Kim Gilli (KOR) won the women's 1000m at the 2023/24 ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating in Dresden (GER), on Saturday to take another step towards winning this year’s Crystal Globe, as last year's overall winner Suzanne Schulting (NED) made a sensational return to the circuit.
The 19-year-old Korean stayed in fifth and last position for most of the weekend's first 1000m final, moving into third place on the penultimate lap. In the final lap she continued pushing forward and managed to skate past front-runner Xandra Velzeboer (NED) in the last turn to take first place. Poland's Kamila Stormowska finished third.
The victory strengthens Kim's position at the top of the overall World Cup rankings with 965 points. Current No.2 Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) is 80 points behind Kim with just one World Cup weekend remaining.
Kim Gilli (KOR) celebrates her win in the 1000m at the fifth round of the ISU Short Track World Cup in Dresden. @ISU
"I'm very happy to win first place and I think I'm getting closer to the Crystal Globe," Kim said.
Her tactics had worked out as planned, to the joy of many Korean fans at Dresden’s Joynext Arena.
"I waited until the other competitors were exhausted and then I made my move to win the race," she said.
Velzeboer was not too disappointed with second place.
"It actually went exactly how I planned it; how I went into the race, with my focus, I was really alert, I was controlling my position, I was in the position two for a big part of the race and managed to keep it that way, then I made a good pass to the front," she said.
"I was just a little too short at the finish."
Xandra Velzeboer (NED), left, had no answer to Kim's late charge and took silver. Kamila Stormowska (POL), right, took bronze. @ISU
The 22-year-old Dutch skater had kept an eye on the skaters behind her for the whole race but when Kim came storming towards the front there was nothing she could do.
"I didn't have anything left and couldn't defend my spot anymore. It was a shame but the rest was really good and I'm really happy," she said.
Desmet sends out 1500m warning ahead of Worlds
In the women's 1500m final, Hanne Desmet (BEL) showed that she will be a force to be reckoned with in the World Championships in Rotterdam (NED) in March. The overall World Cup No.3, who had crashed out of January's European Championships 1500m final, had decided to get herself an early gap on the rest of the field.
Halfway through the race she took the front position, chased by Santos-Griswold who took first place back for a couple of laps. But with a last push in lap 11 of 14, Desmet took charge and Santos-Griswold could not respond. The American had to settle for a second place, five hundredths of a second behind the Belgian winner. Schulting finished third.
Hanne Desmet (BEL), center, held off the challenge of Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA), right, to win the 1500m. @ISU
"My tactics were to not be too late in the front, I often wait a little too long," Desmet said.
"This time I went to the front early and I really just put energy into staying in the front until the end. I skated at the right tracks to keep them behind me so I'm really happy with the way I did this race."
At the European championships in Gdansk (POL) she defended her 1000m title and claimed two bronze medals, in the 500m and 2000m relay. Now the 27-year-old's focus is on the next big championships, which makes a victory between the two events even more impressive.
"I feel really fit, so that's nice," Desmet said.
Since the European Championships she has been training hard in Budapest, Hungary, with the World Championships her main aim.
"It's not like we really trained to be at our best at this World Cup. We didn't really plan to peak at this [event], so seeing that I'm in this nice shape when we are training really hard is really nice," she said.
Santos-Griswold bagged her second 1500m silver this season but will have to wait a little longer for a first World Cup victory in the distance.
Santos-Griswold (USA) and Desmet (BEL) were joined on the podium by Suzanne Schulting (NED), making a successful return from injury. @ISU
"My goal is always to go out there and win so I am a little disappointed about that but Hanne skated amazingly so I can't be too sad about it," said the 29-year-old, who also won the mixed 2000m relay with the United States.
"It was a really hard field out there so my goal was to stay in the front and not get stuck in any things going on in the back. Ultimately Hanne and I are so similar in our skating, that definitely makes it hard at the end."
Emotional Schulting returns to podium on comeback
The most emotional skater on Saturday's podiums, however, was Schulting. The 26-year-old Short Track superstar had been forced to take a long break due to injury but made it straight back onto the World Cup podium on her comeback.
"It's been a rough year so I'm so happy with that," she said.
Schulting won both her quarter-final and her semi-final before securing her top-three spot in the final by finishing more than half a second ahead of fourth-placed Shim Suk Her (KOR).
Last time she competed was at the World Championships in Seoul (KOR) in March 2023, where she won 1500m gold. A teary-eyed three-time Olympic champion took to the podium after her comeback race.
Schulting (NED) won both her heats before finishing third in the 1500m final at her first competitive event in almost a year. @ISU
"I'm super proud of this," Schulting said.
"I feel really well, I'm super excited about this third place. If someone would've said three years ago that 'You're going to be really happy for a third place', I would've been like 'No, I'm not going to be happy with a third place', but right now I am."
Training with the Dutch team over the past few months, she had a vague idea of where she was, but to grab a World Cup medal in her first races in almost a year, isn’t anything she was going to take for granted.
"Training has gone really well, I'd done some training competitions of 1000m, but nothing in 1500m so I had no idea of what I could expect of this day," she said.
"Yesterday I felt so rough. After the first 1500m race, I was so dead, I was sitting on the couch afterwards and my legs were blowing up and I was thinking 'OK, there's got to be something left for tomorrow [Saturday]'. But I recovered really well so I'm happy about that."
Desmet said she was happy to see her rival back on the ice.
"It makes the racing more interesting because earlier this season it has always been me, Santos and Gilli and now we have an extra one so that's exciting," said the Belgian.
Desmet (BEL) welcomed Schulting (NED), right, back onto the ice: "It makes the racing more interesting," she said. @ISU
Velzeboer, who took the 1000m world title from Schulting last year, agreed.
"I'm happy for her that she can race again. I like skating against all the other athletes and it's always good to have a strong field," she said.
Schulting started to train two to three times a week in September and has been training full-time since December.
"Before September I didn't do anything at all," said Schulting.
She will want to get back on the ice and back on the podium as much as possible this spring, especially at her home World Championships.
"I'm hungry for sure, but I didn't really have a choice [but to rest]. All the doctors said I needed to recover properly so there was no choice," she said.
Despite the enforced break from the remarkable career that has seen her win 30 championship golds, Schulting didn’t feel the need to pick up any new hobbies.
"No, my hobby is skating, it's the best thing ever," she said.
For full results, entry lists and further information about the 2023/24 ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating, please visit webpage here.
Where to watch
Viewers will be able to watch the Saturday and Sunday afternoon (local time) ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating sessions via their national broadcaster/channel.
For countries where there are no broadcasters and for the qualification and repechage races, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list on the Where to watch webpage here.
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