Corinne Stoddard, Brandon Kim Open Season With U.S. Titles, Records At Short Track Nationals

The Olympic short track season got off to a blazing start this weekend as Corinne Stoddard joined Brandon Kim in winning their respective Overall Classifications while both setting National Records at the US Speedskating US Championships Short Track & World Tour Qualifier in Kearns, Utah.

The competition at the Utah Olympic Oval also served as the qualifying event for selecting the US Short Track World Tour Team, which will be named later this week.

Stoddard, a native of Tacoma, Washington, and 2022 Olympian, won every race she entered to sweep the Women’s Overall Classification as well as all three individual event classifications.

The highlight performance came on Day 2, when Stoddard set a new National Record in the Women’s 1000m with a time of 1:26.460 during the semifinals. The 24-year-old was actually gunning for the World Record but went out a little too fast, she said.

“I started way too fast, which inevitable made me blow up really bad in the last three to four laps,” she said. “So I’m happy I got the record, but I was definitely aiming for a much faster time considering what I was doing in training before the race.”

Stoddard intends to go for the World Record again at the next trials competition, she said.

Coming off a season in which she won her first individual Gold medal on the ISU Short Track World Tour and finished third overall, Stoddard led the Women’s Overall Classification. Julie Letai and  Kamryn Lute rounded out the podium, followed by sisters Eunice Lee and Grace Lee.

Kristen Santos-Griswold, last year’s World Tour overall champion, withdrew from the U.S. championships to recover from a back injury. Invoking her Medal Contender status, she automatically qualifies for the 2025 Fall World Tour team based on previous performance.

Athletes in Kearns competed over each distance — 500m, 1000m and 1500m — twice over the four-day competition. Stoddard won each of her races on the women’s side. Eunice Lee, Grace Lee, Letai, and Lute all reached the podium in at least one event.

Kim shined in the men’s competition, winning one title at each distance as well as the Overall Classification. The 24-year-old is taking some time off from his studies at Stanford to train for the Olympic season, and that showed when he put down a blazing time of 39.83 in the Men’s 500m semifinals to break J.R. Celski’s longtime National Record.

“It was crazy because when I was a kid I watched the video of him breaking that record, so now that’s it’s me is pretty awesome,” Kim said.

Celski, a three-time Olympian and three-time medalist for Team USA, sent Kim a congratulatory text after.

Andrew Heo and Clayton DeClemente rounded out the Men’s Overall Classification podium, followed by Marcus Howard and Seung-Min Kwon.

“I think it’s a great start,” Kim, a native of Fairfax, Virginia, said, “definitely hungry for more and definitely looking for some individual medals in the 500m for sure.”

This weekend’s event, which was open to eligible U.S. skaters age 14 and older, will also determine the Junior World Cup squad.

Benjamin Sullivan of Potomac topped the Group B Men Overall Classification. He was followed by Daniel Jin and Lucas Wu. Potomac’s Olimpia Kazanecka took first in the Group B Women’s Overall Classification, followed by teammates Isabella Chen and Tiffany Zhang.

The World Tour kicks off in less than a month, with the first competition set for Oct. 9-12 in Montreal. The 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina are set for Feb. 6-22.

“I’m really excited,” Stoddard said of the upcoming season. “I feel really strong and ready to race. I think it’s going to be a great year, and I look forward to hopefully medaling in Milan.”

Chrös McDougall has covered the Olympic and Paralympic Movement for TeamUSA.com since 2009 on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc. He is based in Minneapolis-St. Paul.