ISU

The ISU World Cup Short Track continues Thursday, October 27, 2021 in Nagoya, Japan. Don’t miss any of the action as the Skaters compete for their Olympic spots at the remaining ISU World Cup Short Track Olympic qualification events, which will be streamed live on the Skating ISU YouTube channel.

Ask people in or outside Riga, the capital of Latvia, what they know about Short Track Speed Skating and most will probably say they’ve never heard of it. The country can hardly be considered a winter sports powerhouse but 20-year-old Roberts Kruzbergs (LAT) hopes to improve that and get his compatriots talking about his passion. 

Douwe de Vries (NED) knows as well as anyone that there is arguably no team in sport harder to get in to than the Dutch Olympic Speed Skating squad. The long-distance specialist may have been a five-time Team Pursuit World Single Distance Champion but even he never made it on to Olympic ice. Now, at the start of a season that culminates in the biggest event of them all, the Dutchman reveals just what it is like to fight to represent the most successful nation in Speed Skating history.

The stakes could not be higher as the world’s best Short Track Speed Skaters descend on Debrecen, Hungary November 18-21 for the third of this season’s four ISU World Cup Short Track weekends.

Miho Takagi (JPN) clearly missed international racing when Japan did not travel abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic last year as she celebrated her international comeback in style on Sunday. Hammering out the 1500m in one minute and 56 seconds, the Japanese World Allround Champion smashed her pair-mate Ireen Wüst’s 2019 track record by 0.62s. Irene Schouten (NED) took her second gold medal of the weekend with a commanding final sprint in an eventful Mass Start.

The Dutch returned to winning ways on the final day of a tough first World Cup weekend in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland. Hein Otterspeer, Thomas Krol and Kjeld Nuis (NED) swept the podium of the Men’s 1000m and the Dutch also won the Men's Team Pursuit. Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN) won the second 500m.

Asia dominated the Men’s events on the second day of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. Min-Seok Kim (KOR) took his career first World Cup win in the 1500m with Ning Zhongyan (CHN) coming second, while Masahito Obayashi (JPN) won the Mass Start. Zbigniew Bródka (POL) made the home crowd happy, taking Mass Start bronze on his return to international Speed Skating after a two-year break. 

Two stars from Florida dominated the ice in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on Saturday. Erin Jackson (USA) won her second gold medal in the 500m, again breaking the track record, and Brittany Bowe (USA) added a 1000m gold for the Sunshine State. Canada wrapped up an exciting second day of World Cup Speed Skating with gold in the Women’s Team Pursuit.

Shoma Uno (JPN) took gold on home ice as he won the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo on Saturday. Vincent Zhou (USA) took silver and Junhwan Cha (KOR) claimed bronze.

2018 Four Continents Champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan stormed to the gold medal at the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN) on Saturday. Little heralded teammate Mana Kawabe made it one-two for the Japanese women and Korea’s Young You secured the bronze medal.

2021 ISU World Ice Dance Champions Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov of Russia danced to the gold in style at the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN) on Saturday. Two-time World medalists Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) earned the silver medal and Great Britain’s Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson claimed the bronze.

2021 ISU World Champions Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Galliamov of Russia skated to a confident victory with 14 points to spare in the Pair Skating event at the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN) on Saturday. The silver went to teammates Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, while Japan’s Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara collected the bronze medal.

Tingyu Gao (CHN) looks to have caught up with the world’s best sprinters right on time. With the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in front of a home crowd within sight, the 23-year-old from Harbin started the international season with a career-first World Cup win in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL) on Friday. Gao crushed the track record in 34.26 seconds. In the 5000m Nils van der Poel (SWE) also pulverized the track record to take gold.

Erin Jackson (USA) enjoyed a flying start to the Olympic Speed Skating season in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL) on Friday. The 29-year-old US sprinter won the first Women’s 500m of the 2021/22 ISU World Cup series at the Arena Lodowa in 37.61 seconds, beating Nao Kodaira’s track record by 0.16s. Irene Schouten (NED) also clocked a track record to win the Women’s 3000m.

Two-time ISU World silver medalist Shoma Uno of Japan grabbed the lead in the Men’s Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN). Vincent Zhou (USA) sits in second and Korea’s Junhwan Cha placed third on the first day of competition.