This year’s ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships were held in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei. The world’s best junior aged short track speed skaters, representing 29 countries were in attendance for this 3-day event.
Once again, these championships were dominated by the Korean skaters. The team earned five of the six overall classification podium places, and a total of 17 medals out of possible 30. In the ladies competition, it was a Korean podium sweep, as Jihyun Choi was crowned ladies World Junior Champion. Her teammates Mi-Yeon Lee and Jaewon Song were second and third respectively. On the men’s side, Korean Jinkyu was crowned World Champion. Canadian Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu was second, and Jeyeong Park of Korea was third.
The weekend began with the 1500 meters events. In the ladies competition, Jihyun Choi started her quest for the World Junior Championship title by taking the win in the distance ahead of her teammates Jaewon Song and Mi-Yeon Lee. On the men’s side, eventual World Champion Jinkyu Noh started off his weekend the same way by winning the 1500 meters event. His teammate Sunghan Kim finished second, while Jack Whelbourne, of Great Britain, finished third, earning his country’s only medal of these championships.
In the ladies 500 meters, Jihyun Choi took her second win of the weekend, edging a pair of Chinese skaters; Kexin Fan was second, and Dan Li was third. The men’s 500 meters event saw a pair of Canadian skaters finish first and second, with Mikhail-Jeonghan Choi taking the top position. Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu was second, finishing ahead of Dajing Wu of China.
On the last day of the weekend, Jihyun Choi clinched her championship title by taking her third win in as many events, winning the ladies 1000 meters. Her teammate Mi-Yeon Lee finished second, while Canadian Laurie Marceau took third. In the men’s event, Jinkyu Noh took his second win of the weekend, finishing ahead of Canadian skater Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu. Third place finish went to Seyeong Park.
With the championships already clinched in both the ladies and men’s competition, the outcome of the 1500 Super Final would determine who would finish second and third overall. As with the previous ladies 1500 meters event, the race was an all Korea affair. This time it was Mi-Yeon Lee who took the win, ahead of Jaewon Song. The win confirmed Lee’s second position in the overall classification. Jihyun Choi took third in the race. In the men’s event, the win also went to a Korean, Seyeong Park, which allowed him to move up in the overall rankings for a third place finish. Second place in the race went to Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu who consolidated his second place in the overall ranking. Third place in the event went to Sunghan Kim of Korea.
The weekend’s racing concluded with 3000 meters relay events, with both the ladies and men’s events won by the teams from Korea. The ladies event was a much closer race, with China finishing a close second, while the team from Canada finished third. In the men’s event, the Koreans dominated the race, nearly lapping second and third place finishers; Canada finished second while the team from Japan finished third.
ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships – Taipei City (TPE)
Top 3 Results by Category
Ladies 500m
|
|
Name of athlete |
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
CHOI, Jihyun |
KOR |
45.928 |
|
2 |
FAN, Kexin |
CHN |
45.934 |
|
3 |
LI, Dan |
CHN |
46.653 |
Men 500m
|
|
Name of athlete |
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
CHOI, Mikhail-Jeonghan |
CAN |
42.981 |
|
2 |
GELINAS-BEAULIEU, Antoine |
CAN |
43.048 |
|
3 |
WU, Dajing |
CHN |
43.971 |
Ladies 1000m
|
|
Name of athlete |
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
CHOI, Jihyun |
KOR |
1:34.583 |
|
2 |
LEE, Mi-Yeon |
KOR |
1:34.631 |
|
3 |
MARCEAU, Laurie |
CAN |
1:52.751 |
Men 1000m
|
|
Name of athlete |
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
NOH, Jinkyu |
KOR |
1:30.776 |
|
2 |
GELINAS-BEAULIEU, Antoine |
CAN |
1:32.988 |
|
3 |
PARK, Seyeong |
KOR |
1:44.020 |
Ladies 1500m
|
|
Name of athlete |
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
CHOI, Jihyun |
KOR |
2:27.340 |
|
2 |
SONG, Jaewon |
KOR |
2:27.433 |
|
3 |
LEE, Mi-Yeon |
KOR |
2:27.627 |
Men 1500m
|
|
Name of athlete |
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
NOH, Jinkyu |
KOR |
2:21.623 |
|
2 |
KIM, Sunghan |
KOR |
2:21.918 |
|
3 |
WHELBOURNE, Jack |
GBR |
2:22.699 |
Ladies Super Final 1500m
|
|
Name of athlete |
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
LEE, Mi-Yeon |
KOR |
2:34.364 |
|
2 |
SONG, Jaewon |
KOR |
2:34.489 |
|
3 |
CHOI, Jihyun |
KOR |
2:34.695 |
Men Super Final 1500m
|
|
Name of athlete |
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
PARK, Seyeong |
KOR |
2:23.295 |
|
2 |
GELINAS-BEAULIEU, Antoine |
CAN |
2:23.550 |
|
3 |
KIM, Sunghan |
KOR |
2:24.205 |
Ladies Relay
|
|
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
KOREA |
4:23.689 |
|
2 |
CHINA |
4:24.697 |
|
3 |
CANADA |
4:29.147 |
Men Relay
|
|
Nation |
Time |
|
1 |
KOREA |
4:06.934 |
|
2 |
CANADA |
4:15.713 |
|
3 |
JAPAN |
4:16.320 |
