As with all Olympic years, US Figure Skating has published a set of criteria by which they will select the Olympic team for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. The full set of criteria can be found here. This post attempts to provide a distilled version of the main criteria that the International Committee will use to determine the Olympic teams.
As the week progresses, I will update this page with more analysis on how skaters are stacking up based on their scores and their 2022 Nationals placements.
Quick breakdown of selection criteria
TL;DR: In short, there are a number of competitions that will be looked at by the International Committee (namely, the season’s and last season’s Nationals, last season’s Worlds, and this season’s Grand Prix and Challenge Series events) - they will be looked at along the criteria of competitiveness, consistency, and trending scores. Skaters are then put into groups based on those criteria and then further separated as necessary based on things like 2021 Worlds scores and Nationals placements.
Detailed breakdown of selection criteria
Among the athletes who meet the basic requirements (e.g., nationality/passport, ISU minimums), the goal of the International Committee is “to field the most competitive team … to determine athletes/teams who will have the most performance impact at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.” The criteria for “most performance impact” are based on a combination of the following:
Competitiveness: Based on comparing international competition scores with benchmarks from 2021 Worlds to determine medal potential; separated into “top 3,” “top 5,” and “top 10” scores
Consistency: Based on comparing the median score from the international events with the 2021 Worlds benchmarks
Trending scores: Based on how scores at international events escalate or deescalate during the season, with the final score used being 2022 Nationals, if applicable
The competitions that will be used include:
International - “The athlete’s/team’s best score at the international events … will be used to separate athletes with similar scores during the identified events”
2021 Worlds
2021 Grand Prix Series competitions
2021 Challenger Series competitions
Other international events identified by the International Committee that meet the ISU criteria for Eligible Events (i.e., competitions that earn World Standings and Rankings points)
2021 Junior Grand Prix Series competitions
National - “Domestic placement and scores … will also be taken into consideration but will not be directly compared to international scores”
2022 US Championships
2021 US Championships
These scores will then be looked at and prioritized based on the table below:
After athletes are placed into those priority groups, three more criteria will be used “to separate the athletes/teams within their priority groups with a similar body of work”:
Score at 2021 Worlds, score at 2021 Grand Prix Final (cancelled), and placement at 2022 Nationals
Acceleration of scores through identified events will be favored versus a deceleration or stagnation in scores, with the final event for trending scores being 2022 Nationals, if applicable
Comparison of placements at 2021 and 2022 Nationals will be the “final tiebreaker for athletes/teams with a similar body of work that cannot be separated using the previous criteria,” with 2022 Nationals prioritized over 2021 Nationals
Petition process
Provided that injury or illness causes withdrawal from 2022 Nationals, the athlete/team “must also be able to demonstrate competitive, consistent, and trending results” through the events that were mentioned above. If the petition is successful, the athlete/team has to prove their ability to compete “by performing complete competition programs with all planned program elements by a specific date, as approved and reviewed by a monitoring panel.”