NearPup

The playoffs for the final two spots are set. The first spot will be contested between and the winner of the / semi-final. The second spot will be contested between and the winner of the / semi-final.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/luge/olympics-natalie-geisenberger-skip-games-1.6277757 The two time defending champion in both singles and relay, Natalie Geisenberger, is considering skipping the Olympics due to the COVID restrictions in place.

predictably joining the "diplomatic boycott".

Damien Warner, Tokyo 2020 gold medallist in the Decathlon, won Canadian athlete of the year. Also on the shortlist: Andre de Grasse (Athletics) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Baseball) Connor McDavid (Ice hockey) Alphonso Davies (Soccer) Stephanie Labbé (Soccer) Maggie Mac Neil (Swimming)

Too bad Streslov isn't Belarusian, this would have been a fun mixed relay.

and both won their pools and are each one game away from the Olympics. Two very different stories here - is trying to make it's Olympic debut in Curling while is trying to keep it's streak of participating in every Curling event since the sport was re-introduced in 1998 alive. is the only other country with that distinction. and qualified for the semi-finals from pool B - South Korea is in Australia's bracket while Finland is in USA's bracket. In pool A , , and are still fighting for the two remaining semi-final spots. - play later this afternoon in what is a de-facto quarterfinal match.

How relieved are you that you didn't have to go through this entire ordeal with as first reserve?

The current detailed standings are on Wikipedia and should be accurate. The time rankings are actually really easy to compute, my only real worry in terms of accuracy is miss-understanding some part of the qualification document.

I think it would be a fair trade-off to have less teams, maintain four member teams (except maybe in dressage?) and keep the same number of nations overall.

Baffling they release the ranking in that fashion then…

At this rate the IIHF will ask to travel just in case.

Point 1 and 2: that's completely academic. The US government, and it increasingly looks like some other Western governments, aren't doing a diplomatic boycott of the IOC. The US isn't snubbing the IOC as they are organizing the 2028 Summer games and are the front runner to be awarded either the 2030 or 2034 Winter games. Literally nobody cares if the formal invitation came from the IOC or the PRC's government, everybody knows this is a spat between a handful of Western countries and the PRC's government. As for point 3... I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that "the International Olympic Committee who are politically neutral" is a joke. Like, I know that's what they claim about themselves, but nobody actually believes them right?

Check your calendar and re-read my post :P I was making fun of a certain user who seemed a little too sure Trudeau was going to be out of a job by now.

It’s a free Olympic quota 🤷‍♂️

Don’t forget Canada, another country to watch closely. I just can’t see any scenario where Canada doesn’t announce a full boycott by November 2021. Erin O’Toole will surely be prime minister by then.

They were going to be invited if it didn’t look like there was going to be a boycott. Not offering to send a delegation representing the White House is a snub, there‘s really no other way to interpret it. Especially since Bush 43 went to the first Beijing games.

being 10022nd and 10023rd in the women's relay is a little harsh...

France still has a good chance in Timothy Loubineaud, who is currently first under the line in the mass start. If makes the finals in Calgary he should qualify no problems. But otherwise there doesn't seem to be any prospects for qualifications at these Olympics.

She's both too old for the draft and not eligible on account of her gender anyway. Also if she was a male between 18 and 25 she would have needed to register upon taking up residence, not upon becoming a citizen. I had to provide by draft registration number when I went to my naturalization interview.

I actually believe Italy could get creative here and select Noemi Bonazza for the mass start. Since Italy is on the reserve list they can claim an additional entry at the games using an athlete that is already qualified for another event (Lollobrigida).

Max number of skaters in a single event (3 in the team pursuit) + 1 skater for each additional event where China has qualified (500m, 1000m, 1500m). The maximum number of skaters per gender is 7, with two exceptions. If you qualify at least one skater in every event the limit is raised to 8. And if you qualify the maximum number of skaters in all events the limit is raised to 9.

Women's qualification 21 NOCs qualified, just like on the men's side only achieved the maximum number of skaters. The max skaters currently add up to 110. 500m 1000m 1500m 3000m 5000m MS TP Max skaters 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 2 2 1 1 1 X 8 3 2 2 3 2 2 X 8 2 3 2 2 1 2 X 8 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 5 1 1 1 1 4 3 2 3 2 2 2 X 8 1 1 2 1 1 6 2 2 2 5 3 3 3 3 2 2 X 9 2 2 2 2 1 1 X 8 2 2 2 1 1 X 7 3 3 2 2 1 2 X 8 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 3 2 2 2 1 2 6

Assuming my interpretation of the qualification rules is correct / the ISU didn't change it on us, here are where we stand after round 3 of 4. Men's qualification 23 NOCs, only achieves a maximum quota. Maximum number of skaters is 83, but the max skaters currently add up to 109. Lots of double starters in there, though. 500m 1000m 1500m 5000m 10000m MS TP Max skaters 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 6 1 1 1 3 2 3 2 1 2 2 X 8 2 2 2 X 6 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 2 2 2 1 6 2 1 1 3 2 1 X 8 3 3 3 1 1 1 7 2 2 2 1 5 2 2 2 2 X 7 3 3 3 3 2 2 X 9 2 2 3 2 2 X 7 1 1 2 3 2 2 1 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 X 8 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 X 7

29 PBs out of 43 starters in the men's 1000m division B race. Yup, we are in SLC all right. Once the division B races are over I'll post updated provisional qualification scenarios, though apparently the ISU didn't read their own qualification document so it may be very different from the "real" situation.