Our final preview and the final discipline to wrap things up on Saturday is the ice dance. Since scores and placements for the discipline tend to stay fairly consistent and major errors are far less common than the other disciplines, ice dance should be the easiest to predict. However, many teams haven’t competed internationally for a while due to the pandemic and Olympic qualifying is a scary business, so there’s still some chance for surprises. Here’s how things stand:
- Three Olympic spots available
- Countries who can earn a second spot: Italy, Great Britain
- Countries who can earn a third spot: none
The Field
| Team | Country | Best Scores |
|---|---|---|
| Maria KAZAKOVA / Georgy REVIYA | Georgia | RD: 69.98 FD: 106.95 Total: 176.19 |
| Natalie TASCHLEROVA / Filip TASCHLER | Czech Republic | RD: 68.45 FD: 104.29 Total: 172.74 |
| Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS | Finland | RD: 67.26 FD: 103.97 Total: 171.23 |
| Yura MIN / Daniel EATON | South Korea | RD: 64.38 FD: 100.19 Total: 163.42 |
| Anna YANOVSKAYA / Adam LUKACS | Hungary | RD: 64.32 FD: 97.08 Total: 161.40 |
| Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN | Australia | RD: 62.83 FD: 98.22 Total: 161.05 |
| Tina GARABEDIAN / Simon PROULX SENECAL | Armenia | RD: 61.25 FD: 95.39 Total: 156.64 |
| Carolina PORTESI PERONI / Michael CHRASTECKY | Italy | RD: 60.64 FD: 92.13 Total: 153.07 |
| Sasha FEAR / George WADDELL | Great Britain | RD: 62.69 FD: 93.29 Total: 152.34 |
| Charlotte LAFOND-FOURNIER / Richard Kang In KAM | New Zealand | RD: 58.88 FD: 86.10 Total: 144.98 |
| Ekaterina KUZNETSOVA / Oleksandr KOLOSOVSKYI | Azerbaijan | RD: 48.43 FD: 73.02 Total: 121.45 |
| Maria Sofia PUCHEROVA / Nikita LYSAK | Slovakia | RD: 49.54 FD: 71.13 Total: 120.67 |
| Shira ICHILOV / Laurent ABECASSIS** | Israel | RD: 55.57 |
| Yuliia ZHATA / Berk AKALIN** | Turkey | RD: 52.21 |
| Viktoria SEMENJUK / Ilya YUKHIMUK** | Belarus | RD: 51.15 |
| Chelsea VERHAEGH / Sherim VAN GEFFEN** | Netherlands | RD: 50.79 |
| Ekaterina MITROFANOVA / Vladislav KASINSKIJ | Bosnia and Herzegovina | None |
Note: A (**) indicates that the team’s only ISU personal best scores are from 2021 Worlds and they did not qualify for the free dance.
Predictions
Based purely on personal best scores, the most likely qualifiers are:
- Maria Kazakova / Georgy Reviya (Georgia)
- Natalie Taschlerova / Filip Taschler (Czech Republic)
- Juulia Turkkila / Matthias Versluis (Finland)
- Yura Min / Daniel Eaton (South Korea)
Kazakova / Reviya are the reigning Junior Grand Prix champions and World Junior silver medalists. They are a very exciting young team who are only yet to qualify due to missing last year’s Worlds because of injury. Barring a complete disaster or withdrawal, their spot is all but guaranteed.
Min/Eaton likewise had to withdraw from Worlds, while the Czech and Finish teams were the first two not to make the free dance at Worlds, so would logically be the next two in.
Slightly lower down the rankings, Anna Yanovskaya / Adam Lukacs (Hungary) and Holly Harris / Jason Chan (Australia) also have a fighting chance, while the Armenian team of Tina Garabedian / Simon Proulx Senecal will be coming out fighting after being forced to withdraw from Worlds on the day of the rhythm dance due to a positive COVID test.
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