Still searching for the necessary TES minimums

[Elizabeth]

Some of the skaters who just participated in the Europeans are competing again this week at the Bavarian Open - January 31st - February 5th - in an attempt to get the required minimum scores to represent their country at Worlds.


The Schedule/Entries/Start Orders/Results: http://www.deu-event.de/results/BAY/BO2023/index.htm

[kittykins]

What are TES minimums?

[Elizabeth]

The ISU sets technical element score (TES) minimum that are required each year for skaters to participate in their ISU "championship" events - Europeans, 4CC, Worlds and Jr. Worlds. There are minimum scores for each of the short/rhythm and free programs and they can only be earned at specific ISU-specified events. All of the "qualifying" events are announced before the season begins, as are the scores. The ISU may designate certain events from a previous season (or more) that are part of the process. It is important to note that national championships are not included in the list of acceptable events.

These TES minimums were instituted quite a few years ago at least partly in order to reduce the fields at these events, especially from the member federations who were entitled to send one entry in each discipline, whether or not they met a "standard" to participate. This allowed the ISU to do away with the "qualifying round" at their championship events, thus shortening the length of the events. The ISU has established the number of skaters "desirable" for their championship events under the current schedules - they do have a "just in case" clause that allows them to reduce the minimums, e.g. prior to Worlds, if there are fewer than expected skaters qualified in one or more disciplines.

For this season (with comments about what was in effect for the previous season)

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2023:
Discipline - SP/RD & FS/FD
MEN 34.00 64.00
WOMEN 32.00 53.00 (previously 30 / 51)
PAIR SKATING 29.00 46.00 (previously 27 / 44)
ICE DANCE 33.00 49.00 (previously 33 / 47)

ISU European Championships, ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2023:
Discipline - SP/RD & FS/FD
MEN 28.00 46.00
WOMEN 25.00 42.00 (previously 23 /40)
PAIR SKATING 25.00 42.00
ICE DANCE 28.00 45.00 (previously 28 / 44)

ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2023:
Discipline - SP/RD & FS/FD
JUNIOR MEN 25.00 44.00 (previously 23 / 42)
JUNIOR WOMEN 25.00 40.00 (previously 23 / 38)
JUNIOR PAIR SKATING 23.00 34.00
JUNIOR ICE DANCE 24.00 38.00 (previously 23 / 37)

Some skaters currently have both of the minimum scores and can be selected by their federation to compete at 4CC, Worlds or Jr Worlds. Others may only have one of the required minimums (or neither of them) and there are limited opportunities to compete at an event in time to get them and be qualified to compete at one of the upcoming ISU championship events.

A couple of examples -
* Valter Virtanen FIN had sufficient TES minimums to compete at the recent European Championships but does not have them for Worlds. He is competing this week in another attempt to reach them. If he doesn't make it, there are still a couple of other opportunities in the next couple of weeks.
* Andrew Torgashev USA just won the bronze medal at the US championships but he has not competed at all internationally for a couple of years (in part due to injuries and recovery). He has been provisionally named to the US Worlds team but there is an * indicating that he has to acquire the TES minimums in order to compete there. The US is "scrambling" to try to get him entered into a competition in time.

[Elizabeth]

There are a number of skaters still seeking those TES minimums and a very limited number of competitions at which they can make the attempt before Worlds. The details are available here: https://anythinggoe.com/tesminsreq2023/

Skate Canada has not entered any skaters in any of these competitions.

[kittykins]

Thanks so much for the excellent explanation.