Schulting and Lim crowned 2019 overall world champions in short track

Lim Hyo Jun offers the best performance by a man at the World championships since Kwak Yoon Gy in 2012 and Suzanne Schulting puts the icing on the cake of a path to glory that started eighteen months ago.

By Carl Savard

Photos by Martin Holtom

After van Ruijven, it was time for Schulting to make history

The fans were granted with the strongest 1000m final possible on the women’s side of the board as Choi Min Jeong, Suzanne Schulting, Kim Boutin, Kim Ji Yoo and Sofia Prosvirnova had to fight each other for the title on the distance but also for major points in the overall ranking. The race started with a pretty fast pace and with just a few laps to go, it became pretty clear that Suzanne Schulting wanted to keep her title of Queen of the 1000m. The Dutch star won the race in a decisive manner. With a strong come back, Choi Min Jeong (2nd) was able to take advantage of the fact that Boutin (3rd) fought Schulting for a few laps and was able to beat her at the finish line.

In the 3000m, all eyes were on Schulting, Choi and Boutin and the ladies sure delivered. Schulting’s teammate Lara van Ruijven played the cat and mouse game for a few laps to gather some points but it was hard not to stay focus on Schulting and Choi who were glued to one another all through the race. The Queen of the 1000m is now Queen of the world as the 21-year-old crossed the finish line in first place to become the 1st Dutch woman in the history of the sport to become world champion. A great finish to a journey that began last season when Schulting’s results  started being more consistent. Last year’s winner Choi Min Jeong finished 2nd while Canada’s Kim Boutin finished 3rd. Finishing 4th, Lara van Ruijven misses the podium but nobody will ever erased the fact that she is the first ever female Dutch skater to win a gold medal at the world championships. A great finish to a great season for van Ruijven.


In the 3000m relay, things seemed to be going well for the Netherlands until Suzanne Schulting fell close to the end of the race. Korea wins the title on the distance, while Russia finishes 2nd and Canada 3rd.

Lim Hyo Jun didn’t need the 500m to win the overall title
Four of the top seven skaters after Saturday’s competition were part of the A final on 1000. Hwang Dae Heon, Lim Hyo Jun, Ren Ziwei and Semen Elistratov were joined by Keita Watanabe and Tommaso Dotti to fight for gold on the distance. For Watanabe and Dotti this final meant the possibility to gather some points to climb up in the top eight and participate in the 3000m superfinal. In an exciting race led for the most part by Elistratov, Lim and Hwang crossed the finish line 1st and 2nd but Hwang was penalised. Elistratov finishes 2nd and Watanabe 3rd. With this podium, Watanabe was able to secure a spot in the 3000m.

On 3000m, Lim Hyo Jun showed his dominance by winning his third final of the weekend. No man had gathered over 100 points at the World championships since Lim’s compatriot Kwak Yoon Gy in 2012. Lim replaces Charles Hamelin, 18th this year, as reigning world champion. His teammate Hwang Dae Heon who finished 3rd last year, finishes second while Russia’s Semen Elistratov completes the podium finishing third. Canada’s Samuel Girard closed his championships in 4th place while Japan’s Keita Watanabe, who was 14th at the beginning of day 3, climbed up to 6th place with his performances on 1000m and 3000m.

In the men's relay, Korea won the title finishing ahead of China and Hungary.

Day 1 recap

Day 2 recap

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