News
Kristen Santos Griswold Wins Four Times At USS Fall World Cup Qualifier
by Paul D. Bowker
Kristen Santos-Griswold, a 2022 Olympian, skated to near perfection at the US Speedskating Short Track Fall World Cup Team Qualifier held Sept. 23-25 at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah.
Santos-Griswold, who missed a medal by just one spot at her Olympic debut this year in Beijing, reached the podium in every race at the World Cup Team Qualifier. She had four wins, doubling the total of any other skater, male or female. She won the Women’s 1500m both Friday and Saturday, the 500m Friday and 1000m Saturday.
Santos-Griswold finished the weekend with a pair of second-place finishes Sunday in the 500m and 1000m.
Fellow Olympian Corinne Stoddard, who reached the podium in five of six races, had victories in the 500m and 1000m with times of 43.885 seconds and 1:55.339, respectively. She also had a pair of runner-up finishes at 1500m and finished runner-up to Santos-Griswold in the 500m Friday.
On the men’s side, Brendan Corey of Australia was a double winner at 1500m. Marcus Howard led the men with four podium finishes, including a win at 1000m.
Also scoring podium finishes in all six races over three days was Julie Letai, a 2022 Olympian who had five third-place finishes and a runner-up finish to Santos-Griswold in the first 1000m.
Santos-Griswold won the 1500m on the event’s opening day with a time of 2:29.900, finishing ahead of Stoddard and Letai. That top three combination was repeated in four other A Finals through the weekend.
Grace Lee broke through with a third-place finish in the 1000m Saturday.
Corey had double wins in the men’s 1500m with times of 2:15.186 and 2:15.978, and also scored a runner-up finish to Dagyeom Kim of South Korea in one of the 500m finals.
Howard posted podium finishes in all four A Finals he reached and won the 1000m on Sunday with a time of 1:27.145. He had a second-place finish in one of the 1500m finals, and also had third-place finishes at 1000m and 1500m.
Brandon Kim, a member of the World Cup Fall Team a year ago and a three-time U.S. Champion at the 2021 U.S. Championships, posted a win at 500m with a time of 41.087 seconds and had a second-place finish at 1000m.
Dagyeom Kim accomplished the same, winning the 500m final Friday with a time of 41.906 seconds and placing second in the 1000m Saturday.
Yira Seo of South Korea won the 1000m Saturday with a time of 1:24.72.
Clayton DeClemente reached the podium twice at 1500m, finishing second Friday and third Saturday.
Also reaching the podium were Justin Liu, who had second- and third-place finishes at 500m; Seung-Min Kwon, who finished third at 500m; and Daniel Yoon, who had a third-place finish at 1000m.
The ISU World Cup season begins Oct. 28-30 in Montreal. The Utah Olympic Oval will host the next World Cup event one week later, Nov. 4-6.
Santos-Griswold, who missed a medal by just one spot at her Olympic debut this year in Beijing, reached the podium in every race at the World Cup Team Qualifier. She had four wins, doubling the total of any other skater, male or female. She won the Women’s 1500m both Friday and Saturday, the 500m Friday and 1000m Saturday.
Santos-Griswold finished the weekend with a pair of second-place finishes Sunday in the 500m and 1000m.
Fellow Olympian Corinne Stoddard, who reached the podium in five of six races, had victories in the 500m and 1000m with times of 43.885 seconds and 1:55.339, respectively. She also had a pair of runner-up finishes at 1500m and finished runner-up to Santos-Griswold in the 500m Friday.
On the men’s side, Brendan Corey of Australia was a double winner at 1500m. Marcus Howard led the men with four podium finishes, including a win at 1000m.
Also scoring podium finishes in all six races over three days was Julie Letai, a 2022 Olympian who had five third-place finishes and a runner-up finish to Santos-Griswold in the first 1000m.
Santos-Griswold won the 1500m on the event’s opening day with a time of 2:29.900, finishing ahead of Stoddard and Letai. That top three combination was repeated in four other A Finals through the weekend.
Grace Lee broke through with a third-place finish in the 1000m Saturday.
Corey had double wins in the men’s 1500m with times of 2:15.186 and 2:15.978, and also scored a runner-up finish to Dagyeom Kim of South Korea in one of the 500m finals.
Howard posted podium finishes in all four A Finals he reached and won the 1000m on Sunday with a time of 1:27.145. He had a second-place finish in one of the 1500m finals, and also had third-place finishes at 1000m and 1500m.
Brandon Kim, a member of the World Cup Fall Team a year ago and a three-time U.S. Champion at the 2021 U.S. Championships, posted a win at 500m with a time of 41.087 seconds and had a second-place finish at 1000m.
Dagyeom Kim accomplished the same, winning the 500m final Friday with a time of 41.906 seconds and placing second in the 1000m Saturday.
Yira Seo of South Korea won the 1000m Saturday with a time of 1:24.72.
Clayton DeClemente reached the podium twice at 1500m, finishing second Friday and third Saturday.
Also reaching the podium were Justin Liu, who had second- and third-place finishes at 500m; Seung-Min Kwon, who finished third at 500m; and Daniel Yoon, who had a third-place finish at 1000m.
The ISU World Cup season begins Oct. 28-30 in Montreal. The Utah Olympic Oval will host the next World Cup event one week later, Nov. 4-6.
Paul D. Bowker
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USSpeedskating.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.