This year’s ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championship was held in Warsaw, Poland. Do Hee Noh and Se Yeong Park, both from Korea, were crowned Ladies and Men 2013 ISU World Junior Short Track Champions. This is Park’s second consecutive Junior World Championship title
1500m
The weekend began with the 1500m events. In the ladies competition, Do Hee Noh (Korea) took the win, finishing head of Evgeniya Zakharova (Russia). Third place finisher was Deanna Lockett (Australia). On the men’s side, Tianyu Han (China) won his first gold medal of the weekend, by taking the win in the 1500m event. Silver and bronze medalists were Hyo Been Lee (Korea) and Se Yeong Park (Korea). Day one concluded with both Noh and Han leading their respective championship standings with 34 points each.
500m
In the ladies 500m, it was a podium sweep by the Chinese skaters: Yutong Han won the gold medal, finishing ahead of Han Xiao (silver) and Yue Lin (bronze). After two events, Han leads the championship standings with 39 points, ahead of Noh (34 points). Tied in third place are Zakharova and Xiao, both with 21 points.
In the men’s 500m event, a new junior world record was set by Se Yeong Park (Korea) in his gold-winning performance. Tianyu Han earned the silver medal, while Byungjoon Kim earned the bronze medal. At the end of day two, Tianyu Han was leading the men’s championship standings with 55 points. Ranking in second and third place were Park (47 points) and Lee (21 points).
1000m
The last day of the weekend, began with the 1000m events. In the ladies competition, the gold medal winner was Alang Kim (Korea), while teammate Noh finished second. This silver medal allowed Noh to move into the championship lead, entering the last event with 55 points. Bronze medalist was Yutong Han, who is only 3 points behind Noh.
In the men’s event, Tianyu Han takes his second gold medal of the weekend, winning ahead of Se Yeong Park. Bronze medalist was Sandor Liu Shaolin (Hungary). This second win of the weekend extends Han’s lead to 89 points, with Park sitting in second place with 68 points.
Super Final – 1500m
Entering the final race of the weekend, both the ladies and men’s championship title were still up for grabs. Do Hee Noh won her second gold medal of weekend, which was more than enough for her to clinch the overall title with 89 points. Silver medalist was her teammate Kim, who moved into second place in the overall standings with 63 points ahead of Yutong Han (52 points). Han did not earn any points in the event due to a penalty. Deanna Lockett was the silver medalist in the super final.
In the men’s event, Park clinched the overall title by finishing first in the 1500m super final. His gold medal brings his championship total to 102 points, only 5 points ahead of Tianyu Han, who held the lead coming into the event. Han’s fourth place finish did however secure him second place in the overall standings. Hyo Been Lee won the silver medal, which confirms his third place in the overall ranking at 42 points. Super final bronze medalist was Byungjoon Kim.
Relay
The weekend’s racing concluded with 3000m relay events. Both the ladies and men’s events were won by Korea. China (second) and Russia (third) completed the podium in the ladies competition. This was the same ranking as last year’s junior world championships. In the men’s competition, it was Canada that finished second, and Japan finished third.