ISU

After rounding up the World Cup Series in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL) two weeks ago, the international Speed Skating elite is getting ready for the season’s climax at the World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen (NED) this weekend. World Cup winners hope to confirm their status, while others are looking for revenge. The Dutch skaters hope to celebrate an historic hundredth World Single Distance title on home ice in the legendary Thialf stadium.  

Mao Shimada (JPN) skated to the lead in the Women’s Short Program at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Calgary, Alberta (CAN) Wednesday. 

Sophia Baram/Daniel Tioumentsev (USA) took the lead in the Pairs Short Program as the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships kicked off Wednesday in Calgary (CAN). A total of 179 Skaters/Couples representing 44 ISU Members have been entered for the Championships.

ISU and Chique Sport have come together this March to offer Figure Skating fans the opportunity to play the #ISUGoFigure Chique Sport Figure Skating Quiz.

The next generation of young Skaters takes center stage at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships February 27 – March 5 in Calgary, AB (CAN). A total of 179 Skaters/Couples representing 44 ISU Members have been entered for the Championships: 42 Junior Men, 47 Junior Women, 14 Junior Pairs and 31 Junior Ice Dance couples.

They are about the same age and they both skate the 500m under 34 seconds, but they speak different languages and they were born 9,480 kilometers apart. Yet 500m World Cup leader Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) and runner-up Yuma Murakami (JPN) found each other in their passion for Speed Skating. Training together in Quebec for seven weeks last summer, helped them to become better skaters, and better friends.

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency's (RUSADA's) disciplinary tribunal rendered a decision in the case of Russian Figure Skater, Kamila Valieva, finding that although the athlete had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation, she bore “no fault or negligence” for it. As such, the tribunal imposed no sanction except for the disqualification of her results at the Russian Figure Skating Championship in Saint-Petersburg in December 2021.

No man has been as consistent on the World Cup Mass Start podium in the last five years than Bart Swings (BEL). Bart Hoolwerf (NED) won the last race of the World Cup season on Sunday, but it was the Olympic Champion who took home his fourth consecutive World Cup trophy and fifth in total. Hein Otterspeer (NED) secured the 1000m World Cup trophy, coming third in the final race behind Jordan Stolz (USA) and Wesly Dijs (NED), who surprised the field with a track record. 

Momoka Horikawa (JPN) is a senior World Cup gold medalist, just one week after winning the 3000m title at the World Junior Championships. The Japanese skater beat Valérie Maltais (CAN) in a sprint of two after a joint breakaway in the Women’s Mass Start on Sunday. Ivanie Blondin (CAN) won the bunch sprint to take bronze and her third Mass Start World Cup trophy. In the 1000m, Jutta Leerdam (NED) returned to take her fifth gold if the season, but Miho Takagi (JPN) held on to take the distance World Cup trophy, her third-place finish securing the title by just one point.

After winning the final 3000m race and the long distance World Cup trophy in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on Friday, Ragne Wiklund (NOR) triumphed again in the last 1500m race of the World Cup season. Miho Takagi (JPN) took bronze after already having secured her career-third 1500m World Cup trophy last week. McKenzie Browne, Erin Jackson and Kimi Goetz (USA) wrapped up Saturday’s action, taking home the Team Sprint World Cup trophy after winning the third and final race.

The Men’s long distance World Cup ended with a spectacular finale in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on Saturday. Sander Eitrem (NOR) beat the 5000m track record in an exciting battle with Davide Ghiotto (ITA). The Italian seemed to be on his way to winning the World Cup trophy, but got disqualified for an irregular change-up, with Beau Snellink (NED) instead ending up the season’s winner. 

Ragne Wiklund (NOR) brought home the long distance World Cup in style in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on Friday. After already having secured the trophy with a gold medal in the 3000m last week, the 22-year-old Norwegian hammered out a track record to win her fourth of five 3000m races this season. In the 500m Vanessa Herzog (AUT) surprised Kim Min Sun (KOR), who was undefeated in the previous five races this season. The Korean did secure the World Cup Trophy in the shortest distance by coming second on Friday. 

After winning a glut of silverware at the ISU Junior World Championships last weekend, Jordan Stolz (USA) had no problem getting back into the swing of things on the senior circuit with victory on the opening day of the final ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. The 18-year-old Junior World Champion beat Olympic champions Kjeld Nuis (NED) head-to-head in the last 1500m World Cup race of the season on Friday, with Nuis’ second place securing him the World Cup trophy in the distance.

Abzal Azhgaliyev (KAZ) points toward a mountain range that provides a stunning backdrop for the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s former capital. It is where the 30-year-old and his fellow skaters on the Kazakh national team spent last summer, training at altitude in a bid to reach new heights on the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating stage.

Coming off the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships in Inzell (GER), Jordan Stolz (USA) returns to the senior ISU World Cup Series in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL) with a suitcase full of silverware. In the Women’s tournament Jutta Leerdam (NED) is back to give Miho Takagi (JPN) a run for her money in the 1000m World Cup ranking.