Sean Shuai Scores Silver Medal In Short Track Junior World Championships Debut
by Paul D. Bowker
Sean Shuai, a 17-year-old short track skater who made American history just one month ago at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, found himself on the podium at another major event when he finished second in the Men’s 500m Saturday at the ISU World Junior Short Track Championships in Gdansk, Poland.
His podium finish came just one week after he won a Gold medal at that same distance in a Junior World Cup event in the Netherlands. In January, Shuai became the first American short track skater to win a Gold medal in the Youth Olympic Games when he won the Men’s 500m in Gangwon, South Korea.
Shuai finished runner-up to South Korea’s Shin Dong Min in the 500m in Gdansk with a time of 42.174 seconds. Shin won the final with a time of 42.122 seconds. Shuai won his qualifying heat and quarterfinal races, then finished second in the semifinals and final. His time of 41.887 in the semifinals was the third fastest in the entire competition.
He was the only American to medal at the Junior Worlds, and the only American to reach an A Final.
Shuai also made the B Final in the 1000m and 1500m, finishing second both times. He was seventh overall in the 1000m and 11th overall in the 1500m.
In a post to his Instagram, Shuai described the experience as “one of the best races I’ve ever had, both at and away from the rink.”
Justin Liu made the B Final in the Men’s 500m and 1000m. He finished eighth overall in both events.
Shuai and Liu combined with Xavier Lawrence and Daniel Yoon in the Men’s 3000m Relay, finishing fifth overall and first in the B Final. Following a second-place finish in the quarterfinals and a third-place finish in the semifinals, the U.S. was first in the B Final with a time of 4:09.045.
Liu and Yoon teamed up with Grace Lee and Louisiana Stahl in the Mixed Relay. They made the B Final following a third-place finish in the semifinals but were penalized in the Final.
Lee and Stahl also skated in the Women’s 3000m Relay with Kamryn Lute and Izabella Zakatsiolo, but they were unable to advance past the quarterfinal round.
Lee made it to the quarterfinals in both the Women’s 1000m and 1500m but did not advance to the semifinals. Lute and Stahl also raced in the 1500m quarterfinals.
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.