Order of Skate at the Olympics

[coppertop1]

How do they determined the flight that skaters are in at the Olympics in the SP? Is it by the competition results of that season?

 

[misskarne]

I believe the draw groups will be determined by WS (correct me if I'm wrong, it's either WS or WR and I can't remember which).

I'd like it to be a truly random draw (like how Plushy skated second in Torino!).

 

[Sylvia]

From ISU Communication No. 2042 -- Decisions of the ISU Council (September 2016):

6. Starting Order/Draws Figure Skating The Council clarified that the starting order for all ISU Figure Skating Events (including the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating individual events and Final) as well as the Olympic Winter Games and Winter Youth Olympic Winter Games will be in line with the provisions of Rule 513 as stated in the 2016 Technical Rules Single & Pair Skating/Ice Dance. This means that a Draw in line with the detailed provisions of Rule 513 for both the Short Program/Dance and the Free Skating/Free Dance will be conducted.
The only exceptions apply to the Figure Skating Team Events. In particular, for the ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating the starting order will be decided by the Council (see ISU General Regulations, Rule 107, paragraph 7).
For the Figure Skating Team Event at the Olympic Winter Games the starting order will be decided by the Council in consultation with the IOC (see Special Regulations Single & Pair Skating/Ice Dance, Rule 400, paragraph B.).

ISU Rule 513 -- Draws for starting orders (pages 81 and following): http://static.isu.org/media/1003/20...ce-and-technical-rules-sandp-and-id_final.pdf

 

[vesperholly]

To sum up those wordy rules:

Short programs: Competitors are ranked by World Standing. They are divided into two even subgroups and draw randomly within that subgroup - top half draw for the final half of the spots, etc.

Free programs: Competitors are ranked within their group - 4-6 draw for the first three spots, then 1-3 draw for the final 3 spots. Same for the penultimate group.

 

[Dobre]

So practically-speaking, for the short, the teams are split in half based on World Standings. The top half have a random draw for the final few groups, and the bottom half have a random draw for the earlier few groups.

If you are ranked #1 in the world standings, you may compete in the short in the second to last group rather than the last group based on the draw among the top half of the competitors, but you won't be going in the earliest group because the bottom half of the WS teams all skate first. Likewise, if you are ranked #8, you could be last to skate in the short. But if you are ranked #20, you will be up during the first half of the competition.

 

[coppertop1]

I remember Kim was in the middle flight in Sochi, since she hadn't competed much due to injury.

So a skater making who just debuted on the senior ranks and won a GP medal and a won the Challenger Series?

 

[Dobre]

So a skater making who just debuted on the senior ranks and won a GP medal and a won the Challenger Series?

Probably would be part of the random draw among the bottom half of the athletes & would skate during one of the earlier groups. But it's going to come down to which athletes qualify for the Olympics and what their records are alongside each other. If you are interested in seeing where a particular athlete is in the World Standings or watching their progress throughout the year, this is the link:
http://www.isu.org/en/single-and-pa...tatistics-and-world-standings/world-standings

(Just click on one of the four links for the correct discipline at the top).

Junior athletes do earn world standing points, just not as many as athletes in senior competitions. If a senior debut athlete has a very strong junior record over the last two seasons, they may be ranked relatively high already. The Parsons are ranked 14th. That is probably the highest ranking for a debuting senior athlete. Aliev is also 14th, but he has competed as a senior on the Challenger Series before.

 

[coppertop1]

Thanks for the link. So, Osmond, and Medvedeva and Daleman, for example would be in the final flights. Someone like Zagitova or Honda would have a decent rating going into the senior rank

 

[Dobre]

Someone like Zagitova or Honda would have a decent rating going into the senior rank

Follow the link to the ladies discipline. Marin is ranked 21st. Zagitova is ranked 39th. (Your record depends on the last two seasons and what you do this season. Zagitova didn't compete on the JGP two years ago so her ranking is below Marin's, Shiraiwa's, and Sakamoto's).

 

[kwanfan1818]

So practically-speaking, for the short, the teams are split in half based on World Standings. The top half have a random draw for the final few groups, and the bottom half have a random draw for the earlier few groups.

To be more specific, after they figure out the number of skaters in each group, if the last group has X skaters, the Top X-ranked skaters draw for the SD/SP places in the last group. If then penultimate group has Y skaters -- Y could equal X or not -- then the next-ranked Y skaters draw for spots in the penultimate group. The rest of the "skating later" half draws for the rest of later spots. If they fill only part of a group, they always get the later spot(s) in that group.

Unranked skaters draw for the earliest spots. The rest of the bottom half draws for all of the remaining earlier spots.

 

[fan]

Is the team event before the individuals again?

 

[kwanfan1818]

I can't think of any candidates for the unranked spots. It means having earned 0 WS points in 2.5 seasons while still earning the senior TES minimums. It's possible, but not highly likely.

Unless there are unfilled spots, the field sizes and groups for the shorts should be stable, with 15/15 (6+6+6+6+6) for singles, 12/12 (4+5+5+5+5) for Dance, and 10/10 (4+4+4+4+4) for Pairs.

Singles ranked 13-15 draw for the last three spots in group three. Dance teams ranked 11-12 draw for the last two spots in group 3, and Pairs ranked 9-10 draw for the last two spots in group three.

 

[Sylvia]

Is the team event before the individuals again?

Yes - link to @clairecloutier's spreadsheet with the figure skating schedule: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...6rap5q1I1Vfk9WZR5hfGMChpUw/edit#gid=709855582