Speed Skating Discussion | Qualification to Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 Road to Milano Cortina 2026

[Noorderling29 187]

28 minutes ago, SalamAkhi said:

In the 5000 she probably won't (first alternate at the moment). 

 

 

What are the chances of the matrix "prioritizing" a mTP squad ? 

4 years ago the third Male 500 metres qualifier was dropped for a Team pursuit rider. 

[heywoodu 16,004]

1 minute ago, Noorderling29 said:

4 years ago the third Male 500 metres qualifier was dropped for a Team pursuit rider. 

Wouldn't be surprised to see the same this time. The men's 500m has basically on or with luck two medal chances, but certainly not three (semi-realistic) ones. With Beau Snellink for now not exactly on his way to an Olympic ticket and Patrick Roest still questionable, that might only leave Chris Huizinga, Jorrit Bergsma and Marcel Bosker, and that is not exactly a group one would want to have in the team pursuit.

[Noorderling29 187]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Wouldn't be surprised to see the same this time. The men's 500m has basically on or with luck two medal chances, but certainly not three (semi-realistic) ones. With Beau Snellink for now not exactly on his way to an Olympic ticket and Patrick Roest still questionable, that might only leave Chris Huizinga, Jorrit Bergsma and Marcel Bosker, and that is not exactly a group one would want to have in the team pursuit.

Agreed. But OTOH, the chances of a Male Team pursuit medal also seem rather slim at the moment, so why the hassle of dropping someone.

[SalamAkhi 333]

Qualification status that could realistically change this week, barring (except where noted) new time qualifying performances :

 

Men

 

500m : pretty much done

 

1000m : pretty much done

 

1500m : pretty much done

 

5000m : one outlier at the moment  Semirunniy. He's currently not qualified for the distance being 18/15 in the rankings and R1 time-wise. He could still punch his ticket : 

 

• either by getting into the top 15 with a very good result (a podium or even a win would be needed). If it is at the expanse of  Henriksen or, less likely,  Swings, then the loser is out. If it is at the expanse of any other, then  Sasaki is out. 
• or by hoping Lorello gets into the top 15 at the expanse of Henriksen or Swings.
• or by going faster than Sasaki (6'08''834) which seems reachable after his 10k, even in Hamar.

 

10000m : once again Henriksen is on the bubble. If  Maly, Petzold of  Farthofer gets into the top 9 at the expanse of Malfatti or Snellink, then he's out. 

 

Mass-start : not much at stake considering most of the reserve skaters will already receive an additional quota - at the moment    . Morino  will try to enter top 32 and be in those additional quota spots. 

 

Team pursuit : pretty much done

 

Women

 

500m : pretty much done

 

1000m : with  Thorup not cleared to participate one more spot is up for grabs.  Scholz would need to be in front of both Herzog (done as she's not entered) and Czerwonka (7 points) after this final week.  Silaeva would be left out. 

 

1500m : Lamarche not competing and  Zofia Braun being promoted to A division, Poland has got a real shot at a second quota. Braun will need to stay in front of Scholz and Weidemann, who could still finish ahead of her depending on how good Braun fares in A division.  Smedding would suffer from a Polish rise.

 

3000m : match-up between  Yang and  Horikawa only separated by 3 points. At the moment Yang is out (R2) but if they exchange position in the standings then Horikawa is out (R1). They could also both finish ahead of Hofmann, at the expanse of  Golubeva ultimately.  Jasch has a small shot at a second German quota too, by edging the former two skaters, eliminating them. 

 

5000m : pretty much done

 

Mass-start :  Santo Rodrigues is hanging on by a thread. The cruelty of it is that those immediately behind her -    - will get an aditional spot anyways, so it does not really matter if they finish in the top 24 ahead of her, except it would allow France to enter a second skater and two girls in the MS.

 

Team pursuit : three-way asymetrical tie for the last SOQP spot between   and , all in division A. Norway needs to beat both as they can't rely on a time Q, Kazakhstan needs to beat Norway to ensure (if they fail to beat China) the first SOQT spot and avoid the Italian wild-card*, whereas China is pretty safe.

*  is currently out but they "only" need to get into a reserve spot to be qualified, which is going faster than 3'00'92 (or faster than Norway if they too decide to skate faster). They were not far off this mark in Hamar earlier this year but the team was in a better shape overall.