2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics - Figure Skating Qualification

[olympic]

Hello all,

Q - Not related to the team event, which men, women and teams have qualified to Milano? I have an idea, but wasn't 100% sure

ETA - NM. AI gave me the info.

 

[Karen-W]

Hello all,

Q - Not related to the team event, which men, women and teams have qualified to Milano? I have an idea, but wasn't 100% sure

All of the countries who are qualified are listed in this post:

Post in thread '2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics - Figure Skating Qualification'

Sep 21, 2025

Well, the men certainly made it interesting - and very straightforward - for the Team Event.

First things first - the Olympic Winter Games draw for the 4 judges' panels will take place sometime today. We'll need to keep an eye on the ISU Communications page for the formal announcement of which countries were selected for each of the disciplines.

As @Andrea82 noted for Pairs - there are exactly 13 countries with ISU Championship/Olympic level judges qualified for Milano-Cortina. Presumably, all of those countries have entered a judge and there will not be a draw.

Countries...

• Karen-W

• 

 

[zigzig]

I so despise rules like this.

Agreed - so much additional stress and pressure in the name of bean counting.

Also, don't get why Sweden is such a grinch about giving their athletes an Olympic experience. Bleh.

 

[farahfan]

Agreed - so much additional stress and pressure in the name of bean counting.

Also, don't get why Sweden is such a grinch about giving their athletes an Olympic experience. Bleh.

Idk I'm not stressing about Dani/Tsiba. I'm pretty confident they'll meet the quota in a competition this fall.

 

[Karen-W]

Idk I'm not stressing about Dani/Tsiba. I'm pretty confident they'll meet the quota in a competition this fall.

Yup - they're entered in Nebelhorn next weekend and Trialeti Trophy in 3 weeks, on top of their NHK assignment. I'm sure they'll get the job done at one of those competitions. They usually sort things out by November every season.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Danilova/Tsiba’s PB 178.X was at a GP, NHK, not at a championship where scores tend to rise. It may take a couple of tries — they have one GP, NHK again, and are 6th on the Alt List — but they have a very good chance if they are healthy.

Where is Mordovian Ornament for Pairs when you need it?

 

[Karen-W]

Danilova/Tsiba’s PB 178.X was at a GP, NHK, not at a championship where scores tend to rise. It may take a couple of tries — they have one GP, NHK again, and are 6th on the Alt List — but they have a very good chance if they are healthy.

Where is Mordovian Ornament for Pairs when you need it?

Well, there is Tayside Trophy! And iceChallenge is back again this season.

 

[Andrea82]

IIRC Van Zundert didn't get the score required by Dutch Olympic Committee last time but she was sent anyway.

Switzerland also have a score to reach at least once between January 2025 and 18 January 2026. Should be achieved in certain competitions (of what it is left: GPs, Challengers, Europeans...and Nationals)
For women it is 185 points which has not been met yet by Kaiser (she did it in the past).

 

[Coco]

I'm not wishing ill on anyone, but from here on out, what happens if a country can't use one of their spots?

Do the results of this Chinese Nebelhorn matter in terms of alternates?

 

[Karen-W]

I'm not wishing ill on anyone, but from here on out, what happens if a country can't use one of their spots?

Do the results of this Chinese Nebelhorn matter in terms of alternates?

Yes, with a caveat that unused spots are reallocated to NOCs not yet qualified and not yet REPRESENTED. So, any country that was going for a 2nd or 3rd additional spot is not eligible for one of the unused spots when they're reallocated.

IIRC Van Zundert didn't get the score required by Dutch Olympic Committee last time but she was sent anyway.

Switzerland also have a score to reach at least once between January 2025 and 18 January 2026. Should be achieved in certain competitions (of what it is left: GPs, Challengers, Europeans...and Nationals)
For women it is 185 points which has not been met yet by Kaiser (she did it in the past).

Thanks - I'll edit my post above and include that information about the 2nd SUI spot.

 

[farahfan]

Danilova/Tsiba’s PB 178.X was at a GP, NHK, not at a championship where scores tend to rise. It may take a couple of tries — they have one GP, NHK again, and are 6th on the Alt List — but they have a very good chance if they are healthy.

Where is Mordovian Ornament for Pairs when you need it?

Yes, currently they are healthy and in a good training environment, so I think that for all practical predictions they'll make the quota. Like Karen said, they tend to need warm-up time and don't start the season with a bang.

 

[Andrea82]

Yes, with a caveat that unused spots are reallocated to NOCs not yet qualified and not yet REPRESENTED. So, any country that was going for a 2nd or 3rd additional spot is not eligible for one of the unused spots when they're reallocated.


Thanks - I'll edit my post above and include that information about the 2nd SUI spot.

That is the Swiss document

https://www.swissiceskating.ch/1_kunstlauf/4_leistungssport/3_dokumente/concept-de-slection-eiskunstlauf.pdf

Britschgi and Repond have already achieved the required scores.

 

[Karen-W]

FYI - I've created a Google Sheets doc to track the Olympic Qualifying spots and Team Event qualification points. If either GER or CZE do wind up with spots in at least 3 disciplines they would knock POL out of the TE, so I have them listed below the 10 countries who are already qualified in 3 or 4 disciplines.

Olympic Team Event

docs.google.com

 

[barbk]

What happens to spots that become vacant going forward from countries that qualified but that no longer have athletes that qualify (injury, nationality, break up, NOC won't nominate,...)?

 

[Karen-W]

What happens to spots that become vacant going forward from countries that qualified but that no longer have athletes that qualify (injury, nationality, break up, NOC won't nominate,...)?

They are filled by going down the results list of the Skate To Milano competition, minus the countries which were trying for a 2nd or 3rd additional spot.

Full list of Alternates:
Men - MON, CZE, GER, ISR, ARM, HUN, CRO, AUT, AIN BLR*, AUS, GBR, HKG, TUR, FIN, PHI, MAS, IRL*, ECU*, POR*
Women - CYP, NOR, SWE, NZL, MEX*, AZE, SVK, SLO, RSA, MDA, HKG, MAS*, CZE, SRB, PHI*, ARG*, NED, AUS*, GRE*
Pairs - FRA, UKR, CZE, ISL, AUT, PRK, PHI
Dance - SWE, HUN, JPN, IRL, ISR, CYP, UKR, POL, KAZ, NED, AZE, ARM, MEX
* = no skaters have the Olympic CTES mins currently; I've crossed out AIN BLR from the Alternates because this was his only int'l competition, so he won't be able to earn the CTES min later - deadline to earn the Olympic CTES mins is Jan 26, 2026

 

[DE93]

I'm still catching up on the thread, so I apologize if someone has mentioned this, but from my understanding, Jason Chan does have AUS citizenship already.

 

[Karen-W]

I'm still catching up on the thread, so I apologize if someone has mentioned this, but from my understanding, Jason Chan does have AUS citizenship already.

Fabulous news! So great to hear they're definitely going to the Olympics!

 

[Vagabond]

Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN - International Skating Union

Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN - International Skating Union

www.isu-skating.com

According to the ISU, Jason Chan obtained Australian citizenship in 2022.

 

[Andrea82]

Well, the men certainly made it interesting - and very straightforward - for the Team Event.

First things first - the Olympic Winter Games draw for the 4 judges' panels will take place sometime today. We'll need to keep an eye on the ISU Communications page for the formal announcement of which countries were selected for each of the disciplines.

As @Andrea82 noted for Pairs - there are exactly 13 countries with ISU Championship/Olympic level judges qualified for Milano-Cortina. Presumably, all of those countries have entered a judge and there will not be a draw.

Countries eligible for the OWG panels are as follows:
Men
USA, KAZ, JPN, FRA, KOR, GEO, ITA, LAT, SUI, CAN, AZE, SVK, SWE, CHN, EST, ESP, POL

Women
USA, JPN, BEL, EST, KOR, CAN, SUI, ITA, KAZ, FRA, ISR, AUT, FIN, ROU, POL BUL, GBR, LTU

Pairs
USA, GER, ITA, CAN, JPN, GEO, HUN, AUS, UZB, GBR, POL, NED, CHN
If needed, a further draw will be done among the ISU members with a pair at Boston World Championships without an Olympic spot (UKR, FIN, SUI, FRA, AUT).

Dance
These countries are guaranteed for the panel: USA, CAN, GBR, ITA, ESP, FRA, GEO, FIN, CZE, GER, KOR
There will be a draw for 2 judging slots among the ISU members getting the spots at OQE (LTU, AUS, CHN).
If needed, a further draw will be done among the ISU members with a pair at Boston World Championships without an Olympic spot (JPN, HUN, SWE, SVK, IRL, UKR, SUI, NED, AZE, POL, TUR, CYP).

Results of the draw

Men:
Azerbajian
Canada
China
Spain
France
Georgia
Italy
Kazakhstan
South Korea
Latvia
Switzerland
Sweden
USA

Women:
Austria
Bulgaria
France
Great Britain
Israel
Japan
Kazakhstan
South Korea
Lithuania
Poland
Romania
Switzerland
USA

Pairs:
Australia
Canada
China
Great Britain
Georgia
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Poland
USA
Uzabekhstan

Ice Dance:
Australia
Canada
China
Czechia
Spain
Finland
France
Great Britain
Georgia
Germany
Italy
South Korea
USA

Team Event

Men
China, Spain, France, Switzerland and Sweden from the Men panel
Canada, Great Britain, Hungary and Italy from the Pair panel

Women
Austria, Israel, Lithuania, Switzerland and USA from Women panel
Australia, China, Netherlands and Uzbekistan from Pair panel

Pair
Australia, Canada, China, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Ukzebekstian

Ice Dance
Australia, Canada, China, Czechia, Spain, Great Britain, Georgia, Germany, South Korea

https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azurefd.net/isudamcontainer/CMS/Corporate-Site/Governance/Transparency/ISU-Communications/2741-OWG-Figure-Skating-Qualification-Competition-and-Judges-Draw-Beijing-1758703293-0954.pdf

The names of the judges chosen must be sent by October 4, 2025.
Judges must be ISU judges and have served at least twice in ISU Championships or Olympic Qualifying Competition.
in order to be eligible for the Pair Skating, Judges who have never judged Pair Skating at any ISU Championships before must have officiated satisfactorily in at least one International Competition and one ISU Event in Pair Skating during the 48 months preceding the draw for the Olympic Winter Games.

Some countries have only 1 ISU judge, so the individual nomination is already known
Azerbaijan judge will be Yurii Kliushnikov. He already judged Women at 2022 Olympics and at 2006 Olympics (when he was still repressing Ukraine)
Kazakhstan judge will be Nadezhda Paretskaya. At Olympics (online at ISU Championships) one judge can serve in more than 1 event. So she will be featured in both Men and Women panels. It will be her first Olympic judging.
Latvian judge will be Agita Abele. She judged both Men and Women at 2018 Olympics.
Lithuanian judge will be Laimute Krauziene. She judged Ice Dance many times at Olympics: 2010, 2014 and 2022.
Uzbekistan judge will be Saodat Numanova. She judged Men at 2018 Olympics.
Romanian judge will be Marina Beschea. She has never judged at Olympics.

 

[Karen-W]

https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azurefd.net/isudamcontainer/CMS/Corporate-Site/Governance/Transparency/ISU-Communications/2741-OWG-Figure-Skating-Qualification-Competition-and-Judges-Draw-Beijing-1758703293-0954.pdf

So, what's interesting is that the Stand-By Entries/Alternates list includes all countries previously qualified/represented, which is a direct contradiction to the OWG Qualification System document. Per this Communication, the lists are as follows:

Men - MON, FRA, CZE, GER, ISR, ARM, HUN, CRO, KAZ, AUT, AIN BLR*, AUS, GBR, HKG, TUR, FIN, PHI, MAS, IRL, ECU, POR
Women - CYP, NOR, EST, SWE, NZL, MEX, AZE, SVK, SLO, RSA, MDA, HKG, MAS, CZE, SRB, PHI, ARG, NED, AUS, GRE
Pairs - FRA, UKR, USA, CZE, ISL, AUT, PRK, PHI
Dance - SWE, HUN, JPN, ITA, IRL, ISR, CYP, UKR, GEO, POL, KAZ, NED, AZE, ARM, MEX
* - did not earn CTES min and is ineligible as BLR is banned from all other int'l competitions indefinitely

ETA - from the document, here's the timeline for confirmation of entries:

• October 4, 2025: Entry by Name for Judges must be sent by all ISU Members which have been drawn with a Judge following the information and form provided by the ISU Office (see B. 2).
• October 8, 2025: NOCs having earned entries at either the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025, and/or the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating Qualifier 2025 - Beijing, must confirm by October 7, 2025 if they intend to use their full quota of entries.
In the case that not all NOCs use their full quota of entries, the available places will be reallocated to the stand-by NOCs. The respective stand-by NOCs will be informed by the ISU immediately after October 7, 2025.
• December 8, 2025: announcement of Teams qualified for the Team Event.
- Within 24h of announcement of the Teams qualified, NOC to confirm use of allocated quota place to ISU.
• 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.
• January 26, 2026: Milano-Cortina 2026 Entry by Name must be submitted by all NOCs which have been allocated an entry to the OWG. These entries must be sent by NOCs and received by MICO no later than January 26, 2026 according to their instructions. After this date, in principle no entries can be transferred from one NOC to another NOC.

 

[Karen-W]

Here's an article about DanTsi's quest to achieve the 173.89 by the end of the year to qualify for the Dutch Olympic team. They are given only two chances - they have to designate which two competitions are the ones they're trying to earn that score at.

Danilova en Tsiba starten vroeg vanwege olympische missie

Veredelde oefenwedstrijden, zo zien Daria Danilova en Michel Tsiba de reeks competities waar ze nu aan deelnemen. Het kunstschaatspaar is het seizoen extra vroeg begonnen om straks in Milaan te kunnen schitteren.

www.schaatsen.nl

Nebelhorn isn't one of them (neither was Kinoshita Group Cup), and it doesn't sound like Trialeti Trophy in a few weeks is one of them either.

After their performance in Oberstdorf, they have another competition in Georgia on their schedule. In November, they'll then compete in the NHK Trophy. "The rest of the season is still open. Towards October or November, we'll see if we can already designate a competition to aim for the 173.89-point standard."

 

[farahfan]

Here's an article about DanTsi's quest to achieve the 173.89 by the end of the year to qualify for the Dutch Olympic team. They are given only two chances - they have to designate which two competitions are the ones they're trying to earn that score at.

Danilova en Tsiba starten vroeg vanwege olympische missie

Veredelde oefenwedstrijden, zo zien Daria Danilova en Michel Tsiba de reeks competities waar ze nu aan deelnemen. Het kunstschaatspaar is het seizoen extra vroeg begonnen om straks in Milaan te kunnen schitteren.

www.schaatsen.nl

Nebelhorn isn't one of them (neither was Kinoshita Group Cup), and it doesn't sound like Trialeti Trophy in a few weeks is one of them either.

am I understanding that they have one chance, that they have to designate the competition in which they will score their magic number? jeez, that's harsh.

 

[Karen-W]

am I understanding that they have one chance, that they have to designate the competition in which they will score their magic number? jeez, that's harsh.

They have two chances - but they have to designate beforehand if any particular competition will be one of their designated competitions.

FWIW, the Dutch fed & OC did the same thing to Lindsay van Zundert in 2021, but then when she failed to meet the score requirement at one of her designated competitions while meeting it at one of her other comps, they still let her go to Beijing. So, we'll see how hard and fast this rule is for DanTsi.

 

[farahfan]

They have two chances - but they have to designate beforehand if any particular competition will be one of their designated competitions.

FWIW, the Dutch fed & OC did the same thing to Lindsay van Zundert in 2021, but then when she failed to meet the score requirement at one of her designated competitions while meeting it at one of her other comps, they still let her go to Beijing. So, we'll see how hard and fast this rule is for DanTsi.

I'm wondering if the Dutch fed is transplanting its rules for speed skaters to figure skaters, without realizing that figure skating is a judged sport and a highly political one at that...

 

[Karen-W]

I'm wondering if the Dutch fed is transplanting its rules for speed skaters to figure skaters, without realizing that figure skating is a judged sport and a highly political one at that...

Oh, FFS, the 11-16 spots at Worlds in pairs isn't where it's overly political in the judging. DanTsi would have been just fine for the Olympic spot had they equaled their SB. Heck, they didn't even need to equal their SB from last year, they just needed to score 173.19 to have finished 14th instead of 15th and saved themselves this stress.

 

[nlloyd]

Oh, FFS, the 11-16 spots at Worlds in pairs isn't where it's overly political in the judging

That's a bit harsh. They were just speculating, not trying to offend anyone, and even if it's a bit misplaced, it really doesn't warrant this kind of response.

 

[Karen-W]

Julia Sauter interview after her SP at Nebelhorn - gives an update on her Romanian citizenship status - not quite there, but it's sounding hopeful.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1971311382445330781