Kristen Santos-Griswold Scores 1500m Bronze Medal in World Cup Opener

Coming off an Olympic debut this past February in which she missed the podium by just one spot, Kristen Santos-Griswold opened the 2022-23 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup campaign strongly over the weekend in Montreal.

With a third-place finish in the Women’s 1500m on Saturday, the Connecticut native won her eighth career World Cup medal. Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands, a six-time Olympic medalist, won the event with a time of 2:31.052. Kim Gilli of South Korea was runner-up with a time of 2:31.431, followed by Santos-Griswold at 2:31.572.

Santos-Griswold nearly won another medal in the Women’s 3000m Relay, combining with Corinne Stoddard, Eunice Lee and Julie Letai to place fourth.

The three-day competition in Montreal kicked off the World Cup season for the U.S. Speedskating Short Track Fall World Cup Team. The short trackers return home this week to host the second World Cup stop Nov. 4-6 at Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah.

In the Women’s 1000m on Saturday, Stoddard won her quarterfinal and finished second in her semifinal to reach her first World Cup A Final. The 2022 Olympian finished fourth in 1:30.549, coming within 1.3 seconds of winning her first World Cup individual medal. Seo Whi-min of South Korea beat her for the final podium spot with a time of 1:29.251.

Stoddard also skated well in the 500m Sunday. She won her quarterfinal heat with a time of 43.363 seconds, then reached the B Final after a fifth-place finish in the semifinals. She finished fifth in the B Final.

The U.S. came within half a second of scoring a medal in the Women’s 3000m Relay. Santos-Griswold, Stoddard, Lee and Letai finished with a time of 4:09.942. Italy was just ahead in third place at 4:09.623.
Daniel Yoon posted a second-place finish in the Men’s 1500m B Final in his first World Cup. He finished third in his quarterfinal with a time of 2:18.252 and then finished fourth in his semifinal. In the B Final, he edged Adil Galiakhmetov of Kazakhstan for the runner-up spot, covering the 1500m in 2:18.336.

Also making a B Final was Andrew Heo in Sunday’s 1000m. He finished second in the quarterfinals with a time of 1:26.545 and improved his time to 1:26.413 in the semifinals for a fourth-place finish. Heo was fifth in the B Final.
Clayton DeClemente, Marcus Howard, Justin Liu and Wesley Park combined for a time of 7:06.873 in the Men’s 5000m Relay. They did not advance out of the quarterfinals.

In the Mixed 2000m Relay, Heo, Howard, Santos-Griswold and Stoddard had a time of 2:42.317. They did not advance to the semifinals.

For full results from the weekend, click here.