Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) capped a stellar season with her finest ever performance on Sunday at Rottterdam Ahoy, marauding to 1000m gold at the Nederlandse Loterij 2024 ISU World Short Track Championships.
Santos-Griswold prevailed in an incident-packed A Final which had to be restarted after a clash which saw Hanne Desmet (BEL) disqualified and Suzanne Schulting (NED) taken to hospital with a broken ankle.
The Netherlands crowd, who had watched their individual athletes struggle this weekend, finally got something to cheer about, however, as their near-unbeatable women’s relay team continued their golden run – and got a ‘thank you’ from the King of the Netherlands as a reward.
Santos-Griswold keeps head amid A final chaos
The Women’s 1000m A final contained pretty much everything the wild sport of Short Track has to offer - athletic excellence, inch-perfect passes, crashes and controversy.
An extremely high-class field featured two-time 1000m Olympic champion Schulting, double 1000m European champion Desmet, Crystal Globe winner Kim Gilli (KOR), Santos-Griswold – who led the 1000m rankings this season – and two-time Olympic gold medallist Arianna Fontana (ITA).
The first race saw Schulting, Desmet and Santos-Griswold swap positions at the front. But on the final lap, with all three jostling for the lead, Schulting and Desmet clashed.
Schulting fell and Desmet crossed the line first, but the Belgian was judged to have impeded the Dutch racer.
Hanne Desmet (BEL) fights for position with Suzanne Schulting (NED) in the initial running of the 1000m final. @ISU
It was a ruling she robustly disagreed with. “This is ridiculous, I really didn’t do anything wrong,” said Desmet.
“They raced into me from behind and then Suzanne grabbed me, and I tried to push her away. She really didn’t have to do that, because she was behind me.
“She was wrong, not I. I had won. This is just insane. I can’t believe I wasn’t allowed to do the restart.”
Schulting attempted to battle on but was soon forced to pull out.
“When I fell, I started to feel a lot of pain in my ankle,” she said.
“I still wanted to go for bronze, so decided to get up after the crash and go for it. But it hurt incredibly badly. It’s a big disappointment.”
As a result the re-run had just three fit racers, and Santos-Griswold fought off a late charge from Kim to claim her first ever ISU World Championship gold to add to her 1500m silver and 500m bronze yesterday.
Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) crosses the line in the restarted 1000m to win her third World Championship medal of the weekend. @ISU
“I feel really, really good,” she said. “It’s surreal. I got the rainbow this weekend, so I am excited.
“Going into this race today I felt a lot more calm than I typically do. Today I had one thing in mind, and that was gold. To come out on top is special.
“It was a crazy race, getting restarted in the last lap, but it’s something we train for. I thought of it as a training session and it worked out. Not worrying about results to much has really helped me.
“I thought I’d stay at the front, stay safe, and I was confident I’d have the legs. It was almost all the same people from the Beijing 2022 final, just Gilli instead of Choi [Min Jeong]. So it feels like redemption.
“I almost quit two seasons ago, the mental aspect was tough, so I’m very glad I didn’t.”
Fontana returns to podium
Italian legend Arianna Fontana lined up for her first races of the season this weekend, and can be very pleased with her return.
Kim Gilli (KOR, left) took silver, with Italian veteran Arianna Fontana, right, taking bronze in her first event of the season. @ISU
“It’s not easy, that’s for sure, but I knew what I was getting into,” she said.
“I was going to use these World Championships as a test to see how I could do against the best, and see where they’re at. My goal was to be in the finals, so I reached my goal.
“I’m pretty happy. The first day was difficult. But yesterday and today I felt more like myself. I’m happy with a bronze medal. I’m happy the level is growing and there are more people that can go fast.
“In my mind after the first race I thought ‘Did I just pull a Bradbury?’ but no, I didn’t, the whistle went.
“I hope Suzanne is OK, we don’t want anyone to get hurt, ever. But I knew the race would be chaotic, and it was.”
Fontana has been training in the USA and Canada.
“I’m happy to have the opportunity to train with both teams. It was really good and motivating, they have very strong female athletes. It was inspiring.”
Dutch leave it late but delight royalty
With Schulting, Xandra Velzeboer (NED) and Selma Poutsma (NED) frustrated by their individual performances this weekend – as well as a poor mixed relay – the women’s relay offered a final shot at glory for the Dutch hosts.
And despite the loss of Schulting to injury, the well-oiled unit – Xandra Velzeboer, her sister Michelle, Poutsma and Yara van Kerkhof (NED) - put together a fine team performance to take gold ahead of the USA in silver and Canada in bronze.
The Netherlands' Women's Relay team gave the Rotterdam Ahoy crowd, including King Willem-Alexander, something to cheer. @ISU
“We showed our strength today,” said Poutsma. “Even after individual disappointments, we were able to flip the switch and get ready for this one.
“We really tried to motivate each other and that worked. The gold was a dream. I am happy we made it work today.”
Xandra Velzeboer added: “We knew we could make it happen. It was exciting and nerve-wracking. The other girls told me that I should not think about my previous mistakes and focus on the relay. They had faith in me and knew I was going to pull it off with them.”
Van Kerkhof said: “We had to visit the king [Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands] – or he visited us. It was nice to meet him. It was nice he was here, between all the thousands of fans. He thanked us for the race.”
Where to watch
Viewers will be able to watch the Friday, Saturday and Sunday ISU World Short Track Championships sessions via their national broadcaster/channel.
For countries where there are no broadcasters and for the qualification and repechage races, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list on the Where to watch webpage here.
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