The ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2016 concluded today with the crowning of this year’s individual and team champions. Chunyu Qu (CHN) was crowned the Lady 2015 ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Champion, while Ziwei Ren (CHN) took the championship title on the men’s side. In the team events, the relay champions for both the ladies and men’s competition were China.
Junior World Record in the Men’s 1000 m
In the Men’s 1000 m final, Ziwei Ren (CHN) began the day with his second podium finish of the weekend by winning the event. He held hold championship contender like Yongjing Lim (KOR) and Shaoang Liu (HUN) over the last five laps of the race. Lim crossed the finish line in second, while Wei Ma (CHN) took the third place spot. Liu finished in fourth place, providing him with some valuable championship points, while Steven Dubois (CAN) was fifth. Of note in this event is the performance of Yongjing Lim who broke the Junior World record during his semi-final race, with a time of 1:24.959.
In the Ladies 1000 m event, Chunyu Qu (CHN) won her second individual event of the championships, taking the lead on the last lap. Qu finished ahead of a pair of Korean skaters: Suyoun Lee (second) and Yubin Lee (third). Petra Jaszapati (HUN) and Anna Seidel (GER) finished in fourth and fifth place respectively.
Suzanne Schulting (NED) and Ziwei Ren (CHN) win their respective 1500 m Super Final
In the Ladies 1500 m Super Final event, Suzanne Schulting (NED) took the top honors which allowed her to move into second place in the overall championship standings. Chunyu Qu (CHN) had already clinched the overall title before the race started, and ended up in fifth place in the event. Schulting crossed the finish line ahead of Yubin Lee (KOR), who concludes the weekend with a third place in the overall standings. Yize Zang finished third, while Anna Seidel was fourth.
In the Men’s 1500 m Super Final, Ziwei Ren (CHN) took the win and confirmed his championship title. His teammate Wei Ma crossed the line in second place, allowing him to secure the third spot in the overall classification. Yongjin Lim (KOR) secured his second place in the overall classification with a third place finish in the event. Steven Dubois (CAN) and Shaoang Liu (HUN) finished fourth and fifth respectively. Hongzhi Xu (CHN) who was the championship leader at the beginning of the day had a challenging day of racing, receiving a penalty in the final event and did not earn points in the 1000 m event earlier in the day.
The final overall classification in the Ladies competition is as follows: Chunyu Qu (86 points), Suzanne Schulting (79 points) and Yubin Lee (55 points). In the Men’s competition, the top-three finishers in the overall classification are: Ziwei Ren (90 points), Yongjin Lim (68 points), and Wei Ma (47 points).
China ends Korea’s domination in both the relay events
China finished first in the Ladies 3000 m Relay final, crossing the line ahead of Korea. The Netherlands took the bronze medal in the event, while Poland was fourth. In the Men’s 3000 m Relay final, China broke a world record with a time of 3:59.809. Korea took the silver medal in the event, finishing ahead of Russia. Japan crossed the finished line in fourth place.
The next ISU Short Track Speed Skating event is the ISU World Cup series which resumes in Dresden, Germany from February 5-7, 2016.