ISU

Four-time World Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron of France danced to the lead in the Rhythm Dance at the ISU Grand Prix Internationaux de France in Grenoble on Friday. Canada’s Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier came second while Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin (RUS) are currently ranked third.

2021 ISU World Champion Anna Shcherbakova (RUS) debuted a brand new Short Program to take the lead at the ISU Grand Prix Internationaux de France in Grenoble on Friday. Teammates Alena Kostornaia and Kseniia Sinitsyna follow in second and third.

Four years ago, heading into PyeongChang 2018, Hungary had never won a Winter Olympic gold medal. It was a disappointing statistic, considering the country had sent athletes to all 22 previous Games. But the fact remained: Hungary was a summer sports powerhouse that simply didn’t excel in the snow and ice events.

After an exciting start to the 2021/22 ISU World Cup Speed Skating season, competition continues with the second installment in Stavanger, Norway this Friday. Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) missed last week’s opening World Cup in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL) after a nasty bike crash last May and returns to the ice in front of his home crowd.

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series 2021/22 continues this week with the Internationaux de France in Grenoble. Several top stars are back in action in France and aiming to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Among the skaters taking to the ice are ISU World Champion Anna Shcherbakova (RUS), four-time ISU World Ice Dance Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) and 2021 ISU World silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama (JPN). The Internationaux de France is the fifth of six events in the series, before December’s Final in Osaka, Japan.

The ISU World Cup Short Track continues Thursday, October 27, 2021 in Nagoya, Japan. Don’t miss any of the action as the Skaters compete for their Olympic spots at the remaining ISU World Cup Short Track Olympic qualification events, which will be streamed live on the Skating ISU YouTube channel.

Ask people in or outside Riga, the capital of Latvia, what they know about Short Track Speed Skating and most will probably say they’ve never heard of it. The country can hardly be considered a winter sports powerhouse but 20-year-old Roberts Kruzbergs (LAT) hopes to improve that and get his compatriots talking about his passion. 

Douwe de Vries (NED) knows as well as anyone that there is arguably no team in sport harder to get in to than the Dutch Olympic Speed Skating squad. The long-distance specialist may have been a five-time Team Pursuit World Single Distance Champion but even he never made it on to Olympic ice. Now, at the start of a season that culminates in the biggest event of them all, the Dutchman reveals just what it is like to fight to represent the most successful nation in Speed Skating history.

The stakes could not be higher as the world’s best Short Track Speed Skaters descend on Debrecen, Hungary November 18-21 for the third of this season’s four ISU World Cup Short Track weekends.

Miho Takagi (JPN) clearly missed international racing when Japan did not travel abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic last year as she celebrated her international comeback in style on Sunday. Hammering out the 1500m in one minute and 56 seconds, the Japanese World Allround Champion smashed her pair-mate Ireen Wüst’s 2019 track record by 0.62s. Irene Schouten (NED) took her second gold medal of the weekend with a commanding final sprint in an eventful Mass Start.

The Dutch returned to winning ways on the final day of a tough first World Cup weekend in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland. Hein Otterspeer, Thomas Krol and Kjeld Nuis (NED) swept the podium of the Men’s 1000m and the Dutch also won the Men's Team Pursuit. Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN) won the second 500m.

Asia dominated the Men’s events on the second day of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. Min-Seok Kim (KOR) took his career first World Cup win in the 1500m with Ning Zhongyan (CHN) coming second, while Masahito Obayashi (JPN) won the Mass Start. Zbigniew Bródka (POL) made the home crowd happy, taking Mass Start bronze on his return to international Speed Skating after a two-year break. 

Two stars from Florida dominated the ice in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on Saturday. Erin Jackson (USA) won her second gold medal in the 500m, again breaking the track record, and Brittany Bowe (USA) added a 1000m gold for the Sunshine State. Canada wrapped up an exciting second day of World Cup Speed Skating with gold in the Women’s Team Pursuit.

Shoma Uno (JPN) took gold on home ice as he won the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo on Saturday. Vincent Zhou (USA) took silver and Junhwan Cha (KOR) claimed bronze.

2018 Four Continents Champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan stormed to the gold medal at the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN) on Saturday. Little heralded teammate Mana Kawabe made it one-two for the Japanese women and Korea’s Young You secured the bronze medal.