The individual Skills Challenge for women and men were held for the very first time at Olympic Games during the 2012 Youth Olympic Winter Games. In this event, the best 15 female and 15 male athletes from the entered and qualified nations are allowed to compete, plus one male and one female athlete from the host country Norway. The participants will be selected from a global qualification program based on a series of individual skill tests designed by the IIHF.

The following Skills Challenge competitions will be held at the Youth Olympics and the qualification events:

Fastest Lap
Shooting Accuracy
Skating Agility
Fastest Shot
Passing Precision
Puck Control

The Skills Challenge tests take place during the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, and at the domestic and international qualification events.

The national competitions will be held between 1st October 2014 and 7th May 2015 with the first-placed male and female athletes advancing to the Global Skills Challenge Summit to be held in July 2015 to select the male and female participants for the Youth Olympic Winter Games.

The events at the Youth Olympics will be made up of two phases: the Qualification and the Grand Final. All the skill tests will be conducted on a head-to-head, knockout basis, until a winner is declared and the participants will be seeded for each test. Players will earn points for their finishing position during each test.

The top-8 female and top-8 male players from the Qualification stage will progress to compete in the Grand Final.

During the Skills Challenge Grand Final players of each gender will compete for final individual rankings and medals.

Participants Youth Olympic Winter Games

The following female and male athletes qualified for the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games. The best 15 athletes in each category at the Global Skills Challenge Summit, 8-10 July 2015 in Vierumaki, Finland, as well as the athletes from host Norway will also participate in the Skills Challenge at the Youth Olympics in Lillehammer 2016. The seeding below represents the ranking from the Global Skills Challenge Summit.

Results from the Qualification: Men, Women

	Men	Women
1.	Erik Betzold (Germany)	Millie Rose Sirum (Norway)
2.	Sebastian Cederle (Slovakia)	Sena Takenaka (Japan)
3.	Sander Hurrod (Norway)	Madison Poole (Australia)
4.	Benjamin Baumgartner (Austria)	Tabea Botthof (Germany)
5.	Antonin Plagnat (France)	Anita Muraro (Italy)
6.	Aleks Haatanen (Finland)	Theresa Schafzahl (Austria)
7.	Natan Vertes (Hungary)	SuYeon Eom (Korea)
8.	Carson Focht (Canada)	Kiia Nousiainen (Finland)
9.	Andrei Pavlenko (Belarus)	Chinouk van Calster (Belgium)
10.	Jake Riley (Australia)	Martina Fedorova (Slovakia)
11.	Dino Mukovoz (Lithuania)	Maree Dijkema (Netherlands)
12.	Ties van Soest (Netherlands)	Daria Maximchik (Belarus)
13.	Mu-Hsin Hsieh (Chinese Taipei)	Verity Lewis (Great Britain)
14.	Roy Kanda (Japan)	Katarzyna Wybiral (Poland)
15.	Eduard Casaneanu (Romania)	Diana-Alexandra Iuga (Romania)
16.	Oliver Curtis (New Zealand)	Iara Haiek (Argentina)

Introducing the tests

The following six tests will be conducted. Find below descriptions and illustrations. For more sport-technical information download the 2016 Youth Olympic Games Skills Challenge Operations Manual and Test Protocol document here. (PDF, 1.4 MB)

1. Fastest Lap

Cubes are placed over the Skill Test 1 dots on the ice
A set of Light Sensors are set up at the both start/finish lines
All players sit on the benches
Players will start from the start/finish line on both sides of the rink
Players must start behind the start/finish line
This test is timed
The first pair of players will be called to the start line
The two (2) players will skate at the same time
The test begins on the whistle
The players will begin skating backwards in a counter-clockwise direction
When the player has completed half a lap they will pivot from backwards to forwards
The pivot must be performed inside the transition zone (after the centre red line and before the far blue line)
The time will stop once any part of the player’s body (not including stick) crosses the start/finish line from which they started

2. Shooting Accuracy

Use spray paint to draw a line connecting the 3, Skill Test 2/4, dots on the ice
Cubes are placed on the ends of the line to form the shooting line
One set of 4 breakable targets are placed into each the net , 1 target per corner
The shooter is positioned behind the shooting line
Two (2) passers (coaches) are positioned behind the goal line 5 metres to either side of the net with pucks
This test is timed with a limit of 30 seconds
The first pair of players will be called to the shooting line
Two (2) players will shoot at the same time
The test begins on the whistle
The passers will pass the pucks alternatively to the shooter
The shooter receives the passes one at a time and shoots at the targets
The shooter that hits all four targets in the shortest time is the winner

3. Skating Agility

Cubes are placed over the Skill Test 3, dots on the ice
Paint the start/finish line between the two dots across the top of the faceoff circle
Players will start from behind the start/finish line
This test is timed
The test begins on the horn
The player skates forward towards cube 1
At cube 1 pivots forward to backward
Skates backwards along the outside to cube 2
Player pivots at cube 2 from backward to forward
The player skates diagonally towards cube 3 and pivots from forward to backward
Skates backwards along the outside to cube 4
At cube 4 the player pivots backward to forward and skates forward to goal line
Stops and skates forward to the start/finish line Start/Finish Line

4. Fastest Shot

Use spray paint to draw a line connecting the 3, Skill Test 2/4, dots on the ice
Cubes are placed on the ends of the line to form the shooting line
The radar/speed gun is placed to measure the speed of all the players’ shots
The exact placement radar/speed gun is undetermined at the moment
Group of pucks located on the Blue Line
One puck is placed behind the shooting line
Two players compete head to head at each end of the ice
One player at a time shoots the stationary puck from the shooting line
Each player attempts 2 shots
The player can skate towards the puck before shooting
They must skate from inside the near blue line
All shots must hit the net to count
Both shots are registered by radar in kilometres per hour
The fastest registered shot of two (2) attempts will be counted
The player with the fastest recorded shot wins

5. Passing Precision

5 targets, are placed over the, Skill Test 5, dots on the ice
An obstacle (hockey stick) is placed on the ice, over the test 5 dots, between the passer targets 2 and 5
Pucks are behind the blue line in the centre of the ice
The blue line marks the passing line
This test is a limited timed test of 30 seconds and starts on the horn
The passer stands behind the passing line
The passer has to hit each of the targets in order 1 to 5
The passer must successfully hit a target before moving to the next
At target 2 and 5 the passes must go over the obstacle (hockey stick)
The test continues until one players hits all 5 targets
The passer that hits all 5 targets in the shortest time is the winner
If time limit is passed the number of targets and passes will count

6. Puck Control

Cubes (32) are placed over the, Skills Test 6 dots, on the ice
The goal line at one end of the ice marks the start line
The goal line at the opposite end of the ice is the finish line
Players will start the start line
This test is timed
Both players begin with their feet behind the start line
The test begins on the horn
The player skates straight forward with the puck towards the line of 4 cubes
The player skates through the 4 cubes in a slalom pattern
In the Neutral Zone the player goes to the one cube of the first pair
The player weaves through the 3 pairs of cubes
After the last pair of pylons, the player skates forward to the 5 stickhandling obstacles
- While straddling the stickhandling obstacles the player stickhandles the puck through all 5
The players then skate across the finish line to complete the test