Sara & Kirill's superior SD TES came at Torun, where the judges were handing out levels like candy - there was some inflation at Bavarian Open, but nowhere near as much as in Poland. And Olivia & Adri have shown themselves to be much the stronger across the whole phase of competition. Both teams have made mistakes - Olivia at Nationals, Sara in every competition except Nationals... I blame mostly the federation for setting such silly selection criteria! It's hard to change it now, but imo they should be thinking who will have the best chance to secure a spot for the Olympics & only Olivia & Adri have shown a score at any event that could do it.
Can I suggest a Hurtado/Khaliavin fan thread isn't the place to make an argument that the selection rules should be bent to favour another team. Just saying.....
I wonder why the federation didn't enter both teams in an international competition to see the results of a direct contest away from nationals. Shifting goal posts after the event, as you suggest, should be limited to exceptional circumstances where the results are clearly an anomaly. That isn't the case here. Sara/Kirill won both SD and FD at Nationals and did so with shorter preparation time and fewer competitions under their belt. You're saying Olivia only made mistakes at Nationals. But isn't that the argument against choosing them as they participated in more events (without mistakes as you say...) but failing to post a better score in the established criteria throughout, while H/K made better use of fewer opportunities? Right now, Kirill obviously brings more experience as skater and international competitor to the new teams than Olivia does, who is only 19 years of age. S/D have a great coaching situation and I'm sure the rivalry between the two teams will be close. Exciting times for Spanish ice dance! No argument though as to who should be at Worlds. Wishing Sara/Kirill good luck!!!
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