The first category is the noble nation. Unlike Grand Prix finals and international competitions, both on the four continents at the European Championships and at the Olympics, a maximum of three (team) athletes can qualify for each event, no matter how rich a country's skating and talent pool is. If they didn't do well at the last World Championships, that number is literally going to get smaller. There is a large pool of talented athletes who are fully capable of earning their desired position at the Olympics, so they enter the domestic trials. Most of the names listed in the thread fall into this category. There are many regrets in the women's singles of Japan and Russia. To this are added Max Aaron, Jason Brown and Ashley Wagner of the American men's singles. In the second category, injuries occur at key moments of the season. For example, Russian women's singles player Anna Bogoria, who suffered a back injury from the end of last season through this one, withdrew from the Russian championships essentially tantamount to dropping out of contention for an Olympic berth. Maxim Kovtun of the men's singles was also injured during the season. The only thing on record for this championships is that both the U.S. and Russian championships were injured and withdrew from the competition after poor performances in the sprint events. Nikita Kasarapov/Vika Sinitsina, the ice dance troupe, won third in the U.S. this season and set a PB (their FDs this season ranked first in my top five favorite programs). Nikita pulled out of the Russian Free Dance Championships after suffering an ankle injury during a weightlifting session. A broader definition of injury could also include Gracie Gold, who missed the season for psychological reasons. Just as they are all in wealthy countries, their past accomplishments are not enough to give them a place to escort them, although they have the strength to do something at the Olympics, but also because of injuries. The third group is too young. This consists mainly of a group of talented young girls from Russia and Japan who are unable to compete internationally because they have not reached the minimum entry threshold of 15 years of age. Alena Kostonaiya, the third-place finisher at the Russian Championships, Sasha Trusova, who beat Alena in the Russian Junior Championships, and the full-time army, Ji Pinghua, can all be placed in this category. But in fact, a closer calculation shows that Russia has three places for the Russian Championship runners-up, while Zhenya missed the Russian Championships due to an injury, and Japan has two places for the full-time Championship runners-up. The reasons why these athletes missed the Olympics are justified in the first category. The only exception is Sasha. Because of the age limit for this year's Russian championships, you can only compete if you're 14, but I don't think it's possible for Sasha to win over Sotskova. The fourth category is non-competitive reasons. I think the ones in this category that really make people laugh are the players. One of them is Swedish men's singles player Alexander Mayorov, who slipped with a score of 225.86 to finish seventh at the European Championships, well above the Olympic threshold. However, since the Swedish Olympic Committee sets stricter standards for athletes than the International Organization for Standardization (ISU) (more than 250 points, if not by mistake), he declined. Do not enter for him. He was replaced by Michael Martinez of the Philippines. However, it did have an impact on the Olympic skating medals. Athletes who lost the Pyeongchang Olympics for non-competitive reasons, naturally, because there was no need to be guilty of a combination of two Russian athletes who had not received an invitation from the Olympic Committee. Ivan Bukin (female partner Sasha Stepanova) and Ksenia Stolpova (male partner Fedor Klimov) danced on the ice. Both of them finished second in every event at the Russian Championships this season. Even though they may not win gold in a single event at the Olympics, they both have the power to help Team Russia win gold in the team competition. Whether other Russian programs systematically used banned substances at the Sochi Winter Olympics is beyond the scope of this article. Two facts need to be stated in this article: first, the Russian skating team at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics was clean (Adelina Sotnikova was investigated and then WADA confirmed her innocence). As a result of the IOC sanctions, Russian athletes must be invited by the IOC after the promotion is completed in order to participate in the Olympics. Secondly, all Russian Ice Federation skaters applying for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, including Ivan and Ksenia, are clean in all professional competitions (Katia Bobrova had been banned, but was disqualified by a successful athlete).