ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Sheffield, England
The ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2010 were held in Sheffield, Great Britain this weekend at the Sheffield Arena. Of the 31 countries taking part, Korea was the most dominant, with skaters earning the ladies title. Ha-Ri Cho was crowned Ladies’ World Short Track Speed Skating Champion
The weekend kicked off with the 1500 meter competition. In the ladies’ competition, Katherine Reutter of the United States took the win, finishing ahead of a pair of Korean skaters: Seung-Hi Park (second) and Ha-Ri Cho (third).
Saturday’s program included the 500 meter event. Three Chinese skaters and one Italian skater made it to the final in the ladies event. Kexin Fan took the win, ahead of Arianna Fontana of Italy. Third place finish went to Qiuhong Liu.
These championships concluded on Sunday with skaters competing in the 1000 meters, 3000 meters Super Finals and relay events for the ladies. In the ladies’ 1000 meter event, Ha-Ri Cho took the win, finishing ahead of Fontana. Katherine Reutter finished in third place.
The 3000 meter Super Finals were the last individual events of the weekend. At this stage, only the ladies’ world championship titles were up for grabs. In the ladies 3000 meter Super Final, Ha-Ri Cho took her second distance win of the weekend, giving her enough points to win the overall championships title. Reutter finished second in the race, thus earning enough points to clinch the second place in the overall championship classification. Third place went to Liu of China. Fontana’s seventh place in the Super Final was enough to earn her third place in the overall championship classification.
These World Championships concluded with the Relay Finals. The ladies 3000 meter relay was won by China, which was not a surprise given the season’s domination of the team in this event. The win earned China the title of Ladies World Short Track Speed Skating Relay Champions 2011. The team from the Netherlands skated a solid race, earning a surprise second place finish, while Canada finished third.
The majority of the skaters will now head to Warsaw, Poland for the World Short Track Team Speed Skating Team Championships. The event runs from March 19-20, 2011
