World cup season is now over in short track

Athletes from all the countries part of the short track speed skating circuit faced each other one last time before the 2022 Olympic Games.

By Carl Savard

Photo by ISU short track

Exciting final in the ladies' 1000m

Suzanne Schulting was already assured of the title of 2021-22 World Cup 1000m overall champion before she even entered the A final today. With Schulting, Boutin, Choi, Maliszewska and Sarault in the main event, thrill seekers could expect a great final. While she often stay in the back waiting to attack in the last third of the race, Choi Min-jeong of Korea only waited three laps this time around before taking the lead. Although Kim Boutin managed to move to the front for a moment, Choi would eventually come back to pass the Canadian on the last lap to take the top honors. Boutin finished in 2nd place winning another medal this weekend. Suzanne Schulting finally crossed the finish line in 4th place, but found herself on the podium with the bronze medal following a penalty awarded to Nathalia Maliszewska. In the final season standings, Schulting finished ahead of American Kristen Santos and Korea's Choi. 

One noticeable absence and one surprising presence in the men's final

In the absence of Hwang Dae-heon, Canadian Pascal Dion also started the 1000m grand final with the assurance of winning the title in the overall standing on the distance. Dion decided to play the observer but was a little too late in launching his attack while the Hungarians Liu Shaoang and John-Henry Krueger were the driving forces of this final. Liu ended up finishing 1st ahead of Krueger while Pietro Sieghel of Italy finished 3rd. Dion finished in 4th place. Canadian fans were treated to another great surprise in the final as Brendan Corey from Fredericton, New Brunswick also took the starting line of this grand final. Corey who's now skating under the Australian flag placed 5th. In the cumulative ranking of the four 1000m events of the season that ended today, Pascal Dion finished 1st ahead of Hwang Dae-heon and Itzhak de Laat.

Relay Results The final laps of the mixed relay final were very exciting as the Netherlands took the gold medal ahead of Hungary by three hundredths of a second. This victory allowed us to see a smiling Sjinkie Knegt once again this weekend and what about the performance of young Jens 'T Woot who won the bet to finish the event in force against Liu Shaolin Sandor. China finished in 3rd place today. In the women's relay, the Dutch gave a gold medal to their fans in Dordrecht. Canada finished 2nd while Italy won the bronze medal. As for the men's relay, veteran Kwak Yoon-gy beat Steven Dubois at the finish line, allowing Korea to win the event, finishing ahead of Canada and Hungary. The men's relay final was also the last laps on the World Cup circuit for veteran Charles Hamelin.

For the complete results of the weekend click HERE

For the final rankings of the season on all distances click HERE

Important dates to remember for the next months

The European Championships will be held from January 14 to 16 in Dresden, Germany, while the Four Continents Championships will be held on the same dates in Salt Lake City, USA. The Olympic Games in Beijing, China will be held from February 4th to 20th and the season will end on the weekend of March 18th to 20th when Montreal will host the World Championships.

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Jens Van 'T Wout victorious at the KNSB Cup 2

On Sunday November 4th, the second KNSB Short Track Cup was held in Zoetermeer, Netherlands. During this competition, the skaters competed in the 1500m distance.

By Florence Gauthier

Photo: Bert van Lobenstein

The 120 skaters participating in the competition were separated into 5 divisions. These divisions were selected according to skaters' times. Since the best Dutch skaters were at the World Cup #1 in Calgary, other skaters were able to stand out. The Division A had two finals, while the other divisions had only one. Apart from division A, all the divisions were mixed, which meant that men and women competed against each other.

In Division A, Jens van 't Wout was the big winner with a 1st and a 2nd place in two events. Sven Roes follows him in second place overall with a 2nd and a 4th place. To finish the overall classification, Bram Steenaart is third. Although he finished seventh in the first final, he recovered and won the second final.

For Division B, Ted Dalrymple finished in 1st place with a time of 2:46.944. Emma van Zuijlen was the best woman in the competition. She finished 2nd in this division. On the third and last step of the podium, we find Anne Floor Otter. The only person who was not Dutch was in this division and it was Italian Giorgia Bresciani who finished 17th of her group.

A competition like this where men and women compete against each other is not usual. It allows women to stand out and push themselves against men who often have faster times. Sometimes, in practice, women skate with men to push their limits. So, one question I would like to ask is: Why aren’t there more competitions like this in other countries?

The third short track KNSB Cup will take place on 19 and 20 January 2019 in Leeuwarden.

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