The individual Skills Challenge for women and men will be held for the very first time at Olympic Games. In this event, the best 15 female and 15 male athletes from nations other than the ones in the tournaments are allowed to compete, plus athletes from the host country Austria. The participants were qualified from a global qualification program based on a series of individual skill tests designed by the IIHF. The qualification came to an end in July 2011 in Vierumäki, Finland.
The following Skills Challenge competitions will be held at the Youth Olympics:
Fastest Lap
Shooting Accuracy
Skating Agility
Hardest Shot
Passing Precision
Puck Control
The Skills Challenge tests take place during the 2012 Youth Olympic Winter Games at the Tyrolean Ice Arena in Innsbruck, Austria. The events 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.
Schedule
The Men and Women competitions will be operated during the same ice session for both the Qualification and Grand Final phases.
Qualification Phase: Monday, 16 January 2012, 16:30-20:30 Grand Final: Thursday, 19 January 2012, 18:00-20:00
Participants
Female
Male
Country
Kathrine Gale
Lewis Hook
Great Britain
Agnese Tartaglione
Italy
Fanni Gasparics
Attila Kovacs
Hungary
Libby Jean Hay
Callum Burns
New Zealand
Akane Deguchi
Seiya Furukawa
Japan
Sharnita Crompton
Sam Hodic
Australia
Victoria Hummel
Stephan Gaffal
Austria
Julie Zwarthoed
Guus Simons
Netherlands
Jiayue Sun
Liu Qing
China
Morgane Rihet
Thibaut Colombin
France
Yeon Jung Lee
Ji Hyun Cho
Korea
Irene Senac
Paul Cerda
Spain
Noemi Ballo
Andrei Sotir
Romania
Renee De Wolf
Belgium
Ursa Pazlar
Cuvan Primoz
Slovenia
Augusts Vasilonoks
Latvia
Alexei Dashkevich
Belarus
Matija Milicic
Croatia
Introducing the tests
The following six tests will be conducted. Find below descriptions, illustrations and videos from the qualification event. For more sport-technical information download the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games Skills Challenge Test Operations document here. (PDF, 1 MB)
1. Fastest Lap
Pylons are placed over the, Skill Test 1, dots on the ice
The two pylons placed on the centre red line, on both sides of the rink, forms the start/finish line
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 either at or after the centre red 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
Pylons 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
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
Pylons 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 whistle
The player skates forward towards pylon 1
At pylon 1 pivots forward to backward
Skates backwards along the outside to Pylon 2
Player pivots at Pylon 2 from backward to forward
The player skates diagonally towards Pylon 3 and pivots from forward to backward
Skates backwards along the outside to Pylon 4
At Pylon 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. Hardest Shot
Use spray paint to draw a line connecting the 3, Skill Test 2/4, dots on the ice
Pylons 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
The passer stands behind the passing line
The test starts on the whistle
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
This test is a limited timed test of 60 seconds
If time limit is passed the number of targets and passes will count
6. Puck Control
Pylons (32) are placed over the, Skills Test 6 dots, on the ice
Goal line at one end of the ice marks the start line
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 whistle
The player skates straight forward with the puck towards the line of 4 pylons
The player skates through the 4 pylons in a slalom pattern
In the Neutral Zone the player goes to the right pylon of the first pair
The player weaves through the 3 pairs of pylons
Players always begin with the right pylon
After the last pair of pylons, the player skates forward to the 6 remaining pylons
While straddling the pylons the player stickhandles the puck through the 6 pylons
The players then skate across the finish line to complete the test