World/Olympic medalists without Euro/4CC medals

yume said:

i think in both competitions there are little feds which don't have enough skaters to make teams.

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Yes, that is true -- going back at least to the 1990s when I started following things closely.

I don't really understand how the age limits worked before 1996-97. I think the lower limits were more flexible until then. But the upper limits for juniors might have been lower in general (and definitely were for male partners) between the late 70s and early 90s.

Sometimes federations of all sizes sent the same skaters to both junior and senior events, if age eligible for both, if they were hoping for a junior world medal but also wanted a talented skater to get experience on the senior level before they were ready deal with medal expectations at that level.

Sometimes a good result at a national competition in a larger fed would earn a skater or team senior assignments one year, and then a year or two later they'd hit a slump and get passed over for senior assignments but still be in line for junior assignments.

All sorts of different situations in different countries, with different individual skaters, with different scheduling of the international junior and senior seasons over the years, etc.

Vanessa Gusmeroli, Gallit Chait/ Sergej Shachnowsky; Kati Winkler/ Rene Lohse

I realize that skaters can compete in both junior and senior events in the same season, and it's perfectly proper to do that. However, under the current system they have to earn their senior TES at a "minor" senior competition before they can enter a "major" one (one that has minimum TES requirements). You can't go to 4CC or Europeans as your first senior comp. That's a reasonable restriction, and it's fairly new.

pohatta said:

I was thinking of Alena Leonova's career. On three occasions she was the 2nd best European at Worlds, getting a silver medal in 2012 behind Kostner. However she never won a medal at Europeans.

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I think she deserved 5th at 2012 Worlds. Very lucky to have the full backing of Russia for that Championship; it was the last season before the modern wave of Russian power girls were allowed to compete at Senior worlds. Lipnitskaia most likely would have won 2012 Worlds, and Leonova off the podium since Russia no longer "needed" her, had she been allowed to compete. Sotnikova in 2011 very possibly could have won Worlds too (it's foretelling how the music she used in the LP that season was revisited and modified for the Olympic season).