Santos-Griswold Returns to Beijing for Historic World Cup Win in Women’s 500m
by Paul D. Bowker
Olympic teammates Kristen Santos-Griswold and Corinne Stoddard packed a powerful one-two finish in a historic weekend for American short track speedskaters in Beijing
Santos-Griswold became the first U.S. woman to win a World Cup race at 500m and then she combined with Stoddard to sweep the first two places in the Women’s 1000m on the same ice sheet where both made their Olympic debut in 2022.
Santos-Griswold also won a third medal and Stoddard won a second when they combined with Andrew Heo and Marcus Howard to win a Bronze medal in the Mixed Team Relay.
After cruising across the finish line in the 1000m, Santos-Griswold happily turned around to see Stoddard finishing right behind her.
“It’s my first time on top of the podium with a teammate by my side,” Santos-Griswold said. “Not only a teammate, literally one of my best friends. A really special feeling. Something I will probably cherish forever.”
Santos-Griswold, who is number two in the overall World Cup rankings, had won just one World Cup race entering this season, and now she has three individual Gold medals this season, including the two this past weekend in Beijing.
Less than two years ago, at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, Santos-Griswold attempted to become the first U.S. woman to medal in short track since 2010 but a crash in the final lap cost her a Bronze medal. This past Saturday in Beijing, she passed China’s Fan Kexin and Wang Xinran with half a lap to go to win the Gold medal with a time of 42.892 seconds.
“Being here again and having fun out there was so important to me,” Santos-Griswold said. “That (Olympic race) was part of the discussion to whether I continued skating or not. Now it feels really good.”
The victory marked Santos-Griswold’s first podium in the 500m since a pair of Bronze medal finishes last season. She had never finished higher than third place in the event in World Cup competition.
“The 500m isn’t typically my go-to race, but I’ve been working really hard on being an all-round skater,” she said. “So I’m definitely moving in the right direction.”
Santos-Griswold has won six individual medals in three World Cup stops this season. She has medaled at every World Cup stop the last two seasons and has won 16 medals in her last nine World Cup appearances.
Santos-Griswold won at the 1000m for the third time in her career, and second time this season, with a time of 1:30.249. Stoddard took second place with a time of 1:30.789, beating Gong Li of China for the Silver medal.
“I didn’t realize who was behind me until after I crossed (the finish line),” Santos-Griswold said. “Then I saw it was her and literally screamed. I think my voice has gone because of that.”
“That was really fun,” said Stoddard, who recorded her best career individual finish in a World Cup race. “I don’t know when the last time that happened for the U.S., but it felt really good.”
According to NBC, Jeff Simon and Simon Cho were the last two Americans to go 1-2 in a short track World Cup race back in October 2010. Kimberly Derrick and Katherine Reutter-Adamek were the last U.S. women to pull it off, doing so in February 2009.
In Beijing, Stoddard nearly won another medal in the 1500m but finished fourth with a time of 2:26.322.
Santos-Griswold, Stoddard, Heo and Howard placed third in the Mixed Relay with a time of 2:38.694. It was the second career World Cup medals for Heo and Howard, with each having also won a Bronze in the Mixed Relay last season.
The World Cup moves to Seoul, South Korea, for the fourth stop of the season, Dec. 15-17.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USSpeedskating.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.