2018-19 US National Qualifying Competitions
SYWTW FS
During the months of October and November, American skaters will compete at regional and sectional championships across the country in order to qualify for the National Championships in January 2019. This post will explain the USFSA qualifying structure and provide a list of links and information that will be updated throughout the season.
Reference: US Figure Skating
QUALIFYING STRUCTURE
Skaters qualify for the US National Championships by competing at one of nine regional championships and one of three sectional championships (Eastern, Midwestern, and Pacific Coast). Singles skaters must enter the regional championships in the area where their home club is located. Pair and ice dance teams do not compete at regionals, only sectionals. Teams in which partners represent different clubs may choose to compete in the section of either one of their home clubs.
The top 4 finishers in each discipline at regionals advance to sectionals, and the top 4 finishers in each discipline at sectionals advance to nationals. If a regional/sectional event has 4 or fewer competitors entered in a discipline, all of the skaters automatically advance to the next competition. If there are 12 or fewer skaters entered in a discipline at all regional championships within a section, all of the skaters automatically advance to the sectional championships.
US Nationals and qualifying events have five levels of competition: juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior, and senior. Regional championships include events at all 5 levels for singles skaters. Sectional championships include events at all 5 levels for pairs and ice dance as well as singles. The US National Championships is a week-long competition, holding events for each discipline at each level.
Skaters can also advance directly to Nationals without competing at qualifying events in the following ways:
Placing top 5 in a senior event at the previous US National Championships
Winning a medal at the most recent Winter Olympics
Winning a medal at the previous World Championships
Qualifying for the current season’s Grand Prix Final or Junior Grand Prix Final
Earning a bye due to an international assignment taking place at the same time as the sectional championships (skaters can also be exempted from regionals due to having an international assignment)
Skaters who have directly qualified for Nationals can still compete at regionals/sectionals if they want to, but they will not count towards the advancement quota.
COMPETITIONS
Live and on-demand videos of the junior and senior regional/sectional championships are available to subscribers on NBC Gold. Lower levels will be livestreamed on the US Figure Skating Fanzone.
South Atlantic Regionals
Upper Great Lakes Regionals
Northwest Pacific Regionals
New England Regionals
Southwestern Regionals
Central Pacific Regionals
Time and place: Oct. 10-14, Vacaville, California
Advance to: Pacific Coast Sectionals
North Atlantic Regionals
Eastern Great Lakes Regionals
Southwest Pacific Regionals
Eastern Sectionals
Midwestern Sectionals
Pacific Coast Sectionals
US National Championships