Corinne Stoddard And Kristen Santos-Griswold Win Bronze Medals In Almaty
by Paul D. Bowker
Corinne Stoddard found the fast ice Saturday in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The reward was her first individual World Cup medal in the Women’s 1000m. She finished third in the final, winning the battle for a Bronze medal by just .080 seconds over Germany’s Anna Seidel.
“It makes me really happy,” said Stoddard, 21, who made her Olympic debut last winter in Beijing. “It’s my first individual medal. I’m excited for the future and what’s to come.”
Joining Stoddard on the podium in Almaty was Olympic teammate Kristen Santos-Griswold, who captured a Bronze medal in the Women’s 500m and missed the top of the podium by just .234 seconds.
Santos-Griswold is the top U.S. skater this season with five Bronze medals in the first three World Cup stops, including a career-best weekend at the Utah Olympic Oval in November when she won three Bronze medals. Santos-Griswold is sixth in the overall World Cup rankings and Stoddard is 13th.
Santos-Griswold won her semifinal heat in the 500m with a time of 43.525 seconds, then finished third to Canada’s Kim Boutin and Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands in the final. Boutin won with a time of 43.020 seconds, and Schulting was second in 43.115 seconds. Santos-Griswold was just behind at 43.254.
Santos-Griswold nearly won another medal in the 1500m, placing fourth with a time of 2:26.419 and finishing less than half a second behind South Korea’s Kim Gilli.
Stoddard, who won a Silver medal in the 1000m three years ago at the World Junior Championships, battled her way toward the 1000m final by slices of a second. She finished second in her quarterfinal heat with a time of 1:29.512, then secured the final qualification spot for the A final by placing third in her semifinal with a time of 1:29.294.
Stoddard has won three other medals this season with relay teams, including a Gold medal in the Women’s 2000m Relay at the Four Continents Championships.
Stoddard teamed up with Santos-Griswold, Clayton DeClemente and Daniel Yoon in the Mixed 2000m Relay in Almaty, but the U.S. did not advance out of the quarterfinal heats.
The World Cup remains in Almaty for the fourth stop of the season, and the last of 2022, Dec. 16-18.