ISU

Having won the first international speed skating medal for Chinese Taipei with silver in the 500m on Wednesday, Huang Yu-Ting (pictured centre) seized the first title for her country in the 1000m at the Four Continents Championships. “It’s a dream,” she says. The USA topped the overall medal ranking in the women’s competition with three gold medals, after concluding the event taking the women’s Team Pursuit title.

Following the ISU announcement on December 2, 2021 regarding the cancellation of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Osaka (JPN), the ISU evaluated a possible postponement to hold the Event at the end of the season and reached out to the six ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Group to find out if they could host the Event. Unfortunately, despite all efforts made by the ISU and the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Group, it was impossible to find a solution to maintain this Event.

Kali Christ (CAN) came a long way to win her first international title with gold in the 1500m at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Calgary. Battling injuries more than fighting for medals over the past five years, the 30-year-old from Saskatchewan (pictured) was the only woman to finish in under two minutes in 1:57.67, while Korean prodigy Park Chaewon pipped two US women to the line to win the Mass Start event on Thursday.

Russia’s rising star Kamila Valieva reigned supreme in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series this season. Not only did the 15-year-old prodigy win her two events Skate Canada International and Rostelecom Cup in her international senior-level debut season, but she kept pushing the highest score since the Challenger event Finlandia Trophy. The 2020 ISU World Junior Champion now holds the highest score for the Women’s Short Program (87.42 points), the Free Skating (185.29 points) and total score (272.71 points) – all set at Rostelecom Cup.

Austin Kleba (USA, pictured) made a great start to the ISU Four Continents Championships, winning two gold medals on Wednesday. After edging out Olympic silver medalist Cha Min Kyu (KOR) for the 500m title, he joined team-mates Brett Perry and Zach Stoppelmoor winning the Team Sprint event.

It was a day of firsts to start the second ISU Four Continents Championships in Calgary on Wednesday. Yekaterina Aidova (KAZ, pictured) won her first international title in the 500m, while Huang Yu-Ting (TPE) and Victoria Rodriguez (ARG) seized the first international silverware for their countries in the history of speed skating.

Elise Christie, the first British and European woman to become an overall Short Track Speed Skating world champion, has retired.

For some skaters it is a first shot at an international competition, a chance to prepare for their Olympic trials, and for others it is just a great opportunity to win an international prize. Whatever the reason all skaters enjoyed preparing for the races in a relaxed mode on Tuesday. Nine countries are entered  to compete in the Championships.

Most ISU Members decide their teams for the ISU Championships and the Olympic Winter Games based on the results from the National Championships and also international events such as the ISU Grand Prix and Challenger Series. While in some countries the candidates for the Olympic team have been announced already or are obvious, in others Nationals are decisive of who is going to represent their country on the Olympic stage at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in February.

The list of entries / participating Figure Skating Team events has been pubilshed today

One week on from their staggering Team Pursuit World Cup win in Salt Lake City, USA confirmed their status with another gold medal, claiming the World Cup Trophy in the process. The Americans showed the depth of their team, keeping last week’s anchor Joey Mantia (USA) on the bench in Calgary. Earlier on Sunday Viktor Mushtakov (RUS) won the 500m while Ning Zhongyan (CHN) took his career first 1000m World Cup gold.

Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA) wrapped up the best World Cup weekend of her career by sprinting to gold in the Women’s Mass Start in Calgary on Sunday while Brittany Bowe (USA) made amends in the 1500m by a 0.01s margin after finishing second by 0.03s in Saturday’s 1000m.

Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais secured the third consecutive World Cup trophy in the Women’s Team Pursuit for Canada on Saturday. Inspired by the home ice of the Calgary Olympic Oval the trio set a Canadian and a track record in 2:52.06, beating Japan and concluding the season undefeated. Nao Kodaira handed Japan a 1000m gold and a 500m silver, while Angelina Golikova (RUS) seized her first World Cup victory of the season in the 500m. 

It was do or die for Bart Hoolwerf (NED) in the Men’s Mass Start at the Calgary Olympic Oval on Saturday. With the second Dutch Olympic slot in the distance at risk, the 23-year-old gloriously took his career first World Cup win, securing the Beijing ticket for his country. Earlier on Saturday, Joey Mantia (USA) overcame his fatigue after Salt Lake City last week to win his second consecutive 1500m gold.

Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) came into the fourth World Cup as leader but he saved the best for the home ice in Calgary. With 33.80 seconds the world champion skated under 34 seconds for the first time in his career, winning the 500m by a 0.09 margin. Nils van der Poel (SWE) extended his unbeaten streak in the long distance World Cup to four but left the race with mixed feelings, finishing in six minutes and 4.29 seconds, 0.97 short of Sven Kramer’s 2007 track record.