ISU

USA Short Track special: Historical powerhouse is fighting back to the top

Coaches and athletes are in firm agreement: challenges remain but USA Short Track Speed Skating is “definitely on the up again”.

The bare statistics can make grim reading for a nation reared on the seemingly endless success of the likes of Cathy Turner, Apolo Ohno and JR Celski. It has now been almost five years, four World Championships and two Olympic Games since John-Henry Krueger claimed the USA’s last medal in a major global Short Track event. But dig a little deeper and the signs are far more encouraging.

John Henry Krueger (USA) reacts during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Gangneung (KOR) @GettyImages

The USA recorded three top 10 finishes in the Women’s 1000m at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, a seventh place in the Men’s 1000m and a ninth place in the Women’s 1500m. Add strong showings in the Mixed 2000m and the Women’s 3000m Relays and you can see why national team head coach Stephen Gough is not going grey just yet.

“We were very happy with it,” Gough confirmed. “To me what those results did was show the team that if you work hard in a positive way, you can accomplish things. To come in and have a big improvement in the program that Olympic year it gives you big belief it’s possible.”

The Canadian-born coach and Lillehammer 1994 Olympian deserves significant credit for such a turnaround. Gough joined the program as head coach in May 2021 and, as natural team leader Kristen Santos-Griswold asserts, things changed quickly.

Kristen Santos (USA) poses during the ISU World Cup Short Track 2022 in Almaty (KAZ) @ISU 

“I think in the past there has been a lot of feelings that we were pinned against each other rather than (operating as) a team,” said Santos-Griswold, who had a brilliant 2021/22 ISU World Cup season winning four individual medals across the 1000m and 1500m.

“Throughout the past year or so we have been slowly but surely finding that cohesiveness of ‘we need each other to get better’. We are genuinely really close friends if not basically family. So, it’s really fun to go to practice every day and that is really special. I wake up excited to go to practice.”

The bronze medal the USA won in the Mixed Relay at the recent ISU World Cup meet in Salt Lake City is a good example of the power of that feeling.

“We were able to connect really quickly because we know each other really well,” Brandon Kim, one of the relay quartet, said.

Kim’s situation is further indication of the growing harmony within the squad. After twice delaying his entry to Stanford University in order to try to become an Olympian, Kim finally started his studies this fall. That meant he had not skated for six weeks before arriving at the Utah Olympic Oval two days ahead of competition. Remarkably, as well as claiming the Relay bronze, Kim also won the 500m(1) B final and reached the 1000m quarterfinals. He knows who he has to thank.

Brandon Kim (USA) competes during the 2022 ISU World Cup Short Track in  Salt Lake City(USA) @ISU

“He’s (Gough) really great to work with,” Kim said. “He’s really easy to communicate with, really flexible and I really need that.”

Gough is aware there are still big obstacles to overcome. While the facilities at the Utah Olympic Oval are second to none, they are “definitely playing catch-up” when it comes to programs and funding.

“In terms of the money in their (the athletes’) pockets, we are way behind what the other countries are able to provide,” Gough explained. “If we were giving them a salary we could dictate what our expectations were. But there are only a handful of skaters, the ones on the Olympic team, that receive direct funding, which comes with some strings attached to it. The rest have jobs, school.”

A relatively small pool of athletes and the lack of free athlete accommodation in Salt Lake City do not help either. But Gough, who is using this first year of a new Olympic cycle to “assess”, and “work out what the gaps are” does see reasons for optimism.

“We have a very young team and they are great kids with good attitude,” he said. “They want to work hard.”

Team USA celebrates during the 2022 ISU Four Continents Short Track Speed in Salt Lake (USA) @ISU

The fact they have the perfect role model helps too.

“If they are not looking at her saying, ‘That’s what I should be doing’ then it’s a problem,”

Gough said in reference to 28-year-old Santos-Griswold who won another two individual World Cup medals in Salt Lake City.

Sarault (CAN),  Schulting (NED) and Santos (USA) pose during the 2022 ISU World Cup in Salt Lake (USA) @ISU

“What people need to recognize that if you were to go back in time to when she was 20, 21 I don’t think many people would say, ‘Oh, she’s going to be top-five in the world’. It’s been a slow-burner, just improving and working. It’s a simple recipe: show up, work hard.”

The final word goes to Santos-Griswold herself:

“US speed skating is definitely on the up.”