Lausanne / Switzerland

St Wc1 Website BoxThe first ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating starts in Calgary (CAN) where the world’s top skaters including reigning Olympic Champions, World and European Champions and medalists will compete in the Series. In total 186 skaters from 33 ISU Member countries have entered in this first leg of the Series and the 500m will be raced twice. The competition starts with the qualification Heats on Friday. On Saturday Qualifying sessions and repechage continues followed by the Ladies and Men 500m & 1500m Finals and the 3000m Relay Ladies & 5000m Relay Men Semi-Finals. Finally on Sunday Ladies and Men second 500m and 1000m Finals, 3000m Relay Ladies and 5000m Relay Men Finals will take place.

The strong Canadian squad will be seeking to please the local crowd by winning as many medals as possible. Leading the team are Marianne St-Gelais and Charles Hamelin both ranked second in the world with numerous titles to their name (Hamelin 500m, 1500m Olympic Champion, World Champion 500m twice, 1000m, 1500m and three times overall silver and bronze medalist. St-Gelais 500m Olympic silver medalist, 1500m world champion, Overall world silver medalist). Valerie Maltais, Kasandra Bradette, Samuel Girard, Francois Hamelin and Charle Cournoyer will also compete this weekend as part of the Canadian team.

Minjeong Choi (KOR) ranked first in the world will be present with a strong team of young Korean skaters. The Chinese team will prove to be a force to be reckoned with. Headlined by Kexin Fan (four times 500m World Champion and 1000m Olympic silver medalist), Tianyu Han (currently ranked number one in the world, reigning Overall World Champion, 1500m gold and silver medalist and 1000m Olympic silver medalist), and Dajing Wu (two times 500m champion and 500m Olympic and World silver medalist). Hungarian brothers Shaoang and Sandor Shaolin Liu ranked fifth and third respectively will also be strong contenders. Other skaters to look out for are Elise Christie (GBR) ranked third in the world, Arianna Fontana (ITA) who will return to competitive skating after a year of absence, Suzanne Schulting (NED) and team mate Sjinkie Knegt (NED), Victor An (RUS) and John-Henry Krueger (USA).

For the first time, Skaters are allowed to use unique designs and artwork on their personal Short Track Speed Skating helmets and as introduced last season each Skater will have a dedicated helmet number that will be used in all ISU Events during the season 2016/17. The full list of dedicated numbers is available in ISU Communication 2028.

About ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating 2016/17 Series

The ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating circuit consists of six events across North America, Asia and Europe. For the third year the format of the Series will consist of one day of qualification and two days of World Cup Sessions which includes the Finals. At each competition the Men and Ladies Relay races will take place along with Men and Ladies individual races which will be held over 500m, 1000m and 1500m and single distances determine the winners. The series starts in Calgary (CAN) on November 4-6 and will move to Salt Lake City (USA) on November 11-13.  Almost a month later the Series will continue in Asia with Shanghai (CHN) on December 9-11 and move to Gangneung (KOR) on December 16-18 which will be the official test event for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. After a long break the World Cup will pick up again in Europe, with the first stop in Dresden (GER) on February 3-5 and finally in Minsk (BLR) on February 10-12.