Canada's 2026 Olympics Qualification Discussion Road to Milano Cortina 2026

[JockCartier 284]

12 hours ago, orangeman said:

In defense of short track, it's so volatile that skaters should have more than one chance at a medal. In any event (pun intended), what I'm saying is a country that is strong in x-country can send enough skiers to win lots of medals, while countries strong in freestyle have a limit. And not limited as in only three in a race, but Canada has to leave strong competitors at home who can medal in event X because there is a limit to the overall amount. It's not really that serious, anway. 

Norway’s is no different in cross country and biathlon. Their B-teams have men and women that would be top ten in the world. They often have guys that pop in from the IBU Cup for one weekend and podium

[Surlympics 1,269]

9 hours ago, JockCartier said:

But if you want medals, cross country skiers are the most efficient investment. Takes 25 world class hockey players to win one medal… with 25 world class nordic skiers, Norway wins 20+ medals across XC, NC, and biathlon

 

Not that we could expect to be Norway, but if we got serious and stuck with it, 5-10 every Olympics wouldn’t be out of the question

Canada seem to be going in the right direction with this now and the rebranding to Nordic Canada, as well as winning multiple medals at the latest world juniors.

[orangeman 2,319]

9 hours ago, JockCartier said:

Norway’s is no different in cross country and biathlon. Their B-teams have men and women that would be top ten in the world. They often have guys that pop in from the IBU Cup for one weekend and podium

Yeah, my point was that Norway, for example, can still send enough skiers to sweep the podium in each event, but Canada, for example, has to leave medal potentials in some freestyle events at home because of the cap. In other words, Norway's B team would still not medal because their A team already took all the medals, while some of Canada's A team is being left home and off the podium because of the cap. 

 

But, again, it's not that serious. 

[orangeman 2,319]

9 hours ago, JockCartier said:

But if you want medals, cross country skiers are the most efficient investment. Takes 25 world class hockey players to win one medal… with 25 world class nordic skiers, Norway wins 20+ medals across XC, NC, and biathlon

 

Not that we could expect to be Norway, but if we got serious and stuck with it, 5-10 every Olympics wouldn’t be out of the question

Yes, but the reason the medals and quotas are distributed the way they are now is because it's very Eurocentric. The same is true in the SOG. Sports and events that Europeans are good at get more quotas and medals. There's been an effort in the SOG to even that out in the last few cycles, though. WOG are another beast, as it's Eurocentric to begin with (along with Canada, USA, China, SK, Japan and Australia to an extent). 

[JockCartier 284]

22 hours ago, NearPup said:

Not sure if it was discussed here, but Canada is now *narrowly* in a qualifying position in the ski mounteineering mixed relay with two qualifying races left to go.

There are two races left? There only one left this season, so that means they're having one before the deadline next season?

Beyond that, do they get to drop more scores? If so, how many?

It would be great if the ISMF actually explained all this stuff, or any of it.

[JockCartier 284]

3 hours ago, orangeman said:

Yeah, my point was that Norway, for example, can still send enough skiers to sweep the podium in each event, but Canada, for example, has to leave medal potentials in some freestyle events at home because of the cap. In other words, Norway's B team would still not medal because their A team already took all the medals, while some of Canada's A team is being left home and off the podium because of the cap. 

 

But, again, it's not that serious. 

It's not as different as you think. Their B-team has guys any given day can beat the guys on their A-team... no different than we'll be looking at in some sports. And we're still sending 4 each for any event we have that many medal contenders in. Which is a lot in sports limited to 25-32 spots

[Topicmaster1010 5,716]

7 hours ago, JockCartier said:

Beyond that, do they get to drop more scores? If so, how many?

[Josh 11,790]

9 hours ago, JockCartier said:

There are two races left? There only one left this season, so that means they're having one before the deadline next season?

Beyond that, do they get to drop more scores? If so, how many?

It would be great if the ISMF actually explained all this stuff, or any of it.

Well that’s annoying. I wish the qualification process is through full seasons, not one season and one World Cup 

[JockCartier 284]

3 hours ago, Topicmaster1010 said:

Thank you for that. So with one race left this year that makes 6 races

 

So it depends if/how many races they plan to have before the deadline in December.

 

If one, that’s seven, still just one dropped

If two, that’s eight and a second result dropped

 

And I can’t find any outline of what’s planned for next year.

 

As long as the Canadian’s can keep within one spot of the Yanks ( or preferably beat) in those races they should be alright. As right now even dropping another result wouldn’t hurt us

Edited March 26, 2025 by JockCartier

[Topicmaster1010 5,716]

Madeline Schizas had a great day at figure skating worlds and sits in sixth after the short program. She's officially earned one women's quota on figure skating but could give Canada the opportunity to send a skater to the final qualification event if she finishes in the top 10