Some surprises on day one in Budapest

Text: Carl Savard

Photo: Tony Chung (@SHORTTRACKHD)

Action started this morning in Budapest as short track speed skaters from all around the world reunited to start their new season. For some of them, this season will culminate with a participation in the Olympic games in Pyeongchang this coming winter. Here is a fast review of today's action as skaters were in the qualifying phase of the competition to get their spot to battle in the upper part of the standings on 1500m and 500m.

Surprises

Netherland's rising star Suzanne Schulting was penalised on both distances today and men's legend Victor An didn’t pass the heat stage on 1500m. On 500m, Germany's Anna Seidel fell in the preliminaries while Kasandra Bradette from Canada did the same in the heat stage. Russia's Semen Elistratov will not be in the quarter-finals on 500m as he finished fourth in a “heat of death” behind Budapest's own Liu Shaolin Sándor, Canada's Samuel Girard and american star J.R.Celski. Another crazy heat on 500m was the one composed of Liu Shaoang, Charle Cournoyer, Abzal Azhgaliyev, Keita Watanabe and World champion Seo Yi Ra. Shaoang fell while Cournoyer and Seo Yi Ra were beaten by Azhgaliyev and Watanabe. Not necessarily what most fan would have bet on.

The athletes will be back in action tomorrow for the first part of the competition on 1000m and the team relay event.

Saturday's semi-final’s heats for the women on 1500m

Heat 1

1-Kim BOUTIN CAN

2-Charlotte GILMARTIN GBR

3-Valerie MALTAIS CAN

4-Petra JASZAPATI HUN

5-Yuki KIKUCHI JPN

6-Jessica KOOREMAN USA

7-Lana GEHRING USA

8-Yara van KERKHOF NED

Heat 2

1-Elise CHRISTIE GBR

2-Tifany HUOT MARCHAND FRA

3-Jorien ter MORS NED

4-A Lang KIM KOR

5-Iong A KIM KAZ

6-Deanna LOCKETT AUS

7-Kathryn THOMSON GBR

8-Ekaterina EFREMENKOVA RUS

Heat 3

1-Sumire KIKUCHI JPN

2-Min Jeong CHOI KOR

3-Arianna FONTANA ITA

4-Bianca WALTER GER

5-Shione KAMINAGA JPN

6-Suk Hee SHIM KOR

7-Yutong HAN CHN

8-Jamie MACDONALD CAN

Saturday's quarter-final’s heats for the women on 500m

Heat 1

1-Elise CHRISTIE GBR

2-Chunyu QU CHN

3-Lucia PERETTI ITA

4-Yize ZANG CHN

5-Marianne ST-GELAIS CAN

Heat 2

1-Arianna FONTANA ITA

2-Yara van KERKHOF NED

3-Charlotte GILMARTIN GBR

4-Maame BINEY USA

5-Selma POUTSMA FRA

6-Sumire KIKUCHI JPN

Heat 3

1-Kexin FAN CHN

2-Petra JASZAPATI HUN

3-Suk Hee SHIM KOR

4-Martina VALCEPINA ITA

5-Lara van RUIJVEN NED

Heat 4

1-Min Jeong CHOI KOR

2-Sofia PROSVIRNOVA RUS

3-Jamie MACDONALD CAN

4-Andrea KESZLER HUN

5-Veronique PIERRON FRA

Saturday's semi-final’s heats for the men on 1500m

Heat 1

1-Yi Ra SEO KOR

2-Sjinkie KNEGT NED

3-Shaolin Sandor LIU HUN

4-Charle COURNOYER CAN

5-Charles HAMELIN CAN

6-Sebastien LEPAPE FRA

7-Jens ALMEY BEL

8-Jingnan SHI CHN

Heat 2

1-Nurbergen ZHUMAGAZIYEV KAZ

2-Tianyu HAN CHN

3-Vladislav BYKANOV ISR

4-Dae Heon HWANG KOR

5-Kai AN CHN

6-Keita WATANABE JPN

7-John-Henry KRUEGER USA

Heat 3

1-Samuel GIRARD CAN

2-Roberts KRUZBERGS LAT

3-J R CELSKI USA

4-Hyo Jun LIM KOR

5-Shaoang LIU HUN

6-Hiroki YOKOYAMA JPN

7-Thibaut FAUCONNET FRA

Saturday's quarter-final’s heats for the men on 500m

Heat 1

1-Denis NIKISHA KAZ

2-Hyun Woo Andy JUNG AUS

3-Ziwei REN CHN

4-Keita WATANABE JPN

5-Dae Heon HWANG KOR

Heat 2

1-John-Henry KRUEGER USA

2-Samuel GIRARD CAN

3-Ryosuke SAKAZUME JPN

4-Dajing WU CHN

5-J R CELSKI USA

Heat 3

1-Charles HAMELIN CAN

2-Shaolin Sandor LIU HUN

3-Dylan HOOGERWERF NED

4-Sjinkie KNEGT NED

5-Nurbergen ZHUMAGAZIYEV KAZ

Heat 4

1-Hyo Jun LIM KOR

2-Abzal AZHGALIYEV KAZ

3-Hongzhi XU CHN

4-Csaba BURJAN HUN

5-Bartosz KONOPKO POL