2018 Olympics Previews: Short Track Speed Skating

Men and women compete in 500 m, 1000 m, and 1500 m races. Women compete in a 3000 m relay and men compete in a 5000 m relay.

February 10: Men’s 1500m

February 13: Women’s 500m

February 17: Women’s 1500m, Men’s 1000m

February 20: Women’s Relay

February 22: Women’s 1000m, Men’s 500m, Men’s Relay

Since being introduced onto the Olympic circuit in 1992, Short Track Speed Skating has provided some of the most exciting action of the games. It’s basically a NASCAR race on ice where athletes can be disqualified for bumping or pushing or cutting off another competitor but also run the risk of being knocked out in a big crash. Both men and women compete in Short Track races of 500m, 1000m and 1500m around a 111m oval. There is also a relay event for both men (5000m) and women (3000m). Generally, the longer races start slow with racers feeling each other out and just trying to stay in front of the pack before the action heats up in the last few laps.

This is the one event at the Winter Games where the host nation is expected to dominate. Since the introduction of Short Track in 1992, South Korea and China have combined for half of the total medals. South Korea has won 42 (and an astounding 21 golds) with China a distant second with 30 total medals (9 golds). Canada (28 medals, 8 golds) is the only other nation to have won more than 20 Short Track medals.

One of the big stories of the Sochi 2014 Games was Viktor Ahn winning four Short Track medals for Russia. Ahn had previously competed for South Korea as Hyun-Soo Ahn in the 2002 and 2006 Olympics but after failing to make the Korean team in 2010, he moved to Russia and became a Russian citizen in order to compete at the 2014 Games. In Sochi 2014, Ahn won gold in the 500m and 1000m, took bronze in the 1500m and led the Russian team to gold in the relay event. Those were the first Short Track medals for Russia since the Unified Team took bronze in the Women’s Relay in 1992. Ahn has stated his intention to compete in the 2018 Games and retire from competitive skating immediately thereafter.

On the Men’s side, Sochi 500m silver medalist Wu Dajing of China won the 2017 World Cup and currently sits in first in the 500m and second in the 1000m. His primary competitor is Hungary’s Sandor Liu Shaolin who ranks atop the standings in the 1000m and is second in the 500m. After being shut out of medals in the men’s competitions in Sochi, South Korea’s best hope for medals appears to be Hwang Dae-heon who is the top-ranked skater in the 1500m, ranks third in the 1000m and fourth in the 500m. In the women’s events, the South Korean pair of Choi Min-jeong and Shim Suk-hee both rank in the Top 3 in the World in the 1000m and 1500m. Shim Suk-hee won bronze in the 1000m and silver in the 1500m in Sochi. Their biggest challenges will likely come from Canadians Kim Boutin and Marianne St-Gelais and Italy’s Arianna Fontana. St-Gelais is a three-time Olympic medalist and currently tops the World Rankings in the 500m. Boutin is in the Top 4 in the World in all three distances, including leading the 1000m. Fontana has won 5 Olympic medals, including 3 in Sochi – a silver in 500m, a bronze in 1500m, and a team relay bronze.

The United States has won 19 Short Track medals in their history, including 4 golds. They are the only other nation behind the big three (South Korea, China, Canada) to win more than 10 medals. The US was shut out of individual medals at the Sochi 2014 Games and the only one earned was a silver in the men’s relay. The men’s relay team is once again expected to be strong, entering the Olympics ranked third in the world. The aforementioned John-Henry Krueger might be the best hope for an individual medal as he finished 4th in the 1500m in the 2017 World Cup. No American women are currently ranked in the Top 5 in any distance in the World Rankings and the United States did not qualify a women’s relay team.