News
Santos’ second place B Final finish headlines trio of U.S. Short Track Women in the 1500m
by US Speedskating
Kristen Santos skated her way to a second place finish in the B Final of the Women’s 1500m Wednesday evening at Beijing’s Capital Indoor Stadium. With a surprise move two laps into the race, the Japanese skater Sumire Kikuchi made an effort to lap the pack and was successful in doing so. Santos ended the race in front of Canada’s Kim Boutin and Courtney Sarault to finish out her final race of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
“It’s unfortunate, obviously there’s been things out my control that have kept me off of the podium and off of what I know what I’m capable of a few times this Olympics,” Santos said. “That’s definitely disappointing and it’s going to take a little bit of time for me to fully reconcile with that. While I’m disappointed with how the results turned out, I’m not disappointed in myself. I went out there and did everything I possible could.”
Corinne Stoddard advanced through her quarterfinal round to the semifinal round where she faced tough competition in arguably the hardest semifinal out of the three.
“I was feeling really good,” Stoddard said following her semifinal race. “The first (quarterfinal) race, I led the whole race, so I didn’t have much in the end to finish but I still qualified so that was good. It ended up hurting me and putting me in the hardest semifinal possible. The odds were definitely stacked against me in that one. I definitely wanted to at least make it to the B Final and it didn’t happen but I was right there with the worlds’ best so I can’t be disappointed with that."
Julie Letai didn’t know she was racing in the 1500m until an hour before racing started. After a skater in the top 36 withdrew from the event, a spot was opened and the United States was next on the list to fill it.
“My night started out really surprising,” Letai said. “I got word just an hour before the event started that I would actually be skating the 1500m which we had been somewhat prepared for but didn’t know for sure. So then I was just running off of adrenaline. I’m super proud of how I skated in the quarterfinal and the fact that I made it into the semifinal. I was an underdog and I feel really happy with the progress that I showed but obviously there’s a lot more to go.”
South Korea’s Choi Minjeong won Gold in the Women’s 1500m A Final with a time of 2:17.789, followed by Italy’s Arianna Fontana who finished in 2:17.862, and the Netherlands’ Suzanne Schulting with a time of 2:17.865.
Tonight concluded the Short Track events at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Stay tuned for more Long Track action tomorrow, February 17th with the Women’s 1500m.
Tune into NBC and Peacock to catch all of the US Speedskating action throughout the Olympics.
“It’s unfortunate, obviously there’s been things out my control that have kept me off of the podium and off of what I know what I’m capable of a few times this Olympics,” Santos said. “That’s definitely disappointing and it’s going to take a little bit of time for me to fully reconcile with that. While I’m disappointed with how the results turned out, I’m not disappointed in myself. I went out there and did everything I possible could.”
Corinne Stoddard advanced through her quarterfinal round to the semifinal round where she faced tough competition in arguably the hardest semifinal out of the three.
“I was feeling really good,” Stoddard said following her semifinal race. “The first (quarterfinal) race, I led the whole race, so I didn’t have much in the end to finish but I still qualified so that was good. It ended up hurting me and putting me in the hardest semifinal possible. The odds were definitely stacked against me in that one. I definitely wanted to at least make it to the B Final and it didn’t happen but I was right there with the worlds’ best so I can’t be disappointed with that."
Julie Letai didn’t know she was racing in the 1500m until an hour before racing started. After a skater in the top 36 withdrew from the event, a spot was opened and the United States was next on the list to fill it.
“My night started out really surprising,” Letai said. “I got word just an hour before the event started that I would actually be skating the 1500m which we had been somewhat prepared for but didn’t know for sure. So then I was just running off of adrenaline. I’m super proud of how I skated in the quarterfinal and the fact that I made it into the semifinal. I was an underdog and I feel really happy with the progress that I showed but obviously there’s a lot more to go.”
South Korea’s Choi Minjeong won Gold in the Women’s 1500m A Final with a time of 2:17.789, followed by Italy’s Arianna Fontana who finished in 2:17.862, and the Netherlands’ Suzanne Schulting with a time of 2:17.865.
Tonight concluded the Short Track events at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Stay tuned for more Long Track action tomorrow, February 17th with the Women’s 1500m.
Tune into NBC and Peacock to catch all of the US Speedskating action throughout the Olympics.