World juniors in short track: Koreans dominate - Brunelle and Balbekov leave their marks

The 2020 ISU World Junior Short track Championships just took place in Bormio, Italy, from January 31st to February 2nd

By Eugenio Secchi
Photos by ISU speed skating & OIS - IOC

The competition included elite skaters from all over the world, a few of them belonging to their own senior National Teams with some already competing in the World Cup Circuit as well.

Two new records on Friday 
The first day of racing, Friday 31st, saw the athletes competing for a spot to battle for the medals which were going to be distributed on Saturday (1500m and 500m) and Sunday (1000m and 3000m relays). Emotions were high from the very start of the competition. Chinese skater Zhang Tianyi skated the 500m in a time of 40.331, establishing a new world junior record in the distance, while Russian athlete Vladimir Balbekov finished his 1000m qualification race in 1.23.690, - again - a new world junior record.

Two medals for Florence Brunelle on Saturday

On Saturday, in the ladies 1500m, Korean skater Kim Geonhenne got the gold medal. She was followed at the line by Canada’s Florence Brunelle (silver) while China’s Li Xuan (bronze) completed the podium. Two more Korean skaters, Kim Gilli and Kim Chanseo, along with Slovakia’s Petra Rusnakova and USA’s Corinne Stoddard also took part in the A final, while local favourite Elisa Confortola won the B final. In the 500m Florence Brunelle got away with yet another silver medal, proving she’s a strong athlete on both long and short distances. Corinne Stoddard got the 3rd place, while victory went to Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer.

As for the men, Koreans were dominant on both the long as well as the short distance on Saturday. In the 1500m Kim Taesung got the highest spot on the podium finishing ahead of his teammate Ahn Hyunjun. China’s Zhang Tianyi completed the podium winning the bronze medal. Italian skater Luca Spechenhauser got very close to a World Junior medal finishing fourth. In the 500m, Korea’s Lee Jeongmin won the gold medal, while Vladimir Balbekov  won silver and China’s Sun Long got the bronze.

More new records on Sunday
On Sunday, Kim Gilli got the gold medal in the ladies 1000m event, finishing ahead of Corinne Stoddard and Russia’s Anna Matveeva. Sun Long (gold), Ahn Hyunjun (silver) and Balbekov (bronze) were the best men on the distance.

Only three teams took part in the A final of the relay, both on the ladies and on the men’s side. This may have contributed to the athletes skating very fast, knowing they would anyway get away with a medal if penalties were avoided. The Dutch team (Velzeboer, Otter, Wiersma and Dalrymple) skated the 3000m ladies relay in 4.12.019, a new world junior record. Russia and Italy completed the podium.

In the last event of the competition, the men’s 3000m relay, the Korean team (Ahn, Jang, Kim, Lee) got the gold with a time of 3.55.494, three seconds faster than the previous world junior record held by China. Just like their female teammates, the Russians got the silver medal on the men’s relay while Japan won the bronze medal.

For full results click HERE

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Dutch women dominated the ISU World junior speed skating championships

The ISU World junior speed skating championships were held during the weekend in Baselga di Piné, Italy.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: @jurveenje

The world's best junior skaters in long track competed on 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m / 5000m as well as in the team pursuit, the team sprint and the mass start.

Dutch skaters at the top in the ladies’ competition

A Dutch skater was on every podiums of the weekend. Femke Kok was the most successful as she collected silver medals on 500m and 1000m and a gold medal on 1500m. These performances also gave her the allround world junior champion title. Her teammate Michelle de Jong won the 1000m and finished third on 500m. Also from the Dutch team, Femke Beuling took a gold medal while Robin Groot won a silver and a bronze. The Dutch ladies’ team also won the team sprint event and finished second in the team pursuit just behind Japan. As for skaters representing other countries, Poland’s Karolina Bosiek took three individual medals while Norway’s Ragne Wiklung collected two medals including the victory on 3000m. Italy’s Laura Peveri won the mass start world title.

Jaewon Chung allround world junior champion

Korean Jaewon Chung was crowned allround world junior champion with his great performances of the weekend. The skater who is already competing on the senior World cup circuit won the 1500m, finished second on 1000m and fourth on 5000m. Japanese Koki Kuba was solid in the short distances and was crowned world junior champion on 500m. Dutch skater Janno Botman won the 1000m while German Lukas Mann won the 5000m. Italian Francesco Betti who was on home soil finished third on 1500m and third in the overall ranking. Austria’s Gabriel Odor won the mass start event on the last day of racing to close the competition. In the team events, the Dutch squad won the team sprint while the Norwegians won the team pursuit.

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Montréal day 3: Korea and China ends up on top

The best junior short track skaters in the world were back in action for the last day of racing at the World junior short track championships on Sunday at the Maurice-Richard Arena.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Carl Savard

On the last day of racing, world junior champion titles on 1000m and in the 3000m relay were awarded.

Li Jinyu and Jung Ho Kyoung 1000m champions

Park Yoon Jung and Seo Whi Min from Korea, Li Xuan and Li Jinyu from China and Claudia Heeney from Canada met in the ladies’ 1000m A final. Halfway through the race, Chinese skater Li Xuan crashed with yesterday’s winner on 1500m Seo Whi Min. In the end, Chinese Li Jinyu was too strong and managed to cross the line in first position to claim the world junior title on the distance. Park Yoon Jung and Claudia Heeney completed the podium.

In the men’s category, the big final opposed Russian Sergei Milovanov, Chinese Song Jian, Japanese Kazuki Yoshinaga and Koreans Kim Tae Sung and Jung Ho Kyoung. Koreans were too strong from start to finish and ended the race in first and second position. Jung Ho Kyung took the gold medal, his teammate Kim Tae Sung the silver and Japanese Kazuki Yoshinaga the bronze.

Korea and China new world record holder in the relay
The ladies' 3000m relay A final was won by the Koreans in a new junior world record time of 4:14.699. Russia and Italy completed the podium.

The Chinese men were in control in the men's relay A final and also established a new junior world record on the distance. Team Netherlands and Russia were able to follow this fast paced race but in the end it was too fast to pass the Chinese team.

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Montreal day 2 : Big day for the Koreans, Biney defends her title

The best junior skaters in the world are presently competing in the World junior short track championships at the Maurice-Richard arena in Montreal, Canada.

By Florence Gauthier
Photo: Danny Kim (@dk_st)

During the second day of competition, the skaters all between 14 to 19 years old, were trying to get on the podium in the 1500m and 500m finals. Some of them also had to skate in the semifinals of the relay events.

Korean domination in the 1500m

In the ladies 1500m, the 16 years old korean Seo Whi Min lead the finale A from start to end, which allowed her to win the gold medal. The chinese Li Jinyu was following her closely and finished 2nd with 0.069 seconds behind. After a semi-final that was resumed after a fall by 4 skaters, Courtney Sarault still had strength in her legs and she went on the third step of the podium.

The second semi-final in the men had it’s lot of events. The chinese Wang Pengyu took a one turn advance on the pack in the beginning of the race, but the other skaters almost caught up on him at the end. In the final A, the korean skater Jung Ho Kyoung fell, didn’t get up and the race was stopped. The skater was able to get up by himself, which is a good sign. His compatriot Chang Hyun Woo was the strongest of the race and he won the the honours on the distance. The 2nd and 3rd places were tight, but the chinese Wang Pengyu and the italian Pietro Sighel won silver and bronze respectively.

Maame Biney, the one to beat

During the women's 500m quarter-finals, Maame Biney made a new junior world record. She raced in 43.212 seconds. The record was previously held by Petra Jaszapati with a time of 43.550 since 2017. In her semifinal, she took the lead from the start and qualified for the A final. The same scenario was repeated in the A final. She started strong to win the gold medal. The Dutch Xandra Valzeboer finished second. In this race, the Korean Kim Chae Hyun and the Dutch Georgie Dalrymple had a collision, which made the dutch fall. The Korean was penalized, which allowed Georgie Dalrymple to get on the third step of the podium.

After a 1500m win, Korea's Chang Hyung Woo failed to qualify in the A final. He finished third in his semifinal and also third in the B final. For the final A, the Korean Kim Tae Sung took control of the race from the beginning and did not let go which lead him to finish on top of the standings in the 500m. The Chinese Sun Long followed him all the way and kept his second place until the end. It was very close between the Italian Pietro Sighel and the Russian Konstantin Ivliev. A gap of 0.056 seconds separated them and the Italian is the one who managed to get the bronze medal.

Time for the semi-finals of the relays

For women, the Korean, Italian, Russian and Kazakh teams qualified for the A final. The Canadians had a line change penalty in their race. Following two penalties in the same race, including a mess after a fall, the Polish received a yellow card. In the same race, the Chinese had a penalty in an incident on the Russians.

For the men, the Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Dutch team qualified for the A final. The Japanese established a new junior world record with a time of 4:00:149. The Canadian team finished fourth of their heat and were eliminated. ‘’We stuck with the plan, but we made some errors’’ said Nicolas Perreault after the race. All four guys of the team will still be juniors next season and they said the experience they gained at this year’s world junior championship relay will motivate them for next year.

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Montréal day 1: The table is set for the 2019 World junior championships

The best junior short track speed skaters will fight for World junior champion titles this weekend at the Maurice-Richard Arena in Montréal, Canada.

By Jackob Savard
Photo: Danny Kim (@dk_st) & Bert van Lobenstein (@iceskatephotos)

Junior skaters from more than 30 countries including power houses of the sport such as Korea, Canada, China and the Netherlands are in Montréal for the 2019 World junior championships. Day 1 was the qualifying rounds on every distances.

1500m

The competition started with the qualifying rounds on 1500m. Kamila Stormowska, Courtney Sarault, Li Jinyu, Seo Whi Min, Aoi Watanabe, Shione Kaminaga, Elisa Confortola, Xandra Velzeboer and Corinne Stoddard all won their quarterfinal races and are some of the names you should look out for tomorrow in the final rounds. As for the Canadians, all three skaters qualified. Sarault easily won her heat while Claudia Heeney and Juliette Brindamour were advanced after some race incidents.

Some of the men’s 1500m qualifying races were already tight which should be the sign of an exciting weekend to come. Some skaters such as Japan’s Kazuki Yoshinaga, Canada’s Nicolas Perreault and William Dandjinou, Latvia’s Roberts Kruzberg and all three Koreans skaters Kim, Chang and Jung still managed to stand out and you should keep an eye on them. Canada’s Matej Pederson had a tough 1500m heat and didn’t manage to advance. His two teammates Dandjinou and Perreault qualified on the distance.

500m

The 500m preliminaries were fast and the majority of the skaters from the strong countries got through. The only surprise in the ladies’ 500m was that the Dutch Marijn Wiersma, who has some senior international experience and who performed well on 1500m earlier in the day, didn’t manage to qualify for the top bracket on the distance. All three Canadian skaters qualified.

On the men’s side, the highlight of the distance was probably Roberts Kruzberg’s comeback in his heat. He started late probably thinking the race would be called back for false start but it wasn’t. He was able to catch up and executed three solid passes to finish second and qualify for the main event on 500m. The action will continue tomorrow on the distance. China’s Wang Pengyu, who skated at the Salt Lake City world cup this season was penalized and won’t be able to skate in the 500m main event. Crowd favorites Felix Pigeon and William Dandjinou did well and qualified while Matej Pederson suffered a fall.

1000m

The ladies’ 1000m preliminaries were as calm as the ones on 500m as the skaters from Korea, China and Canada almost all qualified. Corinne Stoddard from the United States qualified in her third distance of the day on 1000m. ''Today my goal was to make it out of every distances which I did! My goal this weekend is to medal on any distance" says 17-year-old Stoddard. Courtney Sarault and Claudia Heeney from Canada will also both advance in all three distances as they won their respective 1000m heat.

No big surprise either in the men's 1000m preliminaries, but watch out for outstanding racing in the main events of the weekend. After a tough beginning in these championships not qualifying on 1500m nor 500m, Canadian Matej Pederson was solid on 1000m and managed to finish second of his heat to qualify for the main event on the distance. His teammate Nicolas Perreault also qualified but Felix Pigeon’s path on 1000m ended as he finished third of his heat.

3000m relay
Korea, Canada, Poland, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, the United States and Italy managed to qualify for the ladies' relay semifinals. Team China established a new junior world record on the distance.

The Koreans, big favorites for the win in the men's relay suffered a fall in the first laps of the first heat and won't be able to compete in the final rounds. In semifinals, Netherlands, USA, China, Kazakhstan, Japan, Hungary, Russia and Canada will have the chance to fight for the precious spots in the A final.

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Matej Pederson confident heading to his first World junior championships

Matej Pederson will be one of the Canadian skaters to look out for at the 2019 World junior short track championships to be held in Montreal in a few weeks.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Bill Christ

After a solid performance at the Canadian junior short track championships earlier this season in Calgary, Alberta’s Matej Pederson will make his World junior championships debut this month in Montreal. After going through some difficulties on day 1 on 1500m, which is usually his best distance, Pederson managed to finish second on both the 500m and the 1000m to seal the deal and qualify for his first international championships. "The plan was always to make the team, but with such a close group of guys this year I just wanted to skate as well as I could’’ said Pederson a couple of days after his qualification on the team.

Having participated in the Invitation cup in the Netherlands and the Alta Valtellina Trophy in Italy earlier this season, the Calgary based skater already has some international experience and was able to set some goals for the World Junior championships: "Individually I would like to make it into the finals for all the distances, and hopefully pick up a medal in the relay with the boys’’. An all rookie Canadian team will be racing at this year’s junior championships as Pederson will be joined by Nicolas Perreault, William Dandjinou and Felix Pigeon. When asked about the young canadian team, Matej Pederson seemed confident: "The team is very young this season, but I believe all of us have proved that we can compete with some of the best skaters in Canada and the world. I have high hopes for myself and my teammates".  

You’ll be able to see Pederson and his teammates represent Canada at the World junior short track championships in Montreal from January 25th to 27th. Our team will be on location to cover the event.

Canadian junior team 2019

Courtney Sarault - NB

Claudia Heeney - ONT

Hee-won Son - AB

Juliette Brindamour - QC

Nicolas Perreault - QC

William Dandjinou - QC

Matej Pederson - AB
Felix Pigeon - QC

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Breaking News: Canada to host this season's World Junior Championships

The Maurice-Richard Arena in Montreal Canada will host the 2019 ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships in replacement of Seoul, Korea.

Par Carl Savard

Photo: Bert van Lobenstein

In a news release on its website on September 12, the ISU announced that both the World cup event and World Junior Championships that were supposed to be held in Korea this upcoming season had to be moved. We are happy to report that Canada will host the World Junior Championships next January. 

On the women's side, Canada offered one of its strongest performance in history at those championships last year coming back from Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland with a world champion title on the relay in part due to the amazing performances of the young sensation Courtney Sarault. The young woman from Moncton finished second overall at these championships and could compete in it again this season. It's been ten years since the last time the World Junior Championships in short track took place in Canada. In 2009, Sherbrooke hosted the competition. At the time, Canada had placed all its female and male skaters in the top 10 with Marianne St-Gelais offering the best performance by winning the 500m and finishing fourth overall. 

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