More than 40 youth skaters from nine ISU Members participated in the ISU World Development Trophy for Short Track Speed Skating last week in Singapore.
The ISU World Development Trophy started with four days of training and ended with a competition to enable the skaters to put their new skills to the test. Three divisions competed including Junior for ages 15-18, Junior “C” for ages 13-14 and Junior “D” for ages 11-12. Every skater partook in 500m and 1000m races while Argentina, India, North Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, South Africa, Thailand, Uzbekistan and host Singapore participated in the 2000m mixed relay races.
Topping the trophy standings was Mongolia, with three first-place skaters and one third-place skater. Both of North Korea’s skaters finished first in their respective divisions, while Malaysia had two skaters finish second and three finished third in their respective divisions. Singapore also featured prominently on the podium, with three second-place skaters and one third-place skater.
Befitting its slogan of “Short Track to Global Friendships,” the ISU World Development Trophy concluded with a Mixed Relay involving competitors from all the participating nations, as well as athletes from Special Olympics Singapore.
“It was a real pleasure watching all the young skaters in action,” said Sonja Chong, President of the Singapore Ice Skating Association. “I cannot overstate how honored we are to have been able to host this inaugural ISU World Development Trophy for short track speed skating. Hopefully, we put on a good show and more people will be inspired to try out ice skating after this event.”
Saturday’s competition was preceded by a week-long series of seminars for the skaters, coaches and officials, marking the first time that an ISU Development project combined a training camp and competition. China’s four-time Olympic silver medalist Yang Yang (S) was the main moderator for the training camp, while two-time Olympic silver medalist Sun Dan Dan and World Championships silver medalist Zhang Jing, both also from China, served as assistant moderators.
The Singapore event was the second of a three-part event. The first leg took place from 26-30 March in Cieszyn (POL) and the final leg will take place from 16-20 April in Manila, Philippines and will focus on figure skating.