Sochi Qualifiers Come Into Focus

January 27 is the official last day for athlete qualification to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Men’s and women’s ice hockey and curling have already finished their qualification tournaments, while the biathlon, figure skating, bobsleigh, luge, and skiing federations have qualifying into January.

Nine men’s teams qualified for the 2014 Olympics after the 2012 World Ice Hockey Championships in Helsinki and Stockholm. Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Norway, and the Czech Republic qualified through their world ranking.

Austria, Latvia, and Slovenia won their respective final Olympic qualifying tournaments in February.

Six women’s teams qualified for the 2014 Olympics after the 2012 World Ice Hockey Championships in Burlington, Vermont. The United States, Canada, Finland, Switzerland, and Sweden qualified through their world ranking, while Russia was given an automatic qualification.

Japan and Germany won their respective Olympic qualifying tournaments in February.

Curling decides which seven men’s and women’s teams will join Russia in Sochi based on a points system from the 2012 and 2013 world championships.

Canada, Sweden, Scotland (representing Great Britain), Norway, Denmark, China, and Switzerland qualified for the men’s curling tournament in Sochi.

Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland, Canada, the United States, Denmark, and Korea qualified for the women’s tournament.

148 athletes, 74 men and 74 women, will go to Sochi for figure skating. The International Skating Union will confirm the allocation of qualification places from the ISU World Championships and World Team Championships on October 30.

Re-allocation quotas will be awarded to NOCs before January 19. January 24 will be the end of the re-allocation process, with January 27 serving as the deadline for NOCs to send Sochi 2014 their names for re-allocated spots.

220 athletes, 113 men and 107 women, will go to Sochi for biathlon. The qualification period for biathlon ends on January 19. The International Biathlon Union will then notify NOCs of qualified athletes by January 20.

Re-allocation will occur from January 21-24, where NOCs will nominate one man and one woman to participate via the re-allocation process. On January 23 and 24, the IBU will notify NOCs about vacant re-allocated spots. The deadline to submit re-allocated athletes to Sochi 2014 is January 27.

170 athletes, 130 men and 40 women, will go to Sochi for bobsleigh. Qualification via the International Bobsleigh and Toboggan Federation races will end January 19.

FIBT will then notify the NOCs of qualified athletes by January 20. NOCs must submit in writing a request for re-allocation spots by January 22. FIBT will then notify national federations of open spots on January 23 and 24. By January 27, Sochi 2014 must receive entry forms for re-allocated spots from NOCs.

320 athletes will go to Sochi for skiing. Each NOC has a maximum quota of 22 athletes, and no more than 14 men or woman can go from one NOC. The qualification period ends on January 19.

The International Ski Federation will notify NOCs of qualified athletes on January 20, and the NOCs must confirm this by January 22. FIS will then notify NOCs of re-allocated places for qualified athletes on January 23 and 24. NOCs must submit their entry forms for these re-allocate spots to Sochi 2014 by January 27.

110 athletes, 38 men, 28 women, and 18 doubles, will be going to Sochi for luge. Qualification will end on December 31. On January 7, the International Luge Federation will confirm with NOCs regarding which athletes qualified for what events.

The NOCs will notify FIL by January 17 for the events in which they are entering athletes. From January 20 to 24, FIL will contact NOCs regarding re-allocation spots, and by January 27, NOCs must notify Sochi 2014 which athletes are participating via re-allocation.

Written byAaron Bauer

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