ISU

#ShortTrackSkating

 

Men's 5000m relay final during the 2020 ISU Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Montreal, Canada. © International Skating Union

From Park Ji Won (KOR) versus Steven Dubois (CAN), to Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) against Choi Min Jeong (KOR), and the emerging China Relay teams facing the rest of the best, this season’s ISU Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating Championships are set to light up Salt Lake City (USA), November 10-12, 2022.

There are thrilling head-to-heads everywhere you look, with the Men and Women racing 500m, 1000m and 1500m, as well as the Men’s 5000m Relay, the Women’s 3000m Relay and the Mixed Team Relay.

Just four days after bringing down the curtain on an exhilarating ISU World Cup meet with victory in the Men’s 5000m Relay, Dubois, Pascal Dion and Maxime Laoun return to the Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City (USA), at the head of a particularly formidable Canadian Men’s team. Their confrontations with a Republic of Korea Men’s outfit led by Park, who currently sits atop the Overall World Cup Classification, are mouth-watering.

Steven Dubois (CAN) takes the lead in the men's 500 meter final during the 2022 ISU World Cup Short Track in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.© International Skating Union

Dubois, the overall silver medalist the last time the Four Continents Championships took place in 2020, opened his World Cup campaign with a gold, silver and bronze in Montreal (CAN) and was unlucky not to add to that tally last weekend in Salt Lake City. But Park has been in even more impressive form, winning four golds and three silvers across the two events.

Ji Won Park (KOR) gives his team the lead in the men's 5000 meter relay final during the 2022 ISU World Cup Short Track in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. © International Skating Union

Surprisingly, despite being the proud owner of 13 individual World Cup titles, Park is yet to win a major Championship gold medal. Expect that to change.

While Dubois and Park have claimed more medals so far this season, arguably no one knows the Salt Lake City ice better than Dion. The 28-year-old competed six times on the final day alone of last weekend’s World Cup and still had enough in the tank to help steer Canada to a narrow victory over Korea in the Men’s 5000m Relay.

 Pascal Dion (CAN) takes the lead in the men's 1000 meter final during the 2022 ISU World Cup Short Track in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  © International Skating Union

With Laoun grabbing his first World Cup gold and Koreans Lee June Seo and Hong Kyung Hwan in great form, sparks are likely to fly every time these skaters take to the Oval.

Home crowd poised and ready

Local hero Santos-Griswold looks very likely to disrupt the Canada/Korea rivalry on the Women’s side. Reveling in her role as the USA’s team leader, the 28-year-old is fast and clearly full of confidence after grabbing three individual World Cup medals already this season.

Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) takes the lead in the women's 1500 meter semifinal during the 2022 ISU World Cup Short Track in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. © International Skating Union

Add on the form of the increasingly pacy Corinne Stoddard, plus the boost the team took from claiming a bronze medal in the World Cup Mixed Team Relay last weekend, and it looks likely the home crowd will have plenty to cheer in the coming days.

With Canada’s four-time Olympic medalist Kim Boutin (CAN) not competing, it is Courtney Sarault (CAN) who looks a good bet to ensure the Maple Leaf will be seen on the Women’s podium.

Silver medal winner Courtney Sarault (CAN), gold medal winner Suzanne Schulting (NED) and bronze medal winner Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) pose with their medals after the Womans 1000m final during the 2022 ISU World Cup Short Track in Salt Lake City, Utah.  © ISU

Sarault, the 2021 World Championships overall silver medalist, took extra time off over the summer and admitted to being “way off the pace” in the opening World Cup in Montreal. But the born racer recovered well in Salt Lake City, showing all her renowned strength to snatch 1000m silver ahead of Santos-Griswold.

But both Sarault and Santos-Griswold will be well aware of the threat posed by three female Korean skaters in particular. Choi has won everything there is to win in her already-storied career and the overall 2020 Four Continents Champion does not look like slowing down. She may not have claimed individual gold yet this season but a silver and a bronze suggest it will not be long.

The 18-year-old Kim Gilli (KOR) has in fact already pushed her famous teammate off the top step of the podium. Despite being a newbie to the senior ranks, Gilli has looked imperious across the 1000m and 1500m and her “dream” debut could well continue at her first Four Continents.

Gilli Kim (KOR) celebrates after her team wins the Woman's 3000m relay during the 2022 ISU World Cup Short Track in Salt Lake City, Utah. © ISU

At the other end of the experience scale, nine-time World Champion Shim Suk Hee looked back to her best in Montreal and is surely well-set to win her first Four Continents medal.

China quietly confident of more success

Elsewhere, a fresh-faced Kazakhstan squad will be looking to continue the good work of a largely absent Men’s World Cup team who have won four medals to date this season.

Meanwhile the Relays will be of particular interest to China fans. In a sign of their emerging young talent, Chinese quartets led by Li Wenlong and Zhang Chutong took World Cup gold in the Mixed Team and bronze in the Men’s 5000m Relays at the Utah Olympic Oval last weekend.

Wenlong Li (CHN) skates in the men's 5000 meter relay B final during the 2022 ISU World Cup Short Track in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. © ISU

Li is also the 1000m Olympic silver medalist, while Zhang was a key part of the Women’s 3000m Relay quartet that claimed bronze at Beijing 2022.

Skaters from Japan, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Chinese Taipei complete the line-up in what is certain to be a vibrant and uplifting Championships.

For all information about the ISU Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating Championships, please visit webpage here.

 

Where to watch

Viewers will be able to watch the Saturday and Sunday races via their national broadcaster/channel. You will find the full list of available channels on the Where to watch webpage here.

For countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream of the qualification and repechage rounds on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. Make sure to subscribe to receive live stream notifications.

 

ISU Short Track Speed Skating Championships events 2022/23:

Nov 10 - 12, 2022     ISU Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating Championships – Salt Lake City (USA)

Jan 13 - 15, 2023      ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships – Gdansk (POL)

Jan 27 - 29, 2023      ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships – Dresden (GER)           

Mar 10 - 12, 2023      ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships – Seoul (KOR)