website statistics
Jump to content

Speed Skating at the Winter Olympic Games Beijing 2022


Totallympics
 Share

Recommended Posts

By my calculations some of the reserve lists are really funky. Like the first reserve in the men's 500m (since athletes go to the front of the reserve list if they are from an NOC without a qualified skater) is :SUI Christian Oberbichler, who ranks 48th(!) on the time ranking. Meanwhile :CHN Liu An is the fifth reserve despite being 20th on the time ranking

(countries can't qualify a third skater from the time list, but they can get a spot on the reserve list, assuming they would have obtained a third spot if not for this rule - they can't go on the reserve list if they would otherwise only be a reserve. Some of those qualification rules are really weird).

 

On the other extreme we currently have two of the three reserves getting a re-allocation spot in the women's 1500m (there are supposed to be eight reserves in individual events but literally only three skaters are eligible).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, NearPup said:

By my calculations some of the reserve lists are really funky. Like the first reserve in the men's 500m (since athletes go to the front of the reserve list if they are from an NOC without a qualified skater) is :SUI Christian Oberbichler, who ranks 48th(!) on the time ranking. Meanwhile :CHN Liu An is the fifth reserve despite being 20th on the time ranking

(countries can't qualify a third skater from the time list, but they can get a spot on the reserve list, assuming they would have obtained a third spot if not for this rule - they can't go on the reserve list if they would otherwise only be a reserve. Some of those qualification rules are really weird).

 

On the other extreme we currently have two of the three reserves getting a re-allocation spot in the women's 1500m (there are supposed to be eight reserves in individual events but literally only three skaters are eligible).

This is what happens when the IOC keeps cutting and wants increased universality 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, NearPup said:

Ya, it causes my script to calculate who is in a qualifying position to get way too complicated D:

Haha, I have the same issue. I made some errors, I noticed. :facepalm:

 

But I agree, guys like Christian Oberbichler shouldn't be at the Olympics if you want the best skaters to be there, as they would probably finish last by at least half a second. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Dennis said:

Haha, I have the same issue. I made some errors, I noticed. :facepalm:

 

But I agree, guys like Christian Oberbichler shouldn't be at the Olympics if you want the best skaters to be there, as they would probably finish last by at least half a second. 

I have two main problems with the qualification system - the max number of skaters per NOC should have stayed at 10 (this has a very small effect overall but the new rule really hurts :NED ) and the reallocations should be given in order, there shouldn’t be a priority for unqualified countries.

 

I don’t really mind making third skaters per NOC ineligible from qualifying by time, even though that’s really going to hurt Canada. That’s not where the really insane qualification results are coming from. Most of the other issues currently are related to the inherent unfairness of the A and B races in the World Cup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The easy fix for the two divisions problem would be to create a separate Olympics qualifying points system that ranked skaters based off time set regardless of what division they were in. 
 

I would personally prefer to see qualification based purely off time, since that’s mostly what the sport is about anyways. The problem with that would be high altitude ovals like Salt Lake. My suggestion to solve this would be to base qualification of the total of a skaters three best times in the qualification period added together. The only restriction in that system should be three skaters per country, reallocation would go strictly to next best. It might worth it to have some sort of universality criteria as well, to make sure there’s a good amount of countries involved. 

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair” - Nelson Mandela

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Qualification update: :NED:CAN:NOR:CZE are guaranteed at least one quota in the women’s 5000m. First four nations to qualify.

 

Edit: :CHN is also now guaranteed at least a host spot in the women's 5000m (they are currently in a qualifying position in the time ranking, assuming the current points ranking holds)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...