Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Qualification
Singles	men	women
Pairs	mixed
Ice dance	mixed
Team event	mixed
v t e

The following is about the qualification rules and allocation of spots for the figure skating events at the 2022 Winter Olympics.^[1]

Qualification system

A total of 144 quota spots are available to athletes to compete at the games. A maximum of 18 athletes can be entered by a National Olympic Committee, with a maximum of 9 men or 9 women. There is also an "Additional Athletes Quota" which allows up to a maximum of 5 more total skaters, bringing the potential total to 149. The host (China) is the priority for these additional places so that if they have met minimum standards they may have an entry in each event, other than the team event. If unused, these five quotas can be used to qualify nations for the team event if they only need an entry in one more discipline.^[1]

Skater qualification

There is no individual athlete qualification to the Olympics; the choice of which athlete(s) to send to the Games is at the discretion of each country's National Olympic Committee. Each country is allowed a maximum of three entries per discipline, resulting in a maximum of 18 athletes (nine men and nine women) possible per country.

According to ISU rules, countries must select their entries from among skaters who have achieved a minimum technical elements score (TES) at an ISU-recognized international competition on or before 24 January 2022.^[1]

On the issue of the disqualification of participating athletes at the Winter Olympics, the ISU has issued a statement regarding its policy regarding doping violations which may be alleged for the duration of the events of the Games stating that the, “...International Skating Union cannot disclose any information about a possible anti-doping rule violation. This is regulated by the ISU anti-doping rules and the IOC anti-doping rules for the Beijing 2022 Olympics.”^[2]

Country qualification

The number of entries for the figure skating events at the Olympic Games is limited by a quota set by the International Olympic Committee. A total of 144 quota spots are available to athletes to compete at the games. There will be 30 skaters in the disciplines of men's and women's singles, 19 pair skating teams, and 23 ice dance teams. Additionally, ten nations qualify for the team event.

Countries will be able to qualify entries to the 2022 Winter Olympics in two ways. Most spots are allocated based on the results of the 2021 World Championships. At the event, countries were able to qualify up to three entries in each discipline according to the usual system in place; countries which earned multiple spots to the Olympics also earned multiple spots to the 2022 World Championships, although the World Championships were not subject to the requirement that for 2/3 entries, countries must additionally qualify 2/3 skaters into the free segment. Every discipline qualifies independently.

At the World Championships, the system was as follows:

Number of skaters/teams entered at Worlds	To earn 3 entries to the Olympics	To earn 2 entries to the Olympics	To earn 1 entry to the Olympics
1	Place in the top 2	Place in the top 10	Next best ranked athlete from the NFs not qualified with two or three places, until the quotas of qualification through the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 are reached.
2	Total placements is equal to or less than 13	Total placements is equal to or less than 28
3	Top two placements is equal to or less than 13	Top two placements is equal to or less than 28

• According to the ISU's Rule 378(2), any competitor who qualified for the free program received a maximum placement score of 16, and any competitor who failed to qualify for the free program received a maximum placement score of 18.^[3]

Qualification spots available per tournament

The results of the 2021 World Championships determined 83 total spots: 24 entries in each singles discipline, 16 in pairs, and 19 in ice dance. The available spots were awarded going down the results list, with multiple spots being awarded first.

The remainder of the spots will be filled at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany in late September 2021. Countries that had already earned an entry to the Olympics were not allowed to qualify additional entries at this final qualifying competition. However, if a country earned two or three spots at the World Championships, but did not have two or three skaters, respectively, qualify for the free skate, then they were allowed to send a skater who did not reach the free segment at World Championships to Nebelhorn to qualify the remaining spot(s). Unlike at the World Championships, where countries could qualify more than one spot depending on the placement of their skater(s), at the Nebelhorn Trophy, countries could earn only one spot per discipline, regardless of ranking.

Initially, a total of six spots per singles event, three spots in pairs, and four in ice dance were available at Nebelhorn Trophy. One additional quota spot became available in men's singles following the 2021 World Championships.^[4] If a country declines to use one or more of its qualified spots, the vacated spot is awarded using the results of Nebelhorn Trophy in descending order of placement.

For the team trophy, scores from the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships and the 2021–22 Grand Prix season, will be tabulated to establish the ten top nations. Each nation compiles a score from their top performers in each of the four disciplines. The Grand Prix Final, to be held in early December 2021, was to be the final event to affect the Team Trophy score, before it was cancelled.^[5]

Qualification timeline

Event	Date	Venue
2021 World Figure Skating Championships	22–28 March 2021	Stockholm, Sweden
2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	22–25 September 2021	Oberstdorf, Germany

Qualified countries

^[4][6]

Nations	Men's singles	Women's singles	Pairs	Ice dance	Additional	Team event	Athlete(s)
Armenia				1			2
Australia	1	1					2
Austria		1	1				3
Azerbaijan	1	1					2
Belarus	1	1					2
Belgium		1					1
Bulgaria		1					1
Canada	2	1	2	3		Y	13
China	1	1	2	1		Y	8
Czech Republic	1	1	1	1		Y	6
Estonia	1	1					2
Finland		1		1			3
France	2			1			4
Georgia	1	1	1	1		Y	6
Germany		1	1	1	1	Y	6
Great Britain		1		1			3
Hungary			1				2
Israel	1		1				3
Italy	2		2	1	1	Y	9
Japan	3	3	1	1		Y	10
Latvia	1						1
Lithuania				1			2
Mexico	1						1
Netherlands		1					1
Poland		1		1			3
ROC	3	3	3	3		Y	18
South Korea	2	2					4
Spain			1	1			4
Sweden	1	1					2
Switzerland	1	1					2
Ukraine	1	1		1	2	Y	6
United States	3	3	2	3		Y	16
Total: 32 NOCs	30	30	19	23	4	(10)	148

• "Additional" quotas refer to extra quotas given to countries with athletes qualified in three disciplines so they can participate in the team event. Athletes who qualify via the team event quota compete in the team event only and cannot enter the individual competitions. Germany can send one man, Italy one woman, and Ukraine one pairs team (two athletes).

Qualification summary

Men's singles

Event	Location	Athletes per NOC	Qualified	Total
2021 World Championships	Stockholm	3	Japan	23[a]
		2	United States[b]  ROC[b]  Italy
		1	Canada[b]  France[b]  South Korea[b]  China  Georgia  Switzerland  Estonia  Belarus  Latvia  Czech Republic  Mexico  Ukraine  Sweden  Israel
2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	Oberstdorf	1	United States  France  ROC  South Korea  Azerbaijan  Australia  Canada	7
Total				30

Women's singles

Event	Location	Athletes per NOC	Qualified	Total
2021 World Championships	Stockholm	3	ROC  Japan	24
		2	United States[a]  South Korea
		1	Belgium[a]  Austria[a]  Azerbaijan  Canada  Estonia  Sweden  Netherlands  Bulgaria  Germany  Georgia  China  Czech Republic  Great Britain  Finland
2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	Oberstdorf	1	United States  Poland  Belarus  Switzerland  Ukraine  Australia	6
Total				30

Pairs

Event	Location	Pairs per NOC	Qualified	Total
2021 World Championships	Stockholm	3	ROC	16
		2	China[a]  Canada  United States  Italy
		1	Japan[a]  Austria  Germany  Hungary  Czech Republic
2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	Oberstdorf	1	Spain  Georgia  Israel	3
Total				19

Ice dance

Event	Location	Pairs per NOC	Qualified	Total
2021 World Championships	Stockholm	3	ROC  United States  Canada	19
		1	Italy[a]  Great Britain[a]  Spain  Poland  China  Lithuania  France  Germany  Japan  Ukraine
2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy	Oberstdorf	1	Finland  Georgia  Armenia  Czech Republic	4
Total				23

Team event

^[6]

Qualified to Olympics

Reserve

Not eligible for Olympics

Rank	Team	2020–21	2021–22	Total
1	ROC	4387	1560	5947
2	United States	3793	1416	5209
3	Canada	2729	1220	3949
4	Japan	2434	1396	3830
5	China	1904	905	2809
6	Italy	1701	1073	2774
7	France	926	952	1878
8	South Korea	930	851	1781
9	Germany	739	741	1480
10	Great Britain	756	718	1474
11	Georgia	714	758	1472
12	Austria	992	191	1183
13	Estonia	552	610	1162
14	Czech Republic	586	551	1137
15	Belgium	787	324	1111
16	Belarus	422	474	896
17	Ukraine	308	585	893
18	Poland	377	457	834
19	Spain	418	324	742
20	Switzerland	275	410	685

Next eligible NOC per event

If a country rejects a quota spot then additional quotas become available. A country can be eligible for one quota spot per event in the reallocation process. Countries in bold indicate the country later received a quota spot. The following list is compiled after the remaining spots were allocated at the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy.^[7] There were no alternates for the team event because no additional NOCs beyond the qualified ten met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the event.^[6]

Men's singles	Women's singles	Pairs	Ice dance	Team event
Turkey  Armenia  Great Britain  Germany	Italy  Cyprus  Chinese Taipei  Slovenia	China  Belarus  Australia  Netherlands	Hungary  South Korea  Italy  Australia	—

References