At the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games 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:

  1. Fastest Lap
  2. Shooting Accuracy
  3. Skating Agility
  4. Fastest Shot
  5. Passing Precision
  6. 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 were held between 1st October 2014 and 7th May 2015 with the first-placed male and female athletes advancing to the Global Skills Challenge Summit in Vierumaki, Finland.
 

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.
 

 

 

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)

 

Kristine Melberg (Denmark)

5.

 

Antonin Plagnat (France)

 

Tabea Botthof (Germany)

6.

 

Aleks Haatanen (Finland)

 

Anita Muraro (Italy)

7.

 

Natan Vertes (Hungary)

 

Theresa Schafzahl (Austria)

8.

 

Carson Focht (Canada)

 

SuYeon Eom (Korea)

9.

 

Andrei Pavlenko (Belarus)

 

Kiia Nousiainen (Finland)

10.

 

Jake Riley (Australia)

 

Chinouk van Calster (Belgium)

11.

 

Dino Mukovoz (Lithuania)

 

Martina Fedorova (Slovakia)

12.

 

Ties van Soest (Netherlands)

 

Maree Dijkema (Netherlands)

13.

 

Mu-Hsin Hsieh (Chinese Taipei)

 

Daria Maximchik (Belarus)

14.

 

Roi Kanda (Japan)

 

Verity Lewis (Great Britain)

15.

 

Eduard Casaneanu (Romania)

 

Katarzyna Wybiral (Poland)

16.

 

Oliver Curtis (New Zealand)

 

Diana-Alexandra Iuga (Romania)
 

Participants Global Qualification

The young men and women from 36 countries who won their national competition are eligible to participate in the Global Skills Challenge Summit 5-10 July 2015. They will compete in six skills competitions to determine the 15 best male and the 15 best female athletes who will be qualified for the Skills Challenge at the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games along with one male and one female participant from the host country Norway.

Results: Men, Women
 

Country

Male Athlete

Female Athlete

Argentina

Nicolas Joaquin Jarkoswky Fantacone

Iara Haiek

Australia

Jake Riley 

Madison Poole

Austria

Benjamin Baumgartner

Theresa Naemi Schafzahl

Belarus

Andrei Pavlenko

Daria Maximchik

Belgium

Gijs De Schepper

Chinouk Van Calster

Bulgaria

Ivelin Angelov Ivanov

Canada

Carson Focht

Sahara Saden Lafferty

China

Ruize Gao

Yunlin Pi

Chinese Taipei

Mu-Hsin Hsieh

Ting-Yu Hsu

Croatia

Marin Joja

Eva Cavka

Denmark

Simon Golbert

Kristine Melberg

Finland

Aleks Haatanen 

Kiia Nousiainen   

France

Antonin Plagnat

Louanne Mermier

Germany

Erik Betzold

Tabea Botthof

Great Britain

Lewis Houston

Verity Lewis

Hong Kong

Hing Wing Tsang

Monica Ying Lee Shum

Hungary

Natan Vertes

Orsolya Varadi

Iceland

Vignir Freyr Arason

Ragnhildur Kjartansdottir

Israel

Boris Dvorkin

Italy

Nicola Sambugaro

Anita Muraro

Japan

Roi Kanda

Sena Takenaka

Kazakhstan

Ruslan Demin

Takhmina Zaripova

Korea

Min Jae Kim

SuYeon Eom

Latvia

Artjoms Koppass

Beate Zagare

Lithuania

Dino Mukovoz

Anastasija Sersniova

Luxembourg

Niclas Meijer

Mexico

Inaki Cruz Ceballos

Netherlands

Ties Van Soest

Maree Dijkema

New Zealand

Oliver Curtis

Maegen Blom

Norway

Sander Hurrod

Millie Rose Sirum

Poland

Sebastian Brynkus

Katarzyna Wybiral

Qatar

Ahmad Tariq Al Obaidli

Romania

Eduard Casaneanu

Diana-Alexandra Iuga

Slovakia

Sebastian Cederle

Martina Fedorova

Slovenia

Jaka Bernard

Tamara Breznik

Spain

Oscar Rubio

Marta Martin
 

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
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