Marcus Howard Captures Pair Of Medals At Short Track Junior Worlds
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by Paul D. Bowker
Marcus Howard, a fast-rising short track speed skater from Federal Way, Washington, scored his first ISU World Junior Short Track Championships podium finishes this past weekend in Dresden, Germany.
Howard, a 19-year-old who made his first World Cup team this season, won a Silver medal in the Men’s 500m on Saturday and then added a Bronze medal with his U.S. teammates in the Men’s 3000m Relay Sunday. Across his three individual events, Howard was among the top six in all of them.
Eunice Lee, a 2022 Olympian, led the U.S. women with a first-place finish in the 1000m B Final for her best-ever finish at Junior Worlds and helped the U.S. to a second-place finish in the Women’s 3000m Relay B Final.
Howard won his heat in the 500m semifinals, then finished runner-up to Michal Niewinski of Poland in the final with a time of 41.286 seconds. Niewinski won in 41.093 seconds.
Howard teamed up with Seung-Min Kwon, Justin Liu and Ryan Shane for a third-place finish in the 3000m Relay. They finished with a time of 4:01.863, trailing winner South Korea and Japan.
Howard, who won his first World Cup medal earlier this season on a mixed team relay, added a fifth-place finish in the 1000m with a time of 1:24.489 and a sixth-place finish in the 1500m with a time of 2:13.932. In both of these distances, Howard broke the U.S. Junior National Records. The weekend added to a strong season for Howard, who broke the longstanding Men’s Junior National Record in the 1500m earlier this season and reached the podium four times at the U.S. Short Track Speedskating Championships.
Liu made it to the semifinals of the 1000m after finishing second in the quarterfinals behind Howard. A penalty in the semifinal round took Liu out of the competition.
After finishing third in the semifinals of the Women’s 1000m, Eunice Lee won the B Final with a time of 1:32.076. That time was the fastest of any skater in the A or B Final.
Grace Lee finished third in the Women’s 500m B Final with a time of 45.377 seconds.
Eunice and Grace Lee combined with Kamryn Lute and Louisiana Stahl for a second-place finish in the Women’s 3000m Relay B Final. They had a time of 4:19.275.
The World Cup tour for short track resumes this week in Dresden with a competition running Feb. 3-5.
