Skate to Milano OWG Qualifier - Pairs - September edition

[Karen-W]

Well, we are here at last! The week of the OQE is upon us!

There are 3 pairs spots up for grabs in Beijing + 1 spot likely to be or possibly already relinquished by UZB. Which 4 teams will earn spots for their countries? All of the teams competing have at least one international competition this season under the belts (except Les Kovs, who competed at French Masters last month), so I'm including those scores.

ARM - Akopova/Rakhmanin - 174.84 - CS John Nicks IPC
AUT - Schaller/Mayr - 153.37 - CS John Nicks IPC
CHN - Zhang/Huang - 190.23 - Asian Open FS Trophy
CZE - Valesi/Bidar - 170.57 - Lombardia Trophy
FRA - Kovalev/Kovalev - 178.34 - French Masters*
ISL - Gunnarsdottir/Piazza - 158.91 - Lombardia Trophy
JPN - Nagaoka/Moriguchi - 192.77 - CS Kinoshita Group Cup
PHI - Gamez/Korovin - 141.14 - CS Kinoshita Group Cup and 143.49 Asian Open FS Trophy
PRK - Ryom/Han - 151.14 - Asian Open FS Trophy
UKR - Holichenko/Darenskyi - 135.77 - Lombardia Trophy
USA - Shin/Nagy - 165.76 - CS John Nicks IPC and 170.77 Glacier Falls NQS*
* = domestic competition

 

[nylynnr]

Can we assume 4 pair spots are available? There are 3 spots up for grabs at the Olympic Qualifier; if UZB relinquishes its spot, then I believe the fourth-place pair will be assigned. However, there is nothing preventing UZB from forming a new pair and claiming the spot, and I have heard rumblings that this might happen.

FYI, this article has a bit more info on the selection of Shin & Nagy to compete in the qualifier:

Shin and Nagy Travel To Beijing, With Milano On Their Minds - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

Next week, Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy have the chance to help Team USA do something it hasn't done since 1984: bring 18 athletes — three entries in each of the

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

 

[tony]

There are 3 up until UZB says they aren’t using the spot. Not sure what they have planned but she’s at least in the latter stages of trying out with an Italian who will not be eligible. I heard he quit skating altogether but maybe things have changed.

Since there are 3 spots officially available right now, the 4th place finishing country becomes alternate number 1 and so on.

 

[kwanfan1818]

At around 32:38 of the Rocker Skating Podcast preview episode from yesterday, Jackie Wong said that Orihara is not only a citizen, but she isn’t even a permanent resident. I don’t know how that works with the health system, when athletes typically need more health care than average.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeYiNeEZ3Po

That’s an earned spot that will need a bureaucratic miracle to retain.

 

[Karen-W]

At around 32:38 of the Rocker Skating Podcast preview episode from yesterday, Jackie Wong said that Orihara is not only a citizen, but she isn’t even a permanent resident. I don’t know how that works with the health system, when athletes typically need more health care than average.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeYiNeEZ3Po

That’s an earned spot that will need a bureaucratic miracle to retain.

Well, Orihara is an ice dancer, not a pair skater. As of right now, the Finnish fed has not relinquished Finland's 2nd ice dance spot since there is still a small sliver of hope that she may obtain Finnish citizenship in time for the Olympics. She is taking the Finnish language test next month, which is part of the requirements to acquire Finnish citizenship.

With regard to Uzbekistan and their pairs spot, it seems far more likely they will wind up relinquishing it than not. As @tony noted, Geynish may have a new partner, but he won't be eligible to compete in the Olympics. I'm not sure we know what Chigirev's status is. It may be up in the air for the next few months and it may come down to the late January deadline for NOVs to confirm use of their allocated spots before we know if that 4th spot is available.

Also, the Dutch fed had a certain benchmark score that DanTsi must achieve in order for them to use the spot they earned. They should be able to achieve that score - it's in the mid-170 range IIRC, but that is potentially another spot that could open up during the next few months.

 

[kwanfan1818]

^ Oops, wrong thread.