Quota period: which of the skaters will represent Russia at the Olympic Games

The skaters have completed their qualification for the Milan Olympics, five athletes from Russia took part in it, and three of them (two for sure) earned tickets to the main start of the quadrennial. Considering that our team has not performed internationally for a long time, this is quite a worthy result. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

Ksenia Korzhova

Ksenia qualified for the 3,000 m distance thanks to her result (3.59.95), shown at the first stage of the World Cup in Salt Lake City.

The selection scheme consists of the top 15 in points and five more in results. Ksenia did not enter the top 15 in points, as she ran only three of the four KM stages, and her competitors ran all four. This dropped the athlete to the 16th place in the points standings. Thus, she could only pass by the result. Among those who, like Ksenia, could not enter the top 15, the Russian athlete showed the fourth time, so she got to the Games 19th out of 20 possible. The last to pass was Elizaveta Golubeva, who previously represented Russia and now plays for Kazakhstan.

Anastasia Semenova

Nastya performed very successfully on the fourth stage in the Hummer, winning the mass start in Group B and scoring 20 points. The victory gave her the opportunity to start in Group A immediately, four hours later, where Semenova finished 15th with 26 points. Since the best result from these two races is counted, her victory in group B is discarded and 26 points are counted for 15th place in group A. Thus, according to the sum of four stages, she scored 95 points and placed in 20th place in the ranking. The best 24 are taking place at the Olympic Games, so Nastya is going to Milan.

Alexandra Sayutina

The situation is most difficult for Alexandra Sayutina, who competed at a distance of 1.5 thousand m. At the first stage in the USA, she fell, which affected the athlete's chances of qualifying. Firstly, the Russian did not earn points, and secondly, she could not show decent seconds on the fastest ice in the world in Salt Lake City, which would have been useful in case of qualifying based on the result.

At a distance of 1.5 thousand meters, 21 athletes go to the Games. Sayutina was not among them, even considering that no more than three people qualify from the country. If you look at which place Alexandra takes with a score of 1.56.40, then she does not get into the top seven, which already gets according to this criterion. Britain's Ellia Smeding closes the qualifying with a score of 1.55,32.

However, in the list of those who passed the result, there is a former Russian, and now Danish Sofia Thorup (Prosvirnova). Sofia does not have a Danish passport yet, which may create problems with participating in the Games. In any case, that's what Torup herself thinks, as she said in a recent interview with Sport Express.

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If Sofia does not get to the Olympics, Sayutina is the first in the reserve. Moreover, she turns out to be the first not because her result is the next after Smedingh, but because all those countries whose representatives are between the British and Alexandra already have their athletes higher on the list and have already received permits to the Olympic Games. And then the priority rule begins to apply for the country that has not yet received a ticket. These are the neutrals.

However, there is a nuance that even Torup probably doesn't know about. A passport is an optional factor for applying for an OI. It often becomes a stumbling block when athletes change their citizenship solely on paper. To combat this trend, the IOC requires a passport from those athletes who cannot otherwise prove their ties to a new country. The situation with Thorup is different — she got married, lives in Denmark, and her connections are easily proven.

This generally falls under the exception of the rules, which just have a reservation: "In addition, in all cases where a participant has the right to participate in the Olympic Games, either representing another country or having a choice about the country he intends to represent, the IOC Executive Committee can make any decisions of a general or individual nature. in relation to issues related to the citizenship, nationality, place of residence or residence of any participant."

If the Danish NOC makes a request to the IOC Executive Committee, Sofia may be granted admission. And then Sayutina's chances become zero, unless, of course, someone else gives up on her and there will be no one to replace this one in her country's national team.