Short Track World Cup Team Qualifier
by US Speedskating
The Short Track World Cup Team Qualifier was held at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, UT, September 17-19, 2021.
Skaters from across the country traveled to compete for spots on the World Cup Team for both the men and women, respectively. Athletes who qualify will head to four different countries across the globe for the four Olympic Qualification events where Olympic quota spots will be earned for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. All three days of racing were filled with action and getting the Olympic season jitters out. The weekend produced dramatic racing with tight passes and fast times!
The competition opened with Men’s and Women’s first 1500m and 500m events on Friday, followed by the first 1000m and second 1500m on Saturday. One athlete who kicked off the competition on a strong foot was Clayton DeClemente (Poughkeepsie, NY). DeClemente had two podium finishes after day two, taking second in the first 1500m, and third in the first 1000m. “It’s going pretty good,” commented DeClemente “I’m just trying to keep getting into the A Finals, [and to] keep consistently getting points and hopefully that works out.”
The final day of racing consisted of the Men’s and Women’s second 500m and 1000m. Every skater fought exceptionally hard on the final day, resulting in personal and National records being achieved. National Training Program member Julie Letai (Medfield, MA) set a new personal best time in the 500m (43,463). To add to the excitement, National Training Program member Kristen Santos (Fairfield, CT) set two National Records in both the 500m (42,514) and 1000m (1.26,765)! With the National Record Santos set in the 1000m, she was only one 10th of a second off of the World Record!
“This weekend definitely gave me a boost of confidence going into this Olympic season,” commented Santos. “I’m feeling strong and am excited to go race at the World Cups next month.”
“I’m pleased with how racing went this weekend and excited to see the progress we’ve made as a country. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do this season as we head to the Olympic Qualification events next month,” mentioned Short Track Program Director Andréa Do-Duc. “It was an intensive racing schedule with each distance skated twice in the span of three days and our athletes showed that they were ready for it. There’s a talented pool of junior skaters and it was great to see them in the mix this weekend.”
After racing concluded on the 19th, points for all around distance and overall classification were finalized and are as follows:
Women’s Combined Distance Classification 500m:
1. Kristen Santos Final Points 68
2. Maame Biney Final Points 29
3. Corinne Stoddard Final Points 26
Women’s Combined Distance Classification 1000m:
1. Kristen Santos Final Points 68
2. Corinne Stoddard Final Points 42
3. Julie Letai Final Points 21
Women’s Combined Distance Classification 1500m:
1. Kristen Santos Final Points 68
2. Corinne Stoddard Final Points 42
3. Kamryn Lute Final Points 18
Women’s Overall:
1. Kristen Santos Final Points 204
2. Corinne Stoddard Final Points 110
3. Julie Letai Final Points 61
4. Maame Biney Final Points 50
5. Hailey Choi Final Points 21
6. Kamryn Lute Final Points 21
Men’s Combined Distance Classification 500m:
1. Ryan Pivirotto Final Points 68
2. Clayton DeClemente Final Points 21
3. Brandon Kim Final Points 21
Men’s Combined Distance Classification 1000m:
1. Brandon Kim Final Points 55
2. Andrew Heo Final Points 39
3. Ryan Pivirotto Final Points 26
Men’s Combined Distance Classification 1500m:
1. Andrew Heo Final Points 55
2. Ryan Pivirotto Final Points 34
3. Clayton DeClemente Final Points 26
Men’s Overall:
1. Ryan Pivirotto Final Points 128
2. Andrew Heo Final Points 112
3. Brandon Kim Final Points 97
4. Clayton DeClemente Final Points 61
5. Adam Callister Final Points 37
6. Joonhwa Hong Final Points 29
Complete results can be found here.