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U16 Qualifier

U16 RockyCentral Region Junior Championship Selections

The Rocky/Central U16 Junior Championships are open to all qualified U16 RMD and Central competitors and will be held in Steamboat Springs, CO March 7-11, 2022. All events, DH,SG, AC,GS,SL, will be National point scored.

  1. The Rocky Mountain Division will have the opportunity to fill 50% of the field at the U16 Junior Championship with the Central Division filling the remaining 50%.
  2. RMD will fill the field by identifying 50 male and female competitors.

Selection Criteria:

  1. RMD U16 Athletes are eligible to have automatic status to the RMD Regional Championships.  Up to 6 men and 6 women will be selected using an ITS of RMD only SL/GS points using the USSA Point list 15.  Athletes must also rank in the top 10 national U16 rank in SL or GS points.  RMD U16 athletes qualifying with automatic status to the RC Regional Championships must participate in an RMD/USSA scored series prior to designated RMD final qualification weekend.
  2. Any RMD athlete that qualifies and attends the National in season European trips will also be automatic to the RC Regional Junior Championships.  These athletes will count towards the RMD quota.
  3. Boys and girls will be selected based on their performance in the U16 qualifying events. (Jan 13 or 16 National Point scored 2DH, Jan 14 or 17, 2022 National Point scored 2SG and Feb 15-18, 2022 National point scored 2GS and 2SL)
    1. RMD U16 Automatic athletes will be ranked first on the qualifying list.
    2. The first qualifying weekend will consist of 2DH and 2SG National Point scored races; the second qualifying weekend will consist of 2SL and 2GS two-run National Point scored races.
    3. modified World Cup point system using the best 3 of 6 races.  Only one SG or DH result is eligible to use towards qualifying and ranking. Ony the first three athletes in DH will score points towards qualifying
    4. Athletes will be ranked in ascending order of their accumulated modified World Cup points in their best three (3) races, only one SG or DH result is eligible to use towards qualifying and ranking. If needed, ties will be broken using the best result(s). All races are available for tie-breaking purposes, the second SG will count as the last result used to break a tie.  An athlete would not need to finish all three races to qualify as it would be a sum of their best 3 results. 
    5. Athletes selected to and attend the National and Regional U16 European Trips will be automatics to the U16 RC Junior Championships of their respective region.  Athletes will count toward their home divisions' quota to the Regional Junior Championships.
  4. Final quotas for boys and girls will be established based on a percentage of male and female athletes to the total number of athletes who competed in the first-weekend qualifier for U16’s plus first day of the second qualifier.   Automatic athletes will be added into the total number of athletes.
  5. Two (2) boys’ and two (2) girls’ quota positions will be reserved for discretion consideration to be filled by the Competition Manager and Ability Class Committee.
  6. Once the quota has been filled, no alternates should be considered.
  7. Foreign USSA members athletes (X license) who are training and competing in Rocky or Central may qualify for the Rocky/Central U16 Junior Olympics through the respective division’s quota. RMD and CEN will each have 4 foreign quota spots total (men and women)  Foreign athletes must fall into the selection criteria that the Regional athletes have met to qualify for the Regional Championships.

Seeding for RC U16 Jr Championships will be as follows:

  1. The first seed of 15 will be determined based on national points and shall be randomly drawn.

  2. A special seed will follow the first seed such that each division’s top eight nationally ranked skiers will be within the first seed or the special seed. If either division does not have at least eight skiers in the first seed, then its remaining top eight ranked skiers will start in the special seed, in national point order. For example, if there are 8 Central athletes and 7 RMD athletes in the first seed of 15, there would be 1 RMD athlete in the special seed. Or, 10 RMD athletes and 5 Central athletes in the first seed, there would be 3 Central athletes in the special seed.

  3. The remainder of the field will be seeded by national points following the special seed.