NearPup

Assuming my reading of the qualification rules are correct (they are vague enough that there are competing opinions...) Mexico is guaranteed a spot as long as Carrillo completes the free skate.

Men's single qualification after the short program: 3 spots: 2 spots: 1 spot: Countries eligible for an extra spot: Japan is basically a lock for three spots. The big questions are whether Italy and China can keep two spots. If one fail to keep two spots Germany will qualify, if both fail to keep two spots Azerbaijan will qualify.

Outstanding performance by Mishina / Galliamov. Some mistakes by Sui / Han, but still clearly number one so far. I really love their choice of music, too.

Ya, it sure took them long enough too. You now can't earn two or three spots from worlds without having qualified two or three athletes / pairs to the free skate. However, if you lose any quotas due to that rule you are allowed to attempt to qualify those spots at Nebelhorn. This rule change actually makes worlds much more important for smaller nations since it is now easier to qualify a single quota spot from worlds and harder to qualify from Neberlhorn. Pairs in particular is going to be a bloodbath...

Quick and dirty OG simulation after the ladies short: 3 spots: 2 spots: * * 1 spot: * * * countries that have the chance to qualify an additional spot at the Nebelhorn Trophy It appears that every country that qualified a skater for the long program got a spot, the question is will something weird happen near the top to allow a country that didn't qualify for the long program to get a quota. It will be pretty hard to qualify out of Nebelhorn with the USA, South Korea and potentially Canada all trying to grab an extra spot, along with France who still hasn't qualified.

I wonder if the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (not the same thing as the country of Malta) could create an NOC under existing rules. Despite having no territory it is considered sovereign, issues it’s own passport and has diplomatic relationships with many countries.

Canadian figure skating is definitively in... lets call it rebuilding mode. I’d be a little surprised if Canada can even medal at the team event in 2022 at this point. Very different from where the team was during the last decade, that’s for sure.

He barely survived against an extremely weak opponent. And he's facing the prospect of an election at any moment because of this specific scandal (since we have a hung parliament at the moment). Trudeau also has a reputation (fairly or unfairly) of being extremely soft on China, so a scandal that involves specifically caving to China could be extremely damaging. Especially when the only thing Canada would get in return for Trudeau caving is... nothing (i.e. a return to the status quo).

I think the Chinese government way overestimates how much the average Canadian cares about the two Michaels. In Canada it's perceived as China not understanding that we have rule of law and that there is nothing we can do for them, no matter how many people they decide to cruelly hurt. Trudeau is not suffering any political cost for acting the way he is, if nothing else the only attacks he is fielding is that he's been too accommodating of China in this entire process. That's a convenient attack (it's unlikely any other government would have done much more), but there is no Canadian government that would cave here. Having a reputation for having an impartial and fair justice system is paramount to getting foreign investments for a small country like Canada. If our executive starts to meddle with the judicial system the economic cost would be extremely high.

If Trudeau got involved in this case and it got leaked to the press he'd lose his job. A head of government should not interfere in court proceedings, that's extremely inappropriate. I'm not sure how it would be some brilliant chess move for him to destroy his own career in order to appease the CCP. Canadians by and large don't blame Trudeau for what happened to the two Michaels. Either they blame China or the United States. But there's no political cost for Trudeau holding the line. Caving to China, however, would be the kind of scandal that would be extremely damaging, especially since Trudeau already has a reputation for being very friendly towards the CCP.

What is the Canadian government supposed to do, add a “this person is important to the CCP” clause to it’s extradition treaties?

The top two was a massive surprise, but on the day Tatalina was clearly the best performer.

The most egregious part is that either Canada or the US is always guaranteed a team. Though as someone who happens to be both Canadian and American I can’t say I mind too much :P Though arguably no country has it easier than Australia when it comes to Table Tennis qualification.

That’s how Canada qualified in both men’s and women’s singles, too. Canada even declined their first men’s single quota to send two male athletes (since the winner of that match also qualified in mixed doubles) xD (To be fair, Mo Zhang would have qualified by ranking otherwise)

Not under current rules.

After missing out on a world title in the slopestyle by 0.25 points two years ago, McRibs is finally a world champion :D

Not in big air. By the time the FIS started hosting ski big air events at the world cup / world championship level we were past that point already. I’m referring to the 2014 Olympic women’s ski slopestyle final, where the bronze medalist (Kim Lamare) did a zero spin in the biggest jump, which was basically the size of a big air jump.

Very good ski big air competition from both the men and the women today. Women’s free skiing sure came a long way from the days where you could do a zero spin in the biggest jump and get a bronze.

Were any of the last four women’s all around controversial? Just seems like an... odd complaint.

Well she had already finished first in qualifying by the time you asked :P

Kelly Sildaru is also going through major life events that may complicate her career going forward :/

Very weird seeing this storied half-pipe host a world championships. Just like in the slopestyle this morning the soft snow caused some problems.

Pretty bad competition on the men’s side. They really needed a semi finals to narrow down the men’s field to 12 before the finals (allowing them to do three runs). Lots of athletes seemed to have problems with the snow conditions. Kleveland had a commanding performance, either of his runs would have won by a large margins. The women’s event started rough but it ultimately ended up being pretty okay. Anderson was oh so close to winning her first (and way overdue) world championship title until Sadowski-Synnott finally lived up to her potential on the very last run of the day. The course is pretty good, minus the snow being too soft. It feels like an X Games course from a couple years ago, so from back when all the jumps were just standard kickers. Hopefully the men’s ski slopestyle contest (which is mercifully a three run contest) will show us the true potential of this course.

In what universe is Kleveland winning a fluke? He was one of the favorites. He also really loves this specific hill and frankly he seemed like the only athlete on the men’s side who was comfortable with the snow conditions today.

I’m guessing that, assuming you are correct, this will rank extremely high on your list of best moments as a fan of Brazilian nordic skiing :D