Hi all. I just participated in my first competition (New York Winter Classic). It was an interesting experience in many ways, but it being my first competition, I wondered how the starting order was determined. I skated third in my group. How was this decided? By order of registration? Just curious. Does it vary from comp to comp?

Cheers,
Raine

Its done by draw.

At both local and national / world levels

I always thought that the skater or someone representing the skater participated if there was a draw. At least this is what I've seen on TV.

No, only at the highest level. The competion chair would have done this as she was making up the schedule

Actually, (in Canada, anyways) the technical representative and the chief accountant have the responsibility for doing the draw (primarily the chief accountant). Even at large events with a public (skater does it) draw, the chief accountant is the one in charge.

And yes, even in the little ones, they still use their little bag of numbered balls...

The software the referee uses to create the schedule includes a randomization algorithm that does the "draw." Only elite level competitions have draws where skaters actually pick a number out of a hat.

I know I prefer to skate 2nd or 3rd. It gives enough time to get over the warm up but not too much time to get cold. Anyone else have a preference?

I like to skate last! It gives me time to enjoy being nervous (ok so I'm a bit strange!!) and to just enjoy the whole experience. It lasts longer being last!!
I HATE being first!!! yuck!!!


liz

Er, no - at whatever level you compete, the order of skating is done by draw. The list of competitors is presented in alphabetical order, and a number is drawn to determine how far down the list the draw will start (so that Angela Abbott doesn't always get to draw first, and Zoe Young always last). The skater whose number is drawn then draws first, and each skater in turn (or another skater in the competition, if a skater isn't present) then draws his or her number. If it is a dance competition, a draw is also made for which dance will be skated first.

The draw is usually presided over by a judge, although for a very small club competition with amateur judges this doesn't always happen. The date, time and place of the draw is usually published to all skaters who have entered the competition, who are entitled to attend if they wish.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I'm a prospective accountant for USFSA plus I've chaired my club's Open since- ye gods! - 1984 so I know the non-qualifying end of this very well.

In USFSA non-qualifying competitions for all levels, the Referee divides the entries into groups. Then the competition chairs sends those groups to the Accountant in whatever order they've decided upon beforehand - in some places it's alphabetical; in orthers it's by date of birth, or date of entry, whatever it says in the announcement. The Accountant enters the groups into the program then does the draw for each event by clicking on the button in the program that says "random". The program sets the skating order.

For qualifying competitions with run-offs, the intitial round draws may be done this way. But once the initial round is completed, the draw for the short program and the free skate is done by the event referee with the skaters pulling numbers out of The Bag.

I don't know how they do these things in Great Britain or Canada though.

The first draw is always done by officials. Then at higher competitions (Divisionals, Nationals, Worlds, etc) the competitiors draw for themselves for the next part(s) of the event. But after one part of the competition is over, there's a certain order that's followed. Like the top 10 will draw out of the last 10 numbers, and so on. I don't know if I explained that very well....

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"Keep a positive attitude!" ~ Marie-France

I can speak for Synchro Nationals in Canada. The draw for the qualifying round was done prior to the competition, by officials. The top 12 teams moved on to Championship Short Program, and the remaining teams moved on to the Challenge Cup Short Program. The SP draw was done by the skaters. A number was drawn (out of a bag) to see which team would draw first, and then it went down the line from there. There were no groupings (i.e., the team who qualified in 1st could still end up skating 1st in the SP). For the free skate, you drew by groupings. I can't remember how large the groups were, perhaps 4 teams per group? So the top 4 finishers drew for the last 4 spots, the middle 4 finishers drew for spots 5-8, and the bottom 4 finishers drew for spots 1-4.

I've never been to a competition, either here in Britain or abroad (France) where the draw has been done other than by the competitors themselves pulling numbers out of a bag. Indeed, in the international competitions such as the Mountain Cup, the draw is a big social event.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!