Short Track is all about passing – it’s the most exciting element of an already-thrilling sport. There are a two key ways of doing it – the inside pass, cutting between a rival and the markers, and the outside pass, in which racers generate extra speed to go around their rivals.
Get your skill and strategic thinking right, and glory can beckon. Do it wrong, and it can spell disaster, disqualification or injury. Doing it under pressure in big races is even harder. Here are some of the masters of the art – and how it helped them win some of the key battles of 2023/24…
Top Passes of the Season
1. Kim Gilli (KOR)
20-year-old Kim is dealing well with the pressure of being Korea’s latest Short Track hero. She won the ISU Crystal Globe for the first time in 2023/24 thanks to her consistency and brilliance across the ISU World Cups in all three distances. And she topped even that by winning her first World Championship gold.
“It’s nice to be called the ‘next big thing’,” she said. “I’ve had some difficulties, but I tried to overcome them.”
Event: ISU World Championships, Rotterdam, March 16, 2024, 1500m.
The race: In the final of the 1500m – Kim’s favourite distance, at which she is ranked no.1, the Korean was duelling with Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) and Hanne Desmet (BEL) – who are ranked no.2 and no.3, all race.
The pass: As the American and Belgium tussled at the front, Kim slipped through, ghost-like, to take the title. It was the perfect example of reading the race and moving accordingly – the kind of strategic masterpiece that has become her signature.
The impact: This was Kim’s first World Championship medal, and another sign that she is going to be a major force in Short Track over the next decade.
2. Sun Long (CHN)
24-year-old Sun has had a solid career, shining at junior level and stepping up to the senior tour to claim podiums over the last five seasons – but without ever scooping gold. That all changed at last season’s ISU World Championships in Rotterdam, when a brilliant piece of tactics paid off to hand him his debut title.
Event: ISU World Championships, Rotterdam, March 16, 2024, 1500m.
The race: As the two favourite Koreans, Hwang Dae Heon and Park Ji Won battled for supremacy in the 1500m final, Sun was well positioned to capitalise on their lapse and take gold.
The pass: Coaching tactics don’t always pay off in the unpredictable sport of Short Track, but Sun and his team can allow themselves a moment of congratulations for this one: they foresaw trouble at the front of the pack.
“My coach had a very detailed plan for the final for me to follow,” he said. “We thought that it was possible that the Korean skater, would crash.”
And so it proved: was Hwang Dae Heon took Park Ji Won out mid-race, allowing Sun to glide past Jens van ‘t Wout (NED) and Brendan Corey (AUS) to victory.
The impact: Sun’s first title, and a symbolic Chinese win over their Korean rivals.
“I am very proud, very happy about the success,” he said. “In the future I think China can get more and more gold medals. You can trust in our team and our coaches.”
3. Xandra Velzeboer (NED)
Velzeboer is the fastest women on ice: The 500m World Champion and world record holder is near-impossible to beat in a straight foot race over Short Track’s shortest distance. The Dutch rocket’s teammate and great friend Selma Poutsma (NED) is one of the very few racers capable of beating her. They have fought all season, setting up a classic Short Track rivalry.
Event: ISU World Cup, Montreal, 22 October, 2023, 500m.
The race: Just two days into the Short Track season, fans were treated to an orange-on-orange Netherlands thriller. Poutsma was first to the corner on the first lap and tried to beat Velzeboer at her own game: going top speed and never looking back.
The pass With two and a half laps to go, Velzeboer somehow generated enough raw power to get ahead of her teammate. She turned on the afterburners and couldn’t be caught. She prefers to lead from the front herself, but showed here that she can pass with the best of them, when required.
“The race was really crazy, Selma started so fast, I had to give it all I had to follow her, but I stayed calm, and being relaxed meant I could make the pass,” said Velzeboer. “I was in control, so for the whole race I felt relaxed but alert.”
The impact: Velzeboer was once again the top-ranked 500m racer over the season, and will move towards next year’s World Championships, Crystal Globe race, and – ultimately, the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, confident that she is the Queen of Speed.
4. Park Ji Won (KOR)
Park has been the dominant male Short Tracker over the past two seasons, winning the inaugural Crystal Globe in 2022-23, and then retaining his title in 2023-24. The 1500m has been his greatest strength, and his trademark move – repeated again and again over the seasons, has been to make a calm, mid-race pass – usually with four or five laps to go, and then turn on his near-unbeatable speed.
Event: ISU Four Continents Short Track Championships, Laval, Canada, 4 November 2023, 1500m.
The race: Park entered the ISU Four Continents as reigning 1000m and 1500m champion, and was always going to be difficult to dislodge. But William Dandjinou (CAN), coming into a remarkable vein of form, gave it a good go.
The pass: Park passed Dandjinou coolly and smoothly with five laps to go. It is his signature move, and the control that he executes it with almost removes the element of peril that is present in so many Short Track passes. Danjinou threatened to come back past the Korean, but tumbled on a corner, as the Korean got into a rhythm and stormed away.
The impact More confidence for Park, who doesn’t exactly need it – and putting him in pole position for the rest of the season, mentally.
“We have some good races with Canada,” he said. “I just think about one race, and trying to be my very best every time. I tried hard and felt better today.”
5. Hanne Desmet (BEL)
Event ISU European Short Track Championships, Gdansk, 14 January 2024
The race Desmet had fallen over in the previous day’s race, the 1500m, and was under pressure to win her first gold medal of the season, amid a high-quality field including with Selma Poutsma (NED), World Champion Xandra Velzeboer (NED).
The pass The Belgian is supreme when it comes to a late attack, and here she took the lead brilliantly with four laps to go, thanks to a high risk inside pass, taking her Dutch rivals out of the game. Poutsma had to settle for silver, and Velzeboer the bronze.
“I played with the pack a bit and then I was just gone, no-one was following,” said Desmet.
The impact Desmet went on to have a magnificent season, ending the year with four ISU World Cup golds – three in the 1500m and one in the 1000m. The win in Gdansk helped add that mental strength.
"It's awesome,” she said. “I hadn't got a gold this year so I really wanted to win that 1000m and show that I could do it, and I did.”
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