Innsbruck / Austria

Yu Bin Lee scored valuable championship points when she took the win in the Ladies’ 500 m event. She had finished seventh in the 1500 m distance, which was the first points-scoring distance of the day, therefore the win in the 500 m Final A allowed her to overtake her teammate Whi Min Seo in the overall classification. Lee only leads the overall classification by one point: Seo sits in second place overall thanks to a dominating win in the Ladies 1500 m event. She led much of the race, fending off some though challenges behind her.

WJSTCH-Ladies1500-632909732The only female skater to make the Final A in both distances was Petra Jaszapati (HUN). She finished third in the Ladies 1500 m event and ranked fourth in the 500 m event. Unfortunately, she received a penalty in latter event, however is one to watch on the last day of competition tomorrow. Other podium finishers today include Jinyu Li (CHN) who finished second in the Ladies 1500 m and is ranked third overall in the championship classification. Sofia Prosvirnova (RUS) earned a second-place finish in the Ladies 500 m which puts her in fourth place in the overall ranking, very much so in contention for the championship with two distances to go. Finally, Maame Biney (USA) earned a podium spot, with a third-place finish in the 500 m event.   

In the Men’s competition, today was a perfect day for Shaoang Liu (HUN): not only did he win both the 1500 m and 500 m events, he also clocked a new Junior World Record in the 500 m with a time of 40.483. In fact, Liu broke his own Junior World Record twice today – a record he had previously set during last year’s championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

WJSTCH-Men500-632917820Kazuki Yoshinaga (JPN) is currently sitting in second place overall after two distances, as a result of two podium finishes. He finished in third place in both the 1500 m and 500 m distances. The only other podium finishers from today include Alexander Shulginov (RUS) and Thomas Insuk Hong (USA). Shulginov finished second in the 1500 m distance, while Hong finished second in the 500 m distance. Both skaters are tied for third place in the overall championship ranking.

The classification after two individual events is as follows in the Ladies competition: Yu Bin Lee (36 points), Whi Min Seo (35 points) and Jinyu Li (26 points). In the Men’s competition, the classification is as follows: Shaoang Li (68 points), Kazuki Yoshinaga (26 points) and tied for third with 21 points areThomas Insuk Hong and Alexander Shulginov.

Racing resumes tomorrow with the Ladies and Men 1000 m, 1500 m Super Final and the Relay finals. The Ladies Relay final will have the following four teams: China, Russia, Japan and Canada; the Men’s Relay final will these teams: Korea, Japan, Russia and United States.

For full results of the ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2017 please refer to http://shorttrack.sportresult.com