World Short Track Championships wraps up in Montréal, marking the end of the competition season
by US Speedskating
The ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships came to a close yesterday in Montréal, Canada in front of a sold out crowd. Fans from all over the world packed the Maurice Richard Arena, cheered on their favorite athletes and watched in anticipation of what became a thrilling weekend of racing.
On Friday, Team USA managed to secure three spots in the quarterfinal rounds which would take place on Saturday and Sunday. Maame Biney (Reston, VA) qualified into both the 500m and 1000m quarterfinals and Seung-Min Kwon (Rockville, MD), skating in his first ever World Championships, qualified into the 1000m quarterfinals. Eunice Lee (Bellevue, WA) also skating her first World Championships, gave a valiant effort in the preliminary rounds but unfortunately missed out on qualifying into the main rounds. She would go on to skate Ranking Finals the following days.
On Saturday, Biney finished third in her 500m quarterfinal heat behind South Korea’s Choi Minjeong and Belgium’s Hanne Desmet ultimately failing to advance to the semifinal round. She placed 11th overall in the 500m distance classification.
On Sunday, Biney finished fourth in her 1000m quarterfinal heat which placed her in 14th overall in the distance classification. She finished the weekend 20th in the overall classification. Kwon, in a veteran-filled 1000m quarterfinal, skated to a fourth place which put him in 14th in the distance classification. He ended the competition 28th in the overall classification. Lee finished 34th in the overall classification.
Choi Minjeong (South Korea) took the top prize in the Women’s field and Liu Shaoang (Hungary) finished first on the Men’s side.
This competition marked the end of the 2021-2022 season for both speed skating disciplines.
Click here for full results from the weekend.