The International Skating Union (ISU) has designated the Karl Schaefer Memorial Competition in Vienna, Austria on 15-18 October as the final Qualifying Competition for figure skating entries to the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
More than 70 skaters, including 1995 world champion Lu Chen (CHN), have entered to compete for the remaining places in the Olympic figure skating competition.
The Olympic Qualifying Procedure
The total number of places in each event for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games are: 30 each for the Men's and Ladies' events, 20 for Pairs, and 24 for Ice Dancing. Twenty four entries for the Ladies' and Men's events, sixteen for the Pairs' event and nineteen for the Dance have already been allocated under the official ISU qualification system based on the results of the l997 World Figure Skating Championships. These entries are distributed, by country, as follows:
| LADIES | MEN | PAIRS | DANCE |
| USA 3 | CAN 3 | GER 2 | RUS 3 |
| FRA 3 | USA 2 | RUS 3 | CAN 2 |
| RUS 3 | RUS 2 | USA 2 | FRA 3 |
| HUN 2 | UKR 2 | CAN 2 | USA 2 |
| AUT 2 | GER 2 | FRA 2 | UKR 2 |
| UKR 2 | AZE 2 | POL 2 | ITA 2 |
| GER 1 | JPN 2 | CHN 1 | LIT 2 |
| AUS 1 | FRA 1 | KZK 1 | POL 1 |
| POL 1 | GBR 1 | AUS 1 | GER 1 |
| SWI 1 | ROM 1 | CZE 1 | |
| CZE 1 | ISR 1 | ||
| UZB 1 | HUN 1 | ||
| JPN 1 | LAT 1 | ||
| FIN 1 | DEN 1 | ||
| SLO 1 | CHN 1 | ||
| UZB 1 | |||
| Total: 24 | Total: 24 | Total: 16 | Total: 19 |
The remaining 6 entries in the Ladies' and Men's events, 4 in the Pairs' event and 5 in the Dance event will be allocated to the top ranked skaters competing for Olympic places in the Karl Schaefer Memorial event.
Under ISU rules, if the Olympic host nation has not otherwise qualified, one entry is reserved for the host nation in each discipline. Accordingly, since Japan has already qualified for entries in the Ladies' and Men's events, one of the remaining entries in the Pairs and Dance event may be allocated to Japan if the host nation decides to take up the option.
Only nations that have not already qualified for places in each discipline will be eligible for the remaining places for the Winter Olympic Games at the Karl Schaefer Memorial event, and only one entry per discipline is permitted. Other skaters may compete in Vienna but are not eligible for the Olympic Qualifying places.
If a nation subsequently does not take make use of its place in the Olympic Winter Games, standby entries will be allocated, based on the final results at the Olympic Qualifying Competition in Vienna, to nations not yet qualified or represented in that discipline
LADIES
BUL Tzvetellna Abrashova
CAN Susan Humphreys
CHN Lu Chen
CRO Ivana Jakupcevic
EST Jekaterina Golovatenko
GBR Zoe Jones
ITA Silvia Fontana
ROK Hyung-Kyung Cho
ROM Noemi Bedo
SAF Shirene Wuman
SPN Marta Andrade
SVK Zuzana Paurova
SWE Helena Grundberg
TPE Ja-Lin Wang
YUG Hslona Pajovic
MEN
AUS Anthony Liu
BUL Ivan Dinev
CZE Karel Nekola
EST Margus Hernits
FIN Markus Leminen
GEO Vakhtang Murvanidze
GRE Panayotis Markouizos
ITA Gilberio Viadana
KZK Yourii Litvinov
LUX Patrick Schmit
POL Robert Grzegorczyk
ROK Kyu-Hyun Lee
SAF Ferdi Skoberla
SLO Jan Cejvan
SPN Jordi Pedro
SVK Robert Kazimir
SWI Patrick Meier
TPE David Liu
PAIRS
ARM Maria Kraslltseval/Alexsandr Chsstnikh
AZE Inga Rodionova/Aleksandrs Anichenko
BLR SvetlanaPlachoninal/Dmitrl Kaplun
CZE Katerina Berankova/Otto Dlabola
EST Jeltaterina Nekrassova/Vaidis Mintals
GBR Lesley Rogersl/Michael Aldred
GRE Elaine Asanakis/Joel McKeever
SVK Olga Bostandigova/Jozef Bestiindig
UKR Elena Belousovskayal/Stansislav Morozov
UZB Natalya Psnemareval/Evgeniy Sviridev
DANCE
ARM Ksenia Smetanenko/Samuel Gezalyan
AUT Angelika Fuehringl/Bruno Ellinger
BUL Albena Denkova/Maxim Staviyski
EST Kristiina Kalesnik/Aleksander Terentjev
GBR Marika Humphreys/Philip Askew
HUN Kornelia Barany/Andras Rosnik
KZK Elizaveta Stekolnikova/Dmitrii Kazarlyga
SVK Zuzana Merzova/Tromas Morbacher
SWI Eliane Hugentobler/Daniel Hugentobler