500 meters short track heat at the 2004 World Cup in Saguenay.

Short track speed skating (also Shorttrack speedskating) is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a circumference of 111.12 m. The rink itself is 60 m by 30 m, which is the same size as an international-sized hockey rink.

[edit] History

Skaters at the starting line.

Short track speed skating originated in the speed skating events held with mass starts. This form of speed skating was mainly practiced in the United States and Canada, as opposed to the international form, where skaters skated in pairs. At the 1932 Winter Olympics, speed skating events were conducted in the mass start form. Competitions in North America were also held indoors, for example in Madison Square Garden, New York, and therefore on shorter tracks than was usual for outdoor skating.

In 1967, the International Skating Union adopted short track speed skating, although it did not organise international competitions until 1976. World Championships have been held since 1981 though earlier events later also received that status.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics, held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, short track was a demonstration sport. It was upgraded to a full Olympic sport in 1992 and has been part of the Winter Olympics since. The programme was expanded from 4 in 1992 to 8 in 2002. The events are the same for both men and women: 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m and the relay (5000 m (men)/3000 m (women)).

South Korea, Canada , China and United States have been the dominant countries in the sport. With smaller ice tracks and shorter, often spectacular competitions, short track speed skating has grown more popular than the older long track in many countries. In the 2006 Winter Olympics, South Korea won the most medals in short track speed skating.

[edit] Classes

In Canada, short track competitions are held either as all-points meets, where skaters are seeded based only on their times for a standard distance (usually the 500m), or an age class, where people are seeded by age and gender. All-points meets allow racing against skaters of all ages and genders, with the exception of the Masters age class (30+). All-points meets are usually held at the local level in only certain provinces. Age class meets are utilized at the provincial and national levels. Age classes are :

• Tiny Tots: 2-4
• Peewee: 5-7
• Pony: 8-10
• Midget: 11-12
• Juvenile: 13-14
• Junior: 15-16
• Intermediate: 17-18
• Senior: 19-29
• Master1: 30-39
• Master2: 40-49
• Master3: 50-59
• Master4: 60+

Ages are determined as of July 1 or June 30 prior to competition. At International and Olympic competitions, skaters are placed by gender only.

[edit] Notable skaters

[edit] Males

Athlete	Nation	Born	Olympics	World Ch.	Total
						Tot.				Tot.				Tot.
Ahn Hyun-Soo	South Korea	1985	3	0	1	4	20	11	4	35	23	11	5	39
Marc Gagnon	Canada	1975	3	0	2	5	19	11	5	35	22	11	6	40
Li Jiajun	China	1975	0	2	3	5	14	5	10	29	14	7	13	34
Kim Dong-Sung	South Korea	1980	1	1	0	2	12	7	4	23	13	8	4	25
Apolo Anton Ohno	United States	1982	2	1	2	5	9	7	7	23	11	8	9	28
Eric Bédard	Canada	1976	2	1	1	4	7	8	2	17	10	8	3	21

[edit] Females

Athlete	Nation	Born	Olympics	World Ch.	Total
						Tot.				Tot.				Tot.
Yang Yang	China	1976	2	2	1	5	32	13	5	50	34	15	6	55
Chun Lee-Kyung	South Korea	1976	4	0	1	5	13	13	3	29	17	13	4	34
Wang Meng	China	1985	1	1	1	3	14	13	3	30	15	14	4	33
Wang Chunlu	China	1978	0	2	1	3	14	11	1	26	14	13	2	29
Choi Eun-Kyung	South Korea	1984	2	2	0	4	14	4	4	22	16	6	4	26
Jin Sun-Yu	South Korea	1988	3	0	0	3	13	3	1	17	16	3	1	20
Yang Yang	China	1977	0	4	1	5	10	6	6	22	10	10	7	27

[edit] External links

• International Skating Union
• Speed Skating Canada
• US Speed Skating