The 2019-2020 World Cup season in short track has been launched

The 2019-2020 World Cup season in short track was officially launched today at the Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City. 

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Bert van Lobenstein

It was qualifying day on every distances today in Salt Lake City as skaters tried to qualify for the main events of the weekend of this first World Cup of the season. 

500m (1) Heats

The first heat opposed Korean Kim Ji Yoo, American Maame Biney, Canadian Alyson Charles and French Véronique Pierron for two direct spots to the top bracket of the weekend on the distance. Junior world champion on the distance Biney finished third and Alyson Charles crashed and finished fourth. Both rising stars of the sport will have to race the repechage tomorrow. There were no other big surprises in the ladies’ heats.

In the men’s 500m, two skaters from Kazakhstan who had good results in the past years on the distance Abzal Azhgaliyev and Denis Nikisha didn’t qualify for the next round. Also note Viktor An’s great return as he successfully advanced to the next round on the distance.

1500m Quarterfinals

Cynthia Mascitto, Aurelie Monvoisin and Ami Hirai were three of the most impressive skaters of this 1500m round. Anna Seidel, Noh Do Hee and Zang Yize will be the top contenders in tomorrow’s repechage as they didn’t get their tickets for the top bracket on 1500m today.

The only surprises of the men’s 1500m quarterfinals was Pascal Dion and Sebastien Lepape not qualifying.

500m (2) Heats

American Maame Biney also failed her qualification on 500m (2) as she crashed in her heat. Yara van Kerkhof and two Korean skaters fell short in their race and will need to skate Sunday morning if they want to fight for medals. 

The men’s 500m races were highly competitive and fast times were registered considering this was the first round. Canadian Pascal Dion crashed in his heat and will also skate the repechage on 500m (2).

1000m Heats

There were some incidents in the ladies’ 1000m heats and young Canadian Courtney Sarault and Hungarian Sara Luca Bacskai were penalized in their respective races and eliminated on the distance. The rest of the races results were pretty normal. 

The last individual men’s distance of the day was pretty calm except for Vladislav Bykanov’s penalty which will forbid him from skating on Sunday. Special mention to Turkish skater Tunay Simsek who qualified on a second distance today finishing second in his 1000m race. 

Skater such as Kim Boutin, Charles Hamelin, Suzanne Schulting, Choi Min Jeong, Kim Ji Yoo, the Liu Brothers, Hwang Dae Heon, Steven Dubois, Wu Dajing, Lara van Ruijven and other big medal contenders had a perfect day qualifying on all their distances.

For the full results and the relay quarterfinals results, CLICK HERE

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