The International Skating Union (ISU) distributed the skaters according to the stages of the Grand Prix series, not including them in list of representatives of Russia and Belarus. Sports tells about the chances of our athletes and who exactly will be able to use them.
Small clarification on the regulations. The distribution of skaters by stages of the Grand Prix is handled by a special ISU selector commission. In contrast to the junior stages, where the quota is given to the national federation (and it already decides which particular skater to send where), the adults do not skate «flags», but specific star names.
The only exception to this rule is the ability of the country in which one of the six stages takes place, to fill three places in each discipline with its skaters. Unofficially, this is also called the «home quota», the host can use it or invite any skaters of their choice. In reality, they almost always use it, if there is someone to ride. Because in this case, absolutely any skater with the right passport can become a participant — even from among those who did not pass the selection criteria. National federations do this in order to support their nearest reserve, giving him the opportunity to gain an international rating and, with luck, earn extra money.
Now about the selection criteria. According to ISU rules, each skater can compete in a maximum of two events per season. At the same time, not everyone is guaranteed two places. They are mandatory for those who took places from 1st to 12th at the last World Championship, and the top six even have the opportunity to choose which particular stage to ride. First, the wishes are expressed by the top 3 (in this case, they should not intersect with each other until the Final of the series), and then all the others.
Also, the Grand Prix stages are given to those who got into the top 24 according to the results of the last season, the top 24 of the ISU rating in each event, the winners of the World Junior Championships and the winners of the Junior Grand Prix Final, subject to the new age rules. They should be invited to the stages, but exactly how much they will receive — one or two — will be decided by the above-mentioned commission.
If after the distribution of all mandatory participants in the Grand Prix draw there are empty places, they can be filled by any skaters from those who scored the minimum allowable amount of points last season, however, the host side will choose to their taste. This was the case, for example, with former Russian dancers Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin — in the 2020/21 season they received a stage in Canada at the invitation of the local federation, without formally fulfilling the qualifying criteria and beating other Russian couples that were higher in the ranking, but also not included in the top 24 for any of the items.
There is also a rule of «returner skaters» — those who took places from the first to the sixth at the World Championships, and next season for some reason stopped going to the starts, can be given two stages upon a written application to the commission (before the distributive meeting) about the intention to return to the sport. This rule can be used for 10 years, but only once in a career.
One way or another, everything rests on the meeting of the commission. Most often, it takes two weeks before the publication of the lists, that is, in our case, it is most logical to talk about mid-June. By that time, a meeting of the ISU Council had already passed, at which officials did not make specific decisions about the ban of Russians for the next season, postponing the issue until October. Until then, the suspension formally remains in force — for this reason, there were no Russians on the lists for the adult Grand Prix of the 2023/24 season. br>Can they be included retroactively, if the ISU council still allows Russia at the October council? Director General of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) Alexander Kogan believes that yes.
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«The distribution of athletes by Grand Prix stages takes place according to the ISU rating, — said Kogan. — If we receive permission from the ISU, our skaters will be able to compete in the Challengers and score rating points. Then they may have the opportunity to take part in the Grand Prix stages «.
However, in practice, everything is a little more complicated. Firstly, not all Russian skaters need to score points to get to the stages. At the moment, there are several names familiar to our fans in the top 24 of the ISU rating: in women's singles, these are Anna Shcherbakova (20th) and Kamila Valieva (23), in pair skating — Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov (10) and Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Gallyamov (17), in dancing — Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov (24). Therefore, if the ISU suddenly allows Russia in October, we already have several candidates for vacancies.
But will they be? Now all quotas are distributed in the lists for the Grand Prix (12 in single skating, 8 in pairs and 10 in ice dancing at each stage) with the exception of some home quotas, and in order to create a free place, someone from Participants must refuse to perform strongly in advance. In this case, his place will be taken by the next rated figure skater from among those who have the opportunity to prepare for this tournament and come to it.
However, in practice this happens very rarely, because the vast majority of withdrawals occur due to injuries, which cannot be predicted ahead of time. In this case, the place, of course, becomes vacant, but if there is one or two weeks left before the start of the tournament, the potential participant will hardly have time to prepare for it. Not to mention the logistics and obtaining a visa, with which the Russians, obviously, may have problems. that there will be replacements and the Russians will be able to claim the vacant positions in the rating, the chance of their participation in the Grand Prix is minimal. ISU honorary vice-president Alexander Lakernik is of the same opinion.
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«I think there are almost no chances,» he said. will consider the issue of admitting Russians. Even if a decision is made on the participation of our skaters in international competitions, by that time there will be no free places. Accordingly, if you want to add someone, you need to remove someone. So in general, this issue can be considered closed.
At the same time, the possibility of the Russians still remaining in the second half of next season — at the European and World Championships. And it is quite possible that these tournaments will appear at the October ISU Council in the context of the admission of Russians.