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#ShortTrackSkating

 

 

Short Track can seem chaotic and confusing for some new fans – but once you’ve got your head around the basics, there is no more exciting event on earth to watch. Here are a few things to look out for to increase your enjoyment of this sporting rollercoaster…

 

The short version

Short Track is exciting to watch, period. The unpredictable nature of how any race can unfold is exhilarating. Why unpredictable? Multiple Skaters race against each other in a 111.12m oval ice track with tight turns, short straights and ‘pack-style’ racing. First to the finish line wins.

 

A general view inside the venue of the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2024 in Rotterdam (NED) @ISU

 

A race can finish in 40 seconds with the Skaters reaching speeds of almost 50 km/h.

 

The history

Short Track is one of the newer winter sports, despite having its origins in races held in North America from as early as 1905. Back then, ‘pack-style’ racing was a smash with fans, and a Mass Start race was even introduced for the Lake Placid 1932 Olympic Games.

 

Team Korea competes during the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville (USA). @GettyImages

 

But it took until 1967 for the ISU to declare Short Track an official sport, and until 1976 for its first World Championship to be held. It was added to the Olympic programme for Albertville 1992, with two individual events and two relays.

More distances were eventually put on the programme, and since Beijing 2022 nine events feature at each Olympics (500m, 1000m, 1500m, a relay for each gender and mixed gender relay).

 

How the competition works?

Short Track is different to Long Track Speed Skating in that time is secondary to placement. The sport is a game of cat and mouse, and all about overtaking, having more in common with Formula One or BMX racing than other ice sports. Get it wrong, and dramatic crashes often result.

The athletes line up together and are sent off by the starter’s gun. It’s a simple equation from that point: the racer who is first to cross the line wins.

 

Kim Boutin (CAN) competes during the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2024 in Rotterdam (NED) @ISU

 

A large field is whittled down for each distance by holding knockout stages through to the final. A qualifier will typically have five to seven athletes in it, with the top two progressing to the next round.

Racers work through quarterfinals and semifinals, before an ‘A Final’ and a ‘B Final’ line up is decided. The fastest semifinal racers make the A Final and fight it out for medals.

 

How many distances?

The four-and-a-half lap 500m is the shortest distance on the roster: a full-on sprint, getting a good start is key, and athletes will often try to be first into the first turn.

In the nine-lap 1000m, tactics become more important, as some of the best racers decide to lurk at the back of the pack and make a late move to the front.

 

 

The 1500m – 13 and a half laps, nearly a mile in length – is one for athletes with real stamina, and always involves some tactical moves, whether that is a racer making a ‘break’ to put distance between themselves and the pack, or skaters trying to speed up or slow down the pace according to their tastes.

In the relays, (Mixed 2000m – 18 laps, Women’s 3000m – 27 laps, Men’s 5000m – 45 laps) teams of four take around a quarter of the total distance each; members not in action stay in the centre of the oval until they are ready for their turn. Exchanges involve a firm shove from the previous teammate to keep momentum going. It’s the most chaotic-looking but action packed of all the disciplines.

 

What to look out for?

Short Track is at its most exciting when overtaking is happening. Called ‘passing’ by the athletes, there are multiple different ways of doing it.

Some skaters like to take an inside line and cut in between their rival and the markers for the corner: this requires great skill and often physical compactness to make sure they don’t collide with, or unfairly block, anyone else.

 

 

Getting in someone else’s line, meaning they can’t skate freely, will result in a disqualification. Likewise, physical contact resulting in someone falling or being slowed down will also see a racer penalised.

Other skaters like to generate great speed and do an ‘outside pass’, usually on the straight sections of the course.

Blocking is also a key part of the sport. Talented Short Trackers can anticipate those behind them looking for a pass, and skate a line that will stop those attempts.

 

Who to watch?

One of the joys of Short Track is that it offers up a huge array of different athletes with different talents.

There are pure speed merchants, like Xandra Velzeboer and Selma Poutsma (both NED), or Steven Dubois (CAN) and Wu Daijing (CHN), who are fantastic to watch for their raw power.

There are tactical geniuses like Choi Minjeong (KOR), Hanne Desmet (BEL), Arianna Fontana (ITA), Park Ji Won (KOR), and the remarkable teenage sensation Kim Gilli (KOR) – who use immaculate technique and racecraft to get to the top of podiums.

 

Park Ji Won (KOR) wins during the ISU Short Tracl World Cup in Gdansk (POL) @ISU

 

And there are physical powerhouses like the Lius, Hwang Daeheon (KOR), Suzanne Schulting (NED) and Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA), who can do it all across the distances.

The Republic of Korea have been the most successful nation in the history of Short Track, closely followed by regional rivals People's Republic of China. Canada are also very strong, while the Netherlands have excelled in recent seasons, and these nations currently comprise the Big Four of Short Track.

USA, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain, France, Poland, Australia and Japan have also performed admirably over the years, too, and have some promising current athletes.