Nebelhorn Trophy 2025: Questions

[JeanA]

1. Are countries only allowed one entry in this competition? I looked at the results of 2021 and couldn't find any country that had two.

2. If only one entry is allowed per country, what happens if a country is awarded three spots at the previous Worlds on account of one skater? That country needs to solidify two spots, so would Nebelhorn make an exception and allow two entries from that country? It would be quite unusual for that scenario, since that one skater from CountryX would have had to place 1st or 2nd at the previous Worlds. But that could conceivably happen to two countries in 2025.

3. Are there technical minimums to compete in Nebelhorn?

4. Not just related per se to Nebelhorn, but are there technical minimums to compete in Seniors in the Championship Series, Grand Prix, etc?

5. In 2021, Nebelhorn had 36 entries. Is this the maximum for the event? And if so, what is their cutoff to gain entry to the competition?

6. If a Country comes out of nowhere in the 25-26 season with a new competitive skater, can they compete at Nebelhorn to gain an Olympic spot?

7. Every Country/Fed that is a member of the ISU, if I am believing correctly, is eligible for the Olympics. But it appears that the only ways of qualifying for the Olympics are only from either the previous World Championships or then through Nebelborn, is that correct?

8. At the 2022 there were only 30 entries (Anastasiia Shabotova from Ukraine placed 30th). Does that mean there are only going to be 30 maximum entries at the Olympics in 2026? How does this usually work out after the previous Worlds, where several countries will have earned 3 or 2 spots? Imagine a scenario where JPN, KOR, BEL, Country X and Country Y all earn three spots for the Olympics. That's already half the Olympic quota. Then there are several countries that will have earned two spots. What happens if someone placed top 24 in the previous World Championships and the 30 quota has already been reached? And if the quota has been reached before Nebelhorn, then the competition is basically meaningless for someone trying to obtain an Olympic spot, right? (It won't be meaningless for those trying to solidify their country's spots of course). So...... (I'll start a new question)

9. If some of those countries don't solidify their spots at Nebelhorn by placing top 6, who gets the available spot for the Olympics? The country who should have earned the spot at previous Worlds by placing top 24 or the country placing 7th at Nebelhorn?


I hope someone has the answers to some of these questions. I started getting really involved that I'm sure many probably won't be able to keep up. And it's all just theoretical, but possible if you think about it. Thank you in advance!

 

[Andrea82]

1) They are allowed only one entry vying for the Olympic qualification. It is up to organizers to accept further entries (in 2021 they allowed ISU members who finished top 10 at 2020 Nebelhorn to enter a second entry). If a second entry is entered, the ISU member has to specify which one is competing for the Olympic qualification in advance of the competition. They can't decide it later based on the results.

2) As ISU wrote the rule, it would appear that in that scenario, they would lose the third spot
ISU Members which have earned the necessary points for two or three entries but did not have two respectively three Skaters qualified for the Free Skating/Free Dance at the World Senior Championships immediately preceding the OWG. Such ISU Members are entitled to enter one Skater in the qualifying event who, however, cannot be a Skater that had qualified for the Free Skating/Free Dance at the World Senior Championships immediately preceding the OWG.

3) No

4) There are technical minimums to compete at ISU Championships (World Championships, European Championships, 4 Continents, Junior World Championships) and Olympics. Senior Grand Prix Series have a total score minimum (which is not applied to host picks)

5-6) "All ISU Members who need to qualify in a discipline and wish to enter their one competitor/couple in the respective discipline will be accepted".

7) Yes. It is Worlds of previous season + an International Competition to be held in September/October. It is usually Nelbehorn Trophy but not necessarily. In 1997 and 2005 they used the Karl Schaefer Memorial.

8) It is down to 29 for 2026. Worlds can assign only up to 24 spots. They stop when the 24th slot is assigned and everybody else should go to Nebelhorn (or the designed qualifying competition for that year). Before 2022 (when ISU members could qualify 2nd or 3rd spots on the strength of only 1-2 skaters), it was not unusual to have skaters qualified for the FS at Worlds not obtaining an Olympic quota at Worlds.

9) The 7th at Nebelhorn

 

[RUKen]

I thought that the ISU decided this past year, or maybe the year before, there will be a new competition to serve as the Olympic Qualifier in the fall of 2025; the Nebelhorn Trophy will not be the qualifying competition. Conceivably, the qualifier could still be held in Oberstdorf, but it may be somewhere else instead.

Or did the ISU rescind that decision when I wasn't paying attention?

 

[FlossieH]

I don't think they have confirmed yet which competition will act as the qualifier for the remaining Olympic places. It may not be Nebelhorn. I don't think the Challenger series events have been confirmed for that season yet, either.

 

[NanaPat]

It's easier to understand the process if you don't think of Olympic spots as being "earned" at Worlds but needing "confirmation" at the Olympic qualifier. The ISU does not use that language.

The number of Olympic spots earned by a country at Worlds is equal to the MINIMUM of the number of (next) Worlds spots earned by the country and the number of that country's entries in the free skate. (It may be a little more complicated for pairs and dance, but this works for singles, where the number of Olympic spots qualified at Worlds is the same as the number of entries in the free skate).

In addition, countries that qualified MORE spots for Worlds than for Olympics can send one entry to the qualifying competition, just like countries that earned no Olympic spots at Worlds can. Those countries are all competing for spots on an equal basis, and the top skaters take the available spots.

The only difference between countries competing for an additional spot and countries competing for their only spot is that the countries that already have spot(s) cannot send a skater/team who qualified for the free skate at the Worlds where the Olympic spots were allotted. Essentially, they already earned one Olympic spot and the same person/team can't earn more; that would be greedy!

I wasn't sure how the new rules were going to work out, but liked the results when I saw them in action. Several small-country skaters who would have had to qualify their country's spot through Nebelhorn under the old rules were able to qualify their country's spot at Worlds. This made it easier for them to plan, train, and get sponsorships.

 

[RUKen]

I thought that the ISU decided this past year, or maybe the year before, there will be a new competition to serve as the Olympic Qualifier in the fall of 2025; the Nebelhorn Trophy will not be the qualifying competition. Conceivably, the qualifier could still be held in Oberstdorf, but it may be somewhere else instead.

Here is the proposal (italics added for emphasis) from the 2022 ISU meeting in Thailand regarding the qualifying competition:

11. ISU COUNCIL Rule 100 paragraph 3.b) Amend as follows: 3. ISU Events b) For the avoidance of doubt, ISU Events are defined hereby to include all ISU Championships, the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and Series (for the Series see paragraph 3.c) below), the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and Series (for the Series see paragraph 3.c) below), the ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating, the ISU Synchronized Skating Junior World Challenge Cup, the Figure Skating Olympic Qualifying Competition, as well as any other event such as ISU shows, ISU exhibitions or other ISU International Competitions directly organized, financed and promoted by the ISU and specifically designated “ISU”. Reason: Experience has shown that combining the Figure Skating Olympic Qualifying Competition with a regular International Figure Skating Competition involves many logistical and operational challenges. The ISU Council therefore proposes that ISU Figure Skating Members will be available to apply to host the Figure Skating Olympic Qualifying Competition during the Olympic season based on Guidelines and conditions (entry restrictions, rights available to the organizing ISU Member, ISU contribution etc) published by the ISU in due time for a timely ISU allotment of this new ISU Event.

I believe that this proposal passed (but I cannot find confirmation online), and the result is that the qualifying competition will not be the Nebelhorn Trophy, or the Golden Spin of Zagreb, or any other existing competition. It will be a separate event.

 

[FlossieH]

Here is the ISU document outlining the qualification system for 2026 Olympics: https://www.isu.org/docman-document...ication-systems-5/31984-figure-skating-2/file The qualifying competition is showing as TBD.