CCs

2021-2022 International Assignment

docs.google.com

 

[aussieSKATES]

Australian Skatig Association's assignment page now have Golubeva/Moore and Kerry/Dodds crossed out 4CCs

2021-2022 International Assignment

docs.google.com

Such a shame. We were really looking forward to seeing both couples compete.

We hope neither team is injured or ill.

 

[misskarne]

Andrew posted a story a couple of weeks ago about getting out of isolation after having rona after their last comp in Europe, so maybe he hasn't fully recovered yet.

 

[Andrea82]

Panels of judges drawn were

Men: AUS, CAN, CHN, JPN, KOR, MEX, RSA, USA, UZB
Alternates: GRE; ITA, BUL, RUS

Women: AUS, CAN, CHN, JPN, KAZ, KOR, MEX, NED, USA
Alternates: UKR, FIN, SRB, BUL

Pairs: AUS, CAN, CHN, FIN, ITA, JPN, KOR, SRB, USA
Alternates: AUT, BEL, CRO, NED

Ice Dance: AUS, AUT, CAN, CHN, ESP, FIN, KAZ, KOR, USA
Alternates: GEO, ITA, RUS; UKR

I would guess some alternates will be called.

Technical Panel for Pairs is quite strange for an ISU Championship.

They are using the same Technical controller for Pairs and Men. It is unusual for ISU Championships (while being TC for more than one discipline is quite common in GPs, Challenger Series, B events) but there isn't anything in the rules against this.

What is more strange - if it is not a typo - is that they list Prins as assistant technical specialist

- Pairs - Short Program

www.isuresults.com

Technical specialists in ISU Championships should have the "ISU" qualification. Prins is an ISU Technical controller but he doesn't even have the "international" qualification as Technical Specialist. In the rules, there is a provision for international competitions which allows them to use a national technical specialist in exceptional circumstances. However, that rule is meant for B events ("For all other International Competitions...").
Moreover, in another rule, they say that Technical controllers shouldn't serve at technical specialists in the same season.
If this composition holds, I am not sure if there would be implications. There is no mention in the rules about this possibility. I guess they never thought they could have struggled in finding an ISU technical specialist for an ISU Championship.

 

[insideedgeua]

I don’t see an issue with Susan Lynch being Controller for both. She’s very well respected and pair is such a small event here, it’s not like sitting through 52 junior women somewhere.

I’m not sure on the rules aspect with Prins though.

My guess is they may be down a few people due to Covid. I know at least one coach is in isolation after testing positive on arrival. It’s conceivable that there may be judges or technical panellists in the same situation.