World Team Championships

Who gets to go?

The ISU ranks the teams according to points they've earn during the regular season. At the end of the regular season, the top 8 men's and ladies' teams and the host team are qualified to attend the Team Championships.

However, any of these teams may choose not to attend. The option to attend then passes to the next highest ranked team.

The Schedule of Events

Events occur over two days, usually on a Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the day will begin with the First Qualifying Round, which are the teams that are ranked 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th. Each of these teams select four skaters to compete in four heats of the 1000m and 500m, one heat of the 3000m and one relay.

In the afternoon, the Second Qualifying Round occurs with the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th ranked teams. There is no 1500m distance for the Team Championships.

The Scoring System

At the World Teams, skaters score points for the team, rather than for themselves individually. The points for the individual heats are 5, 3, 2, 1. (1st place gets 5 points, 2nd gets 3 and so on.) If a skater is disqualified, he/she gets 0 points. The points for the relay are 10, 6, 4, 2. At the end of the afternoon, the points for all teams are tallied. The two teams with the most points automatically advance to the finals. The two teams with the least points are done for the weekend. The other four teams move on to the Repechage.

What is a Repechage?

Saturday evening is the repechage round. The four teams are competing for a place in the finals. This set of races determines 5th and 6th place. The format is the same as earlier in the day. Whoever places 1st and 2nd in the Repechage round moves on to the finals. Confusing enough?

The Finals

The finals occur on Sunday afternoon. The top 2 teams from the qualifying rounds and the top two teams from the repechage round compete in the finals. The scores from the previous day do not carry over. The format is the same as before, and the finals determine 1st place through 4th place.