ISU Drops Qualifying from Euros and 4C's

[PAskate]

http://www.canada.com/sports/skating/story.html?id=B4475F8C-2E12-48F7-84CA-8CCCFB3DFC71

[schnood]

I wish they'd dump the Q rounds from worlds too....with the CoP scoring system, you can build up an almost unsurmountable lead through the Q round and short program....

[mikey]

Great news- but why are they hesitant about dropping the QR from Worlds too??

[PAskate]

The official reason given was that there are too many skaters at worlds - up to 50 in a given event.

[Annes]

Hmm, I didn't realize there was a QR at 4CC.

[jcspkbfan]

Hmm, I didn't realize there was a QR at 4CC.

Neither did I; I certainly don't remember anyone mentioning QRs at 4CCs during any of the years it's taken place. I vaguely remember QRs at Europeans at some point (around the same time they were first implemented at Worlds), but haven't remembered the commentators mentioning QRs at that competition for years, either.

[SkateFan123]

The official reason given was that there are too many skaters at worlds - up to 50 in a given event.
Fifty skaters performing a short would take less time than 50 skaters performing a long to cut down to 30 for the short. It makes sense to drop it to me!

I suspect the cuts to 4Cs and Euros are to cut expenses and that Worlds will soon follow.

[CherylS]

Hmm, I didn't realize there was a QR at 4CC.

Ah, I thought I was just losing my mind! Unless maybe they were just thinking about including one??? I had to look at this year's results to be sure I wasn't just forgetting something. All I could see was that 2 less ladies did the FS (maybe they just withdrew) so there could have been an elimination but not a QR. I like that the QR and eliminations keep the FS from being endless but it would be a shame for the people that go all that way just to skate once or to be a fan of those that you don't get to see in the whole event.

[jcspkbfan]

Ah, I thought I was just losing my mind! Unless maybe they were just thinking about including one??? I had to look at this year's results to be sure I wasn't just forgetting something. All I could see was that 2 less ladies did the FS (maybe they just withdrew) so there could have been an elimination but not a QR. I like that the QR and eliminations keep the FS from being endless but it would be a shame for the people that go all that way just to skate once or to be a fan of those that you don't get to see in the whole event.

Maybe only the lower-ranked skaters at Euros and 4CCs have to skate QRs and the top 10 or so are exempt? That was the way it worked when QRs were first implemented at Worlds in the early '90s, IIRC, and that's the way I think QRs should work. QRs also didn't count toward the final results back then, either.

Of course, someone who's actually seen Euros or 4CCs live could probably answer these questions a lot better than I could! :lol:

[dr.frog]

They've never had a qualifying round at 4Cs because there haven't been enough skaters. At Europeans, the qualifying round has worked just like at Worlds except that sometimes it has been cancelled when there haven't been enough skaters. I think getting rid of it entirely at Europeans is clearly a cost-cutting measure since it requires 2-3 days less ice both in the main arena and practice venue, and also less money spent on housing and feeding the athletes and officials for that amount of time. It is hard to justify spending that much money when only a few skaters are eliminated from each qualifying group anyway.

They really do need to have qualifying or otherwise restrict entries at Worlds, though. It would be really tough on the judges to have to maintain concentration while judging 50 skaters at a time.

[Twizzler]

The other reason for a QR is to seed skaters for the short. In the 6.0 system, skating order matters. Theoretically, order does not matter for CoP. I think fatigue is the only reason to have QRs with CoP. But, they could run the 2 groups with the SPs separately perhaps on consecutive days to give the judges a break. Then, put all the scores together and eliminate the bottom skaters from the LP.

I agree with the poster who said that a skater could build a huge lead based on QR and SP. That would make the LP less competitive.