Euro Championships Registration Controversy

[Spencer131]

Reportedly, registration for European Championship 2024 filled up in about 2 hours.

You can see who registered here: https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/competitions/Euro2024/registrations

Notably missing from the list is Tymon Kolasiński, which has turned out to be quite controversial. I hope this post can lead to productive conversation about how registration should be handled.

 

[NebraskanSpeedsolver]

In all honesty, Champs like these should have honorary spots for the top solvers. So say for instance registration filled really quick, like this, Tymon would have a spot and wouldn't have to worry about not making registry. If there were to be an instance that said top solver can't make it, they can open that spot to someone on the waiting list.

 

[cubenerd74]

I don't think having big championships open to everyone is a very good idea. This leads to a significant portion of competitors competing in just 1 or 2 events, possibly never to compete again. IMO this is just taking away spots from people who would do many events and compete many more times, who I think are more 'valuable' to the community than the former type.

 

[TheSpeedSkewber]

List of notable people currently on the waitlist

Luke Garrett
Patrick Ponce
Tymon Kolasiński
Kyle Santucci
Tommy Cherry

 

[JDAW6]

List of notable people currently on the waitlist

Luke Garrett
Patrick Ponce
Tymon Kolasiński
Kyle Santucci

Man all I want to see is this guy.

Xavier Mandicó Morales

2023MORA38

 

[Exmestify]

List of notable people currently on the waitlist

Luke Garrett
Patrick Ponce
Tymon Kolasiński
Kyle Santucci

and tommy cherry

 

[cubeth]

List of notable people currently on the waitlist

Luke Garrett
Patrick Ponce
Tymon Kolasiński
Kyle Santucci

honestly i think it's partly their fault for not registering immediately when the registration opened. 2 hours is quite a while and if they had been 'camping' at the registration page they probably would have made it. although, 1000 people in 2 hours is indeed very very impressive, so i'm definitely not blaming them for not getting in.

 

[OtaMota]

Just want to say saving spots for top players may be against the WCA’s mission statement.

“Our mission is to have more competitions in more countries with more people and more fun, under fair and equal conditions.”

WCA Mission Statement

 

[Discomantis]

List of notable people currently on the waitlist

Luke Garrett
Patrick Ponce
Tymon Kolasiński
Kyle Santucci

Zayd Chaudry is also on the waiting list

 

[JDAW6]

Top 19 European 3x3 solvers that are registered.

Twan Dullemond	2018DULL01	Netherlands	5.44	9	4.38	27
Kim Roger Haraldsen	2015LARS04	Norway	5.87	31	4.53	43
Olaf Kuźmiński	2018KUZM02	Poland	5.92	34	4.65	59
Philipp Weyer	2010WEYE01	Germany	6.06	47	4.81	93
Antonie Paterakis	2012PATE01	Netherlands	6.10	50	4.80	87
Sebastian Weyer	2010WEYE02	Germany	6.12	53	4.32	23
Kevin Gerhardt	2013GERH01	Germany	6.14	56	4.49	40
Ben Baron	2016BARO04	Israel	6.18	61	4.52	41
Mats Valk	2007VALK01	Netherlands	6.20	65	4.74	72
James Alonso	2018ALON07	United Kingdom	6.23	68	4.60	50
Richard Delacoste	2015DELA05	Switzerland	6.23	68	4.63	56
Teodor Zajder	2021ZAJD03	Poland	6.23	68	5.37	243
Martin Vædele Egdal	2013EGDA02	Denmark	6.25	71	4.99	127
Herman Westerlund Kalland	2019KALL02	Norway	6.26	73	4.69	66
Juliette Sébastien	2014SEBA01	France	6.27	76	4.44	34
Radosław Marcinek	2022MARC05	Poland	6.33	84	4.05	10
Alwin Federsel	2022FEDE01	Austria	6.34	85	4.92	111
Valerio Locatelli	2018LOCA01	Italy	6.36	89	4.67	62
Ianis Costin Chele	2021CHEL01	Romania	6.40	95	4.62	54

 

[NebraskanSpeedsolver]

Just want to say saving spots for top players may be against the WCA’s mission statement.

“Our mission is to have more competitions in more countries with more people and more fun, under fair and equal conditions.”

WCA Mission Statement

I totally agree with this, but at the same time, don't you think that it would be fair if the top solver from said country would be there? Would it be a championship without them?

 

[Jorian Meeuse]

Just want to say saving spots for top players may be against the WCA’s mission statement.

“Our mission is to have more competitions in more countries with more people and more fun, under fair and equal conditions.”

WCA Mission Statement

Honestly, I wouldn't consider reserving spots for the top, say, 5 competitors in every event for the given region unfair. It is true for anyone that a spot is reserved for you if you make it to the top 5 competitors.

 

[Discomantis]

In my opinion, the championship organizers should have made stricter qualification times

A qualification of any result in 3x2, 2x2, pyraminx, and skewb will make the registrations fill up faster than if they put a stricter qualification for these events.

 

[OtaMota]

Honestly, I wouldn't consider reserving spots for the top, say, 5 competitors in every event for the given region unfair. It is true for anyone that a spot is reserved for you if you make it to the top 5 competitors.

I agree with you, and the mission statement is not a set regulation, and there are exceptions. For example, Comps can have cutoff times which make it harder for slower people to do more solves. Conversely, newcomer month allows organizers to reserve spots to newcomers.

I think that reserving spots for top players is a good exception to make. I mentioned the mission statement as it will probably be used as an argument against reserving spots. It was used as an argument before when proposals like having an ao12 for Worlds Finals was proposed.

 

[Fukuoka Kengo James]

I think prerequisite can be a very good tool for comps especially for championship.

 

[NebraskanSpeedsolver]

I think prerequisite can be a very good tool for comps especially for championship.

Maybe for smaller national championships can have a sub-x ao5/mo3 on NXN, but for World Championships I don't think would be a great idea because 50% of the people there are just competing because its the World Champs and not because they are world-class or anything.

 

[Spencer131]

Just want to say saving spots for top players may be against the WCA’s mission statement.

“Our mission is to have more competitions in more countries with more people and more fun, under fair and equal conditions.”

WCA Mission Statement

I think the mission statement is ambiguous

If you allow slow cubers to register for championships, it meets the "fair and equal" criteria. But on the other hand, it misses the "fun" criteria. It's not very fun if the best European cubers can't go to the European championship.

 

[baseballjello67]

I think the mission statement is ambiguous

If you allow slow cubers to register for championships, it meets the "fair and equal" criteria. But on the other hand, it misses the "fun" criteria. It's not very fun if the best European cubers can't go to the European championship.

Perhaps they should move the top solvers to the top of the waitlist?

Also, Tymon is in AUS rn, could explain why he didn’t register immediately (could have been an odd hour)

 

[Gecko777]

I don't think having big championships open to everyone is a very good idea. This leads to a significant portion of competitors competing in just 1 or 2 events, possibly never to compete again. IMO this is just taking away spots from people who would do many events and compete many more times, who I think are more 'valuable' to the community than the former type.

I think that it is fine to have new comers compete in large comps, because then they will see how many cubers there actually are and they might be more likely to compete again if they see so many cubers than only like 75 at a normal comp (at least that was how it was for me).

 

[SkewbIsTheBestEvent]

Tymon is 65th, so we can be 99% sure that he probably won't make it, because 65 people withdrawing registration is highly unlikely, even for a championship.

I agree with @baseballjello67's idea to move the top solvers to the top of the waitlist, because that is probably the best thing they can do right now without kicking competitors out.

In World's 2025 proposal there was something about registration changes so fast competitors are likely to get a spot, and I forgot what it was exactly but it definitely seemed like it would work.

In many sports/games championships, players who are very good and maybe have won the last championship are automatically guaranteed a spot in the next year's world championships. They should definitely implement this here, as the previous European champion who opened the card to announce where the next European championship was going to be: (9 hours and 43 minutes in this video):

now cannot compete in that European championship.