ISU World No 46- January 2012

INTERNATIONAL SKATING UNION OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER

INSIDE • ISU NEWS • GRAND PRIX • WORLD CUP REPORTS • RESULTS

NO 46 JANUARY 2012

It is not a secret that the economy of the world of sport is facing a crisis at an international level and perhaps it is the first time that I turn to national matters even if I am the president of an international sport governing body.

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What I would like to emphasize is that the national sport federations are in a position to consider saving some money by adopting initiatives that I will try to explain, as a personal point of view. To conduct events, also in the area of sport, is an activity that normally requires spending money and in the present circumstances one should on the contrary try to follow lines that as an end result would be cheaper.

The project that I am about to explain is intended to respect first of all the proper conduct of events, then if indeed one can spend less money, it means that we are in the presence of a valid option.

Suppose that a national federation or in general a national sport entity wishes to organize a competition. To administer it, it is necessary to have people taking care of dedicated and specific functions that only recognized officials of the national body (association or other) can do, but there are other functions for which a specific knowledge and experience in that sport is not necessary. Therefore an entity, a sport association or other, may implement an initiative to use personnel that would cost remarkably less than using recognized officials.

An example will clearly demonstrate the advantage obtainable through this system.

Suppose that for a competition there are services that do not require a particular knowledge, as for instance use of computers for normal communications, lap counters, announcers, car drivers, etc. Obviously subject to the condition to obtain economical advantages.

Why should an association organizing an event spend more money to have its people available for a standard job, when asking another association or an independent group could obtain the same service at a much cheaper cost?

If the concept is accepted, it doesn’t remain than to find an organization that might cover the general purpose services. It is, as I have said, a kind of collaboration that in principle is easier to be formed at a national level, but it is not excluded that this approach might become of interest to those acting in international sport events.

In conclusion, it is with the concerned and interested sport entities to evaluate and investigate whether the indicated plan can actually be implemented. From the ISU side we believe not to be in opposition to follow this line in order to improve as much as possible our organizational structure with the consequent economical advantages.

Ottavio Cinquanta President, International Skating Union

ISU World is the official newsletter of the International Skating Union Published and produced by ISU, Chemin de Primerose 2, 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland Telephone: +41 21 612 66 66. Facsimile: +41 21 612 66 77.

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Front cover photograph: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy (GER) ©Getty Images Photography: ©Getty Images, ©International Olympic Committee, ©Robin Ritoss

ISU COUNCIL The ISU Council met in Milan (ITA) on October 14-16 and agreed to grant provisional ISU Membership for the Speed Skating branch to the Serbian Skating Federation that it is now a provisional Member for both Branches.

In accordance with Rule 127 of the ISU Regulations the Council provisionally allotted a number of Speed Skating, Figure Skating and Synchronized Skating Championships for 2013 and 2014. In addition the Council decided that the ISU Synchronized Skating Junior World Challenge Cup 2012 will be held in Göteborg, Sweden on March 16-17, while for organizational reasons no ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships will be held in 2012.

The ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships 2013 in Sochi (RUS) will now be held on March 21-24, 2013, i.e. one week later than initially announced. The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating calendar for the season 2012/13 have been approved.

The Council also accepted a request from the Dutch member Federation (KNSB) to change the location of the Korean Air ISU World Cup Short Track Event which will now be held in Dordrecht (NED). Please refer to Communication 1702 for more information.

The Council also met in Geneva (SUI) on November 13, 2011 to discuss in detail the Council proposals to be included in the agenda for the 2012 ISU Congress which will be held in Kuala Lumpur (MAS) next June.

ISU SPORTS DIRECTORATE

The three persons in the Directorate have been busy with the preparation and successful management of the 13 ISU Junior and Senior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Events including the Final which took place in Québec City (CAN) on December 8-11. The Directorate’s main focus is now on the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) 2012 in Innsbruck. The new format of Events taking place at YOG required a lot of consultation and clarification in order to make them work. The Mixed NOC team Event, which will be composed of teams of different nationalities and strength, will be particularly interesting and innovative to watch. The idea is based on social approaches combined with the spirit to accept all skaters from all over the world to a team.

The support of the ISU Council and Technical Committees has provided a good basis for a

ISU NEWS successful preparation of the second half of the 2011/12 season. The Directorate is also involved in the preparation of proposals for the 2012 ISU Congress.

ISU TECHNICAL COMMITTEES

Coaches in Asia and the Pacific region. This is an important initiative to bring more Ice Dance to this region.

Synchronized Skating

Several members of the Single and Pair Skating Technical Committee served as Refe­ rees and Technical Controllers at Senior and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Events and moderated various Recognized ISU Judges se­ minars. In September, four Committee mem­ bers served as examiners at the ISU Judges examination in Oberstdorf, Germany. After that there was a one day Committee Meeting on site of the examination. Most of the Tech­ nical Committee’s time was spent however preparing proposals for Rule changes in the Special Regulations and Technical Rules to be debated at the ISU Congress 2012.

The Synchronized Skating Technical Commit­ tee (SySTC) ran a joint Technical Specialist/ Technical Controller/ Referee/ Judges and Coaches seminar in Lyon in November. This was the first time that all aspects of the dis­ cipline were brought together to help provide a common understanding of the requirements for the upcoming season and to share ideas and suggestions for the further development of the discipline. The seminar ran in conjunc­ tion with the Lyon Masters competition which allowed for a practical component to be part of the seminar agenda. This format proved popular and the SySTC will give serious consideration to this format in the future.

Work has been completed on the proposals for the Congress in Malaysia this summer.

Ice Dance

Speed Skating

Single & Pair Skating

The Ice Dance Technical Committee has been busy preparing proposals for the ISU Congress 2012. Proposals from Members were reviewed and coordination of proposals with the other Technical Committees was an important goal. Preparation is well under­ way for the announcement of rhythms and technical details for the next season. Several Communications have been published to prepare for Judges’ Seminars in 2012, along with the continuation of the Novice and Ju­ nior Training Camps in Oberstdorf (GER) next April. In addition a new Seminar and Camp has been announced for an ISU International Ice Dance Development Training Seminar for

The bi-annual ISU Speed Skating Starters’ course was successfully organized in October on the occasion of the Holland Cup Interna­ tional Competition in Enschede (NED). 24 ISU Starters and 17 International Starters from 14 different ISU Members participated in the course. The Speed Skating Technical Committee held a meeting in conjunction with the ISU Starters’ course to plan ISU Events of the coming season and prepare for the 2012 ISU Congress. The Essent ISU World Cup season kicked off in late November, at the indoor ice rinks of Chelyabinsk (RUS) and Astana (KAZ), both venues were part of the World Cup circuit for the first time. The

Figure Skating and Short Track Speed Skating Youth Olympic Games Olympiahalle venue in Innsbruck (AUT)

competition in Astana featured the first Mass Start race with an official World Cup status.

In Heerenveen a Team Sprint competition was successfully presented as a demonstration event. Two ISU Junior World Cup competi­ tions served as qualifying events for the first edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck. Therefore based on the results, the NOC quotas for the speed skating events have been allotted.

Short Track

The season begun with four very successful World Cup Competitions. During the second half of the season the World Cup will move to Europe with the Final event taking place in Dordrecht (NED) on 10-12 February 2012. An ISU Championships will be held in Australia for the first time in over a decade. This will help enhance the image of the discipline as a truly global sport. The Short Track Technical Committee submitted proposals for the up­ coming 2012 ISU Congress. The development programs supported by the ISU have greatly improved the level of skating throughout the world, and will continue to do so as we move forward.

Clean sport

The Executive Committee of the World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) approved the 2012 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods at its meeting held at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The new List will come into force on 1 January 2012. The list can be found on the ISU website under Clean Sport/Medical.

ISU WEBSITE: www.isu.org

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2012 ISU Championships figure skating European Championships Venue: Sheffield (GBR) Dates: 23 - 29 January

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2011 European Champions Ladies: Sarah Meier (SUI) Men: Florent Amodio (FRA) Pairs: Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy (GER) Ice Dance: Nathalie Pechalat / Fabian Bourzat (FRA) Four Continents Championships Venue: Colorado Springs (USA) Dates: 7 - 12 February 2011 Four Continents Champions Ladies : Miki Ando (JPN) Men : Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) Pairs : Qing Pang / Jian Tong (CHN) Ice Dance : Meryl Davis / Charlie White (USA) World Junior Championships Venue: Minsk (BLR) Dates: 27 February - 4 March 2011 World Junior Champions Ladies: Adelina Sotnikova (RUS) Men: Andrei Rogozine (CAN) Pairs: Wenjing Sui / Cong Han (CHN) Ice Dance: Ksenia Monko / Kirill Khaliavin (RUS) World Championships Venue: Nice (FRA) Dates: 26 March – 1 April 2011 World Champions Ladies: Miki Ando (JPN) Men: Patrick Chan (CAN) Pairs: Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy (GER) Ice Dance: Meryl Davis / Charlie White (USA) World Synchronized Skating Championships Venue: Göteborg (SWE) Dates: 13 - 14 April

Javier Fernandez (ESP)

2011 World Champions Team: Team Finland 1

FIGURE SKATING ISU GRAND PRIX OF FIGURE SKATING The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series 2011-12 brought performances of the world’s finest figure skaters to spectators and TV viewers all over the world. For the first time, viewers were able to follow the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Events and Final via internet.

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32 Men, 35 Ladies, 29 Pairs and 29 Ice Dance couples competed in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating this year. The series began in October in Ontario (USA) and Mississauga (CAN) before moving on to Shanghai (CHN) and Sapporo (JPN), followed by Paris (FRA) and Moscow (RUS). The Grand Prix season concluded in December with the combined ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Québec City (CAN), where the top six skaters and couples (senior and junior) in each discipline competed for the Grand Prix titles.

Reigning World Champion Patrick Chan (CAN) struck gold in both his Grand Prix events before defending his title in the Grand Prix Final. He posted a seasons best of 260.30 points. 2010 World Champion Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) advanced with a gold and a bronze medal to the Final where he returned onto the podium with a silver medal after missing out last year. Javier Fernandez (ESP) not only became the first Spanish figure skater in history to qualify for the Final with two silver medals, but also claimed the bronze in Québec City.

2010 World Junior Champion Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) competed in his first Final as well and came fourth. Jeremy Abbott (USA) and Michal Brezina (CZE) were the other qualifiers. Competition was tight again.

Nan Song (CHN) and 2011 World silver medallist Takahiko Kozuka (JPN) missed the Final on a tie-breaker. Adam Rippon (USA) was the third substitute like one year ago.

Carolina Kostner (ITA) started the season strongly by taking a gold and two silver medals in her three Grand Prix events. The reigning World bronze medallist went on to capture her first Grand Prix Final title with a personal best score of 187.48 points. Akiko Suzuki (JPN) qualified for her third Grand Prix Final and took the silver medal. Alena Leonova (RUS) returned to the Final after two years and earned her first medal, the bronze. 2011 World junior silver medallist

Meagan Duhamel/ Eric Radford (CAN)

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Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (RUS) won her two Grand Prix events to qualify for the Final in her first year on the senior circuit. She placed fourth. Defending Grand Prix Final Champion Alissa Czisny (USA) came fifth.

Two-time World Champion Mao Asada (JPN) had qualified with a gold and a silver medal but withdrew the day before the Short Program due to a family emergency.

2011 World Junior Champion Adelina Sotnikova (RUS), Mirai Nagasu (USA) and Ashley Wagner (USA) were the substitutes following good results in their Grand Prix events.

Three-time Pair Skating World Champions Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (GER) took home two gold and one bronze medal from their three Grand Prix events before seizing their third title in the Final with a seasons best of 212.26 points. World silver medallists Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (RUS) competed in their first Grand Prix season and claimed two gold medals in Mississauga and Paris. They picked up the silver medal in the Final. Yuko Kavaguti/ Alexander Smirnov (RUS) returned to the Final after missing part of the Grand Prix last year and earned the bronze in Québec,

their first medal in the Final. Dan Zhang/ Hao Zhang (CHN), who sat out last year due to injury, celebrated a comeback with two silver medals on the circuit and finished fourth in Québec. Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (CAN) and Narumi Takahashi/ Mervin Tran (JPN) competed in their first Final. Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch (CAN), Vera Bazarova/Juri Larionov (RUS) and Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN) all had competed in the Final one year ago but were substitutes this time.

Ice Dance World Champions Meryl Davis/ Charlie White (USA) continued their dominance in the Grand Prix with two victories in their events and with their third consecutive Grand Prix Final gold medal.

En route, they also posted a new personal best of 188.55 points. Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) competed in the Grand Prix again after sitting out last year and won two gold plus the silver in the Final. Nathalie Péchalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA) advanced with two silver medals to the Final to claim their third consecutive medal, this time a bronze, in Québec.

Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje (CAN) and Ekaterina Bobrova/ Dmitri Soloviev (RUS) returned to the Final, finishing fourth and sixth. Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) came fifth in their debut in the Final. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA), Elena Ilinykh/ Nikita Katsalapov (RUS) and Isabella Tobias/Deividas Stagniunas (LTU) were substitutes. Tobias/Stagniunas won the first medal for Lithuania on the Grand Prix circuit in ten years, the bronze at Skate America.

JUNIOR GRAND PRIX The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating entered its 15th season in 2011 and provided 102 junior Men, 146 junior Ladies, 32 junior Pair Skating and 75 junior Ice Dance teams coming from more than 50 ISU Members with an opportunity to compete at the international level. The junior circuit started in Riga (LAT), went on to Brisbane (AUS) for the first Junior Grand Prix in Australia, followed by Gdansk (POL), Brasov (ROU), Innsbruck (AUT) and Milan (ITA) before ending in Tallinn (EST).

Russia had a strong showing in the Junior Final by sweeping the Ladies and Ice Dance podiums.

Victoria Sinitsina/Ruslan Zhiganshin (RUS) winners of the Ice Dance ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final

Jason Brown (USA) debuted in the Final following a gold and silver medal on the

FIGURE SKATING circuit and won the title in Québec. Han Yan (CHN), top seed after two victories on the circuit, repeated as the silver medallist in the Final. Joshua Farris (USA) advanced with two gold medals and claimed the bronze. Maxim Kovtun (RUS), Ryuju Hino (JPN) and World Junior silver medallist Keiji Tanaka (JPN) debuted in the Final.

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Russia dominated in the Junior Ladies.

13-year-old newcomer Julia Lipnitskaia struck gold in her two events and in the Final by a large margin. Polina Shelepen returned to the podium in the Final to take her second silver medal. Polina Korobeinikova captured the bronze in her first appearance in the Final to complete the Russian sweep. Zijun Li (CHN), the bronze medallist one year ago, settled for fourth place this time. Risa Shoji (JPN) and Vanessa Lam (USA) were the other qualifiers.

Pair skating was concentrated in four events in Latvia, Poland, Austria and Estonia. Two-time World Junior Champions Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN) competed on both the junior and senior circuit and qualified for the Junior Final with two gold medals. They claimed their second gold medal in the Junior Final followed by two new teams who debuted on the junior circuit: silver medallists Katherine Bobak/ Ian Beharry (CAN) and bronze medallists Britney Simpson/Matthew Blackmer (USA).

Ekaterina Petaikina/Maxim Kurdyukov (RUS), 2010 Junior Final bronze medallists Xiaoyu Yu/Yang Jin (CHN) and Tatiana Tudvaseva/Sergei Lisiev (RUS) completed the field in the Final.

Russia repeated their podium sweep in Junior Ice Dance. Last year’s silver medallists Victoria Sinitsina/Ruslan Zhiganshin celebrated a confident victory over newcomers Anna Yankovskaia/Sergei Mozgov and defending bronze medallists Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin. Alexandra Aldridge/Daniel Eaton (USA), Anastasia Galyeta/ Alexei Shumski (UKR) and Maria Nosulia/Yevgen Kholoniuk (UKR) had qualified for the Final for the first time.

All performances from the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating and the Final can be seen on the ISU YouTube Channel and on the ISU Skating Channel. Both links are available on www.isu.org

Julia Lipnitskaia (RUS) winner of the Ladies’ ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final

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From front to back: Kwak Yoon Gy (KOR) and Jean Oliver (CAN)

SHORT TRACK The Short Track Speed Skating season got off to a successful start with the first four competitions of the Korean Air ISU World Cup Short Track series. In the series individual races are held over 500m, 1000m, and 1500m in both Ladies’ and Men’s competitions. In addition, there are relay events for national teams over 3000m (Ladies) and 5000m (Men).

The first event of the season kicked off on October 21-23 at the Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City (USA) where a total of 23 countries participated; Korea took a total of 10 medals, while the United States, taking advantage of local support, finished with 6 medals. Canada also earned 6 medals, while China, Great Britain and Russia earned two medals each.

Japan and Italy came away with one medal.

A week later on October 28-30, the world’s best short track speed skaters were back on the ice for the second round of the Korean Air ISU World Cup Short Track circuit at the George Vezina Centre, in Saguenay, Canada.

This time 22 countries participated in the action with the United States noticeably absent. The team from Canada took advantage of skating on home ice, and earned a total of

11 medals. Korea took a total of 6 medals, while both China and Italy each earned 4 medals. Japan and Russia earned 2 medals each, and Great Britain earned one medal.

After a short break, the action moved to Asia, with the third round taking place on December 2-4 in Nagoya, Japan. 21 countries took to the ice. The team from China earned a total of 7 medals. Korea took a total of 6 medals.

Canada, Italy and Japan, with the support of the home crowd, each earned 4 medals. The United States earned 3 medals while Great Britain and Russia earned one medal each.

Back to back one week later the Short Trackers picked up the pace in Shanghai, China for the series second stop in Asia. 25 countries were in on the action. The team from the host country took advantage of skating on home ice, and China earned a total of 10 medals, doubling the medal count of its closest rivals, Canada (five medals) and Korea (five medals).

Jinhyu Noh from Korea achieved a new World Record in the 1500m and during the Relay Team Korea also broke a new World Record, both are to be ratified by the ISU. The United States earned a total of 3 medals, while Great Britain, Italy and Japan each earned two medals. The team from the Netherlands earned

one medal.

The current standings after the four of six events completed so far are on page 14 of this edition of ISU World.

The ISU Short Track takes a break for the holiday season, and will resume in the New Year, with the ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships on January 27-29 in Mlada Boleslav (CZE). The two remaining Korean Air ISU World Cup Short Track events will closely follow on February 3-5 in Moscow (RUS) and February 10-12 in Dordrecht (NED).

The Short Track season continues with the ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2012 in Melbourne (AUS) on February 24-26 and concludes with the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2012 taking place on March 9-11 in Shanghai (CHN).

Videos of all Korean Air ISU Short Track World Cup events are available free of charge in most countries via the ISU Skating Channel, accessible on the top right of the ISU website.

The last two ISU Korean Air ISU Short Track World Cup events will be available via a live stream on the same Channel. Visit www.isu.org for more information.

SPEED SKATING SPEED SKATING

2012 ISU Championships Short Track European Short Track Speed Skating Championships Venue: Mlada Boleslav (CZE) Dates: 27 - 29 January

2011 World Junior Champions Ladies: Hee Jung Cheon (KOR) Men: Yi Ra Seo (KOR)

2011 European Champions Ladies: Arianna Fontana (ITA) Men: Thibaut Fauconnet (FRA)

World Short Track Speed Skating Championships Venue: Shanghai (CHN) Dates: 9 - 11 March

World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships Venue: Melbourne (AUS) Dates: 24 - 26 February

2011 World Champions Ladies: Ha-Ri Cho (KOR) Men: Jinkyu Noh (KOR)

speed skating European Speed Skating Championships Venue: Budapest (HUN) Dates: 6 - 8 January

1000 meters: Karolina Erbanova (CZE) 1500 meters: Karolina Erbanova (CZE)) 3000 meters: Do-Yeong Park (KOR) Team Pursuit Ladies: Republic of Korea

2011 European Champions Ladies: Martina Sábliková (CZE) Men: Ivan Skobrev (RUS)

Men: Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) 500 meters: Sung-Kyu Kim (KOR) 1000 meters: Sung-Kyu Kim (KOR) 1500 meters: Sverre L. Pedersen (NOR) 3000 meters: Sverre L. Pedersen (NOR) 5000 meters: Sverre L. Pedersen (NOR) Team Pursuit Men: Netherlands

World Sprint Speed Skating Championships Venue: Calgary (CAN) Dates: 28 - 29 January 2011 World Sprint Champions Ladies: Christine Nesbitt (CAN) Men: Kyou-Hyuk Lee (KOR) World Allround Speed Skating Championships Venue: Moscow (RUS) Dates: 18 - 19 February 2011 World Champions Ladies: Ireen Wüst (NED) Men: Ivan Skobrev (RUS) World Junior Speed Skating Championships Venue: Obihiro City (JPN) Dates: 2 - 4 March 2011 World Junior Champions Ladies: Karolina Erbanova (CZE) 500 meters: Karolina Erbanova (CZE)

World Single Distances Champions Venue: Heerenveen (NED) Dates: 22 - 25 March 2011 World Single Distances Champions Ladies: 500 meters: Jenny Wolf (GER) 1000 meters: Christine Nesbitt (CAN) 1500 meters: Ireen Wüst (NED) 3000 meters: Ireen Wüst (NED) 5000 meters: Martina Sábliková (CZE) Team Pursuit: Canada Men: 500 meters: Kyou-Hyuk Lee (KOR) 1000 meters: Shani Davis (USA) 1500 meters: Håvard Bøkko (NOR) 5000 meters: Bob de Jong (NED) 10000 meters: Bob de Jong (NED Team Pursuit: USA

The Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating season for 2011/2012 consists of seven events of which three took place during the first half of the season. The competitions began in Chelyabinsk (RUS), continued in Astana (KAZ) and then moved on to Heerenveen (NED).

On the 500m Ladies, the leader is Olympic champion Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR) with 450 points. Over six races, she was the most consistent with four podium finishes, including one victory. World record holder Jenny Wolf (GER) also won once and has four podium finishes, she is second with 420 points.

In third place with 400 points is the winner of the remaining four races, who was absent twice: Jing Yu from China.

Christine Nesbitt (CAN) has won all three 1000m races and is currently top of the leader board with the maximum 300 points. Five other Ladies managed to divide the remaining podium spots, with Marrit Leenstra (NED) accumulating 180 points and Margot Boer (NED) 166 points. Also Yekaterina Shikhova (RUS), Jing Yu and Thijsje Oenema (NED) were capable of winning medals.

Christine Nesbitt is also the best skater in the 1500m, where she has 280 points. She only lost the first race, where she finished second.

Not far behind Ireen Wüst (NED) who also frequents the podium and gathered 250 points.

Yekaterina Shikhova is third with 148. Claudia Pechstein (GER) and Marrit Leenstra have also been on the pedestal.

On the long distance for the Ladies, Martina Sáblíková (CZE) dominates with the maximum 300 points. Claudia Pechstein is second with 230 point; she was on the podium after each of her races. Ireen Wüst, Stephanie Beckert and Diane Valkenburg have had podium results, but third in the ranking is Linda de Vries (NED) with 156 points, including two fourth-place-finishes in races.

In the Team Pursuit, Canada won both races and leads with 200 points, Russia has 150 and Korea 130. The Ladies had one Mass Start race, which was won by Dutch marathon champion Mariska Huisman, who beat Claudia Pechstein in the final lap. Bo-Reum Kim (KOR) is third.

In the Men’s 500m, we had five winners in six races. Although Pekka Koskela (FIN) won twice, he had some poor results in other races and is currently only fifth in the ranking with

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305 points. The leader is Tae-Bum Mo, the Olympic Champion from Korea, with a total of 400 points, after four podium finishes in the A-division, and to begin with one victory in the B-division. Joji Kato (JPN) follows with 373 points. He won one race, and was second twice. Third with 348 points is Tucker Fredricks (USA), with three podium finishes on different steps. Jan Smeekens (NED), who also won one of the races, is fourth with 310 points.

The Men’s 1000m is tight with two skaters with 260 points, and the top three are all Dutch. Kjeld Nuis finished twice in second place and won the last race; Stefan Groothuis won the first two races, but wasn’t very fit in Heerenveen and did not finish on the podium there. Behind them, Sjoerd de Vries is third with 180 points who finished second in Heerenveen. Tae-Bum Mo got third twice and Denny Morrison (CAN) finished in the same position once. They both follow with 165 points. Shani Davis, master on the distance for many years, has 150 points.

In the 1500m although Stefan Groothuis won the first race and Wouter Olde Heuvel (NED) won the second race, neither are currently in the top five of the ranking. The leader is

Kjeld Nuis (NED)

the winner of the last race, Ivan Skobrev (RUS), with 202 points, who also took bronze in the first race. Kjeld Nuis is second with 190 points, with one podium finish. Denny Morrison (CAN) and Shani Davis each have a podium finish and a current total of 180 points. World Champion Håvard Bøkko (NOR) got two bronzes and currently has 172 points.

The long distance skaters had two 5000m races and one 10,000m with three Dutch Men leading the rankings. The leader with 280 points is Jorrit Bergsma; he finished very close to the Heerenveen track record and now holds the one in Chelyabinsk. In Astana, Sven Kramer had his first victory after a year of absence and is second with 210 points. World Champion Bob de Jong has 190 points. Alexis Contin (FRA) is behind with 155 points and a place on the podium in Astana. Bob de Vries reached the podium in the 10,000m but did not compete in the 5000m races.

In the Team Pursuit, the Netherlands won both races and lead with 200 points; Korea and Germany follow with 140 points each.

Seung-Hoon Lee from Korea won the Mass Start race, followed by American Jonathan Kuck and another Korean skater, Hyung-Joon Joo. For the first time an overall World Cup points

system is in place. Points can be earned in all individual events (including mass start), 10 points are rewarded for a victory and 8 for second place, then 7, 6, 5 and half points for the 500m. Nesbitt is well in the lead in the Ladies’ rankings with 60.5 points, Ireen Wüst follows with 44 and Martina Sábliková with 41 points.

In the Men’s Overall World Cup, Kjeld Nuis has 45 points and overtook Stefan Groothuis the last day of competition. He has 42 points, Jorrit Bergsma 33.

As the Championships season get underway in the New Year the remaining Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating races will take place in Hamar (NOR) and Salt Lake City (USA) before the series comes back to Heerenveen in March and concludes in Berlin (GER).

Videos of all Essent ISU World Cup events are available in most countries free of charge via the ISU Skating Channel, accessible on the top right of the ISU website. The remaining Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating events will be available in most countries via a live stream on the same Channel. Go to www.isu.org for more information.

SPEED SKATING

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Martina Sábliková (CZE)

ISU Junior World Cup The ISU Junior World Cup Speed Skating series started in Europe last November firstly in Erfurt (GER), then in Bjugn (NOR).

The series provides a platform at top international junior level for young speed skaters to prepare and move towards senior level. In the ISU Junior World Cup series the participants are either A or B juniors, which means that they are in the last four years of being eligible to participate at junior level (aged 15-19 years). They skate all in one division, and the program includes 500m, 1000m, 1500m and 3000m as well as the Team Pursuit and Mass Start for both Men and Ladies. For the Men the 3000m is at times replaced by the 5000m.

The Ladies skate 6 laps in the Team Pursuit and 8 laps in the Mass Start while the Men skate 8 laps in the Team Pursuit and 12 laps in the Mass Start. The events are supported by the ISU’s Development Program. Prize mo-

ney will be awarded to the three best skaters or teams in the final overall classification of each distance/event. Skaters can earn points throughout the World Cup series.

In the Junior Ladies’ field, Karolina Erbanová (CZE) won the 500m races in Erfurt but did not attend the event in Bjugn, as she also participates in the senior World Cup, which took place simultaneously. Very close behind her in points is Russian sprinter Tatjana Karannikova. Letitia de Jong (NED) won the 1000m and her compatriot Pien Keulstra leads the 1500m as well as the 3000m. In Bjugn, she lost to Korean Do-Yeong Park. Park won the Mass Start event, ahead of Feitong Liu (CHN) and Vanessa Bittner (AUT). The Dutch Ladies won the Team Pursuit in Erfurt.

The best Junior Men skaters so far are Tsubasa Hasegawa (JPN) in the 500m, closely followed by Woo-Jin Kim (KOR), who also leads after winning the 1000m in Bjugn. In the

1500m, Pavel Kulizhnikov from Russia won both races. Fifteen year old Fan Yang from China is second in those rankings and also leads the 3000m, together with Thomas Krol from the Netherlands, who both took a first and a second place. Fan Yang also was the best in the Mass Start race that took place in Bjugn, beating Jin-Yeong Lee (KOR) and Konstantin Nikitin (RUS), and the Dutch team won the Men Team Pursuit.

The first two Junior World Cup races determined the quota of Junior Speed Skaters for the first Winter Youth Olympic Games taking place in Innsbruck (AUT) between January 13 and 22. The Junior World Cup series will pick up again in January and February with three regional events spread over Astana (KAZ), Collalbo (ITA), and Calgary (CAN). The Juniors will meet once more in March, in Obihiro (JPN) on the occasion of the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships, followed by the ISU Junior World Cup Final (March 9-10).

FIGURE SKATING Grand Prix of Figure Skating – standings after six of six events (full results on www.isu.org )

Ladies

12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Elizaveta Tuktamisheva RUS 1st 1st Mao Asada JPN 2nd 1st Carolina Kostner ITA 1st 2nd Akiko Suzuki JPN 2nd 1st Alissa Czisny USA 1st 3rd Alena Leonova RUS 3rd 2nd Adelina Sotnikova RUS 3rd 3rd Mirai Nagasu USA 5th 2nd Ashley Wagner USA 3rd 4th Viktoria Helgesson SWE 3rd 5th Kanako Murakami JPN 6th 4th Haruka Imai JPN 4th 6th Kiira Korpi FIN 6th 5th Elene Gedevanishvili GEO 7th 5th Ksenia Makarova RUS 5th 7th Sofia Biryukova RUS 4th Kexin Zhang CHN 4th Mae Berenice Meite FRA 7th 6th Amelie Lacoste CAN 6th 8th Christina Gao USA 5th Agnes Zawadzki USA 8th 7th Caroline Zhang USA 6th Cynthia Phaneuf CAN 7th Sonia Lafuente ESP 7th Bingwa Geng CHN 8th

Men

2011 Hilton Skate HHonors Skate Canada Cup of NHK Trophée Eric Rostelecom America International China Trophy Bompard Cup

2011 Hilton Skate HHonors Skate Canada Cup of NHK Trophée Eric Rostelecom America International China Trophy Bompard Cup

Total Points

30 28 28 28 26 24 22 20 20 18 14 14 12 11 11 9 9 9 8 7 7 5 4 4 3

Total Points

1 Patrick Chan CAN 1st 1st 30 1st 26 2 Daisuke Takahashi JPN 3rd 3 Jeremy Abbott USA 1st 3rd 26 CZE 1st 3rd 26 4 Michal Brezina 5 Javier Fernandez ESP 2nd 2nd 26 JPN 4th 1st 24 6 Yuzuru Hanyu 7 Nan Song CHN 3rd 2nd 24 8 Takahiko Kozuka JPN 3rd 2nd 24 9 Adam Rippon USA 4th 4th 18 10 Nobunari Oda JPN 2nd 7th 17 BEL 2nd 8th 16 11 KevinVan Der Perren 12 Ross Miner USA 6th 3rd 16 13 Richard Dornbush USA 4th 6th 14 14 Artur Gachinski RUS 5th 5th 14 15 Denis Ten KAZ 5th 5th 14 16 Samuel Contesti ITA 8th 4th 12 17 Andrei Rogozine CAN 7th 6th 9 18 Konstantin Menshov RUS 6th 8th 8 FRA 5th 7 19 Florent Amodio 20 Tomas Verner CZE 5th 7 21 Alexander Majorov SWE 6th 5 22 Daisuke Murakami JPN 6th 5 23 Kevin Reynolds CAN 7th 4 24 Sergei Voronov RUS 7th 4 25 Tatsuki MACHIDA JPN 7th 4

GRAND PRIX 8 – 11 December,

Final - Ladies 1 Carolina Kostner 2 Akiko Suzuki 3 Alena Leonova 4 Elizaveta Tuktamisheva 5 Alissa Czisny 6 Mao Asada

ITA JPN RUS RUS USA JPN

Total Points

187.48 179.76 176.42 174.51 156.97 Withdrawn

Total

Final - Pairs Points 1 Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy 2 Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov 3 Yuko Kavaguti / Alexander Smirnov 4 Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang 5 Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford 6 Narumi Takahashi / Mervin Tran

GER RUS RUS CHN CAN JPN

212.26 212.08 187.77 182.54 170.43 164.42

JUNIOR GRAND PRIX 8 – 11 December,

Final - Ladies 1 Julia Lipnitskaia 2 Polina Shelepen 3 Polina Korobeynikova 4 Zijun Li 5 Vanessa Lam 6 Risa Shoji

RUS RUS RUS CHN USA JPN

Total Points

179.73 162.34 151.18 146.53 145.62 134.35

Total

Final - Pairs Points 1 Wenjing Sui / Cong Han 2 Katherine Bobak / Ian Beharry 3 Britney Simpson / Matthew Blackmer 4 Ekaterina Petaikina / Maxim Kurdyukov 5 Xiaoyu Yu / Yang Jin 6 Tatiana Tudvaseva / Sergei Lisiev

CHN CAN USA RUS CHN RUS

160.43 152.65 146.35 146.17 144.71 133.79

Pairs

OF FIGURE SKATING FINAL Quebec City, Canada

2011 Hilton HHonors Skate America

1 Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov RUS 2 Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy GER

Total

Points

Final - Men

1 Patrick Chan 2 Daisuke Takahashi 3 Javier Fernandez 4 Yuzuru Hanyu 5 Jeremy Abbott 6 Michal Brezina

CAN JPN ESP JPN USA CZE

260.30 249.12 247.55 245.82 238.82 218.98

Final - Ice Dance 1 Meryl Davis / Charlie White 2 Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir 3 Nathalie Pechalat / Fabian Bourzat 4 Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje 5 Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani 6 Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev

USA CAN FRA CAN USA RUS

Total Points

188.55 183.34 169.69 166.07 160.55 157.30

OF FIGURE SKATING FINAL Quebec City, Canada

Final - Men 1 Jason Brown 2 Han Yan 3 Joshua Farris 4 Maxim Kovtun 5 Ryuju Hino 6 Keiji Tanaka

USA CHN USA RUS JPN JPN

208.41 205.93 203.98 193.76 172.75 171.14

Final - Ice Dance 1 Victoria Sinitsina / Ruslan Zhiganshin 2 Anna Yanovskaia / Sergei Mozgov 3 Alexandra Stepanova / Ivan Bukin 4 Alexandra Aldridge / Daniel Eaton 5 Anastasia Galyeta / Alexei Shumski 6 Maria Nosulia / Evgen Kholoniuk

RUS RUS RUS USA UKR UKR

Total Points

147.53 136.61 135.17 129.01 115.17 113.79

1st

1st

1st

30 30

1st

1st

30

4 Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang

CHN

2nd

26

5 Narumi Takahashi / Mervin Tran

JPN

4th

6 Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford

CAN

3rd

7 Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch

CAN 3rd

8 Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov

RUS

9 Wenjing Sui / Cong Han

CHN

10 Stefania Berton / Ondrej Hotarek

ITA

11 Amanda Evora / Mark Ladwig

USA

12 Caydee Denney / John Coughlin

USA

13Lubov Iliushechkina / Nodari Maisuradze

RUS

5th

14 Jessica Dube / Sebastien Wolfe

CAN

6th

15 Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov

RUS

2nd

2nd

3rd

5th 2nd

3rd

22 22

2nd

20 20

4th

4th

4th

3rd

20

4th

18

5th

16

6th

12

5th

17 Xiaoyu Yu / Yang Jin

CHN

18 Tiffany Vise / Don Baldwin

USA

19 Huibo Dong / Yiming Wu

CHN

20 Ashley Cain / Joshua Reagan

USA

12

4th

9

5th

7

6th

5

6th

5

2011 Hilton HHonors Skate America

6th 6th

Skate Canada Cup of NHK Trophée Eric Rostelecom International China Trophy Bompard Cup

1 Meryl Davis / Charlie White

USA 1st

2 Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir

CAN

3 Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani

USA

1st

4 Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev RUS 5 Nathalie Pechalat / Fabian Bourzat FRA

22

5th

16 Katarina Gerboldt / Alexander Enbert RUS

Total

Points

1st

Total Points

3 Yuko Kavaguti / Alexander Smirnov RUS

Ice Dance

Skate Canada Cup of NHK Trophée Eric Rostelecom International China Trophy Bompard Cup

2nd

CAN ITA

8 Elena Ilinykh / Nikita Katsalapov

RUS

30 30 28

3rd

3rd

2nd

2nd

3rd

2nd

26 26 26

3rd

22

4th

20

9 Isabella Tobias / Deividas Stagniunas LTU 3rd 4th

Total Points

1st

1st

7 Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte

5

1st

2nd

6 Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje

1st

5

5th

10 Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi

GER

11 Pernelle Carron / Lloyd Jones

FRA

12 Madison Chock / Evan Bates

USA

13 Ekaterina Riazanova / Ilia Tkachenko

RUS 5th

14 Xintong Huang / Xun Zheng

CHN

5th

6th

12

15 Penny Coomes / Nicholas Buckland

GBR

4th

9

16 Lorenza Alessandrini / Simone Vaturi

ITA

17 Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill

CAN 5th

18 Ekaterina Pushkash / Jonathan Guerreiro RUS

4th

18

3rd

4th

6th

5th 4th

5th

18 16 16 16

7 7

6th

5

19 Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue

USA 6th

5

20 Lynn Kriengkrairut / Logan Giulietti-Schmitt

USA

5

21 Xiaoyang Yu / Chen Wang

CHN

6th

6th

5

13

SPEED SKATING

ESSENT ISU WORLD CUP SPEED SKATING – overall standings after three of seven events

14

Ladies 500m Points

Total

Men 500m Points

Total

Total

Points

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

450 420 400 310 293 250 236 196 189 170

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

400 373 348 310 305 280 234 187 171 162

1 Canada 2 Russia 3 Korea 4 Japan 5 Poland

Sang-Hwa Lee Jenny Wolf Jing Yu Thijsje Oenema Maki Tsuji Nao Kodaira Margot Boer Annette Gerritsen Laurine Van Riessen Beixing Wang

KOR GER CHN NED JPN JPN NED NED NED CHN

Tae-Bum Mo Joji Kato Tucker Fredricks Jan Smeekens Pekka Koskela Yuya Oikawa Kang-Seok Lee Gilmore Junio Kyou-Hyuk Lee Stefan Groothuis

KOR JPN USA NED FIN JPN KOR CAN KOR NED

Ladies 1000m Points

Total

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

300 180 166 143 128 124 116 116 114 109

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Christine Nesbitt Marrit Leenstra Margot Boer Yekaterina Shikhova Laurine Van Riessen Karolina Erbanová Jing Yu Thijsje Oenema Ireen Wüst Heather Richardson

CAN NED NED RUS NED CZE CHN NED NED USA

NED NED NED KOR CAN USA GER NED CAN USA

Ladies Grand World Total Points Cup ranking 1 2 3 4 5

260 260 180 165 165 150 126 100 85 68

Ladies 3000/5000m

Total Points

Men 5000/10000m

Total Points

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

300 230 156 140 140 130 120 105 87 85

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

280 210 190 155 152 115 110 110 105 86

CZE GER NED NED CAN GER NED RUS JPN NED

Jorrit Bergsma Sven Kramer Bob de Jong Alexis Contin Håvard Bøkko Moritz Geisreiter Jonathan Kuck Douwe de Vries Ivan Skobrev Jan Blokhuijsen

NED NED NED FRA NOR GER USA NED RUS NED

Christine Nesbitt Ireen Wüst Martina Sábliková Claudia Pechstein Jing Yu

CAN NED CZE GER CHN

60,5 44 41 39 28

Total

Points

Men Team Pursuit 1 2 3 4 5

Netherlands Korea Germany USA Poland

200 140 140 116 96

Men Grand World Total Points Cup ranking

1 2 3 4

Total Ladies 1500m Points Men 1500 m Points 5 1 Christine Nesbitt CAN 280 1 Ivan Skobrev RUS 202 2 Ireen Wüst NED 250 2 Kjeld Nuis NED 190 3 Yekaterina Shikhova RUS 148 3 Denny Morrison CAN 180 4 Claudia Pechstein GER 134 4 Shani Davis USA 180 5 Marrit Leenstra NED 131 5 Håvard Bøkko NOR 172 6 Martina Sábliková CZE 131 6 Stefan Groothuis NED 166 7 Diane Valkenburg NED 109 7 Wouter Olde Heuvel NED 160 8 Monique Angermüller GER 108 8 Mark Tuitert NED 126 9 Linda de Vries NED 96 9 Benjamin Macé FRA 113 10 Yuliya Skokova RUS 95 10 Sjoerd de Vries NED 88

Martina Sábliková Claudia Pechstein Linda de Vries Ireen Wüst Cindy Klassen Stephanie Beckert Diane Valkenburg Yevgenia Dmitrieva Shiho Ishizawa Janneke Ensing

200 150 130 100 95

Total

Men 1000 m Points Kjeld Nuis Stefan Groothuis Sjoerd de Vries Tae-Bum Mo Denny Morrison Shani Davis Samuel Schwarz Pim Schipper Jamie Gregg Brian Hansen

Ladies Team Pursuit

Kjeld Nuis Stefan Groothuis Jorrit Bergsma Tae-Bum Mo Denny Morrison

Wenhao Liang (CHN)

NED NED NED KOR CAN

45 42 33 30,5 30

SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING

ISU WORLD CUP SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING – overall standings after four of six events

Ladies 500m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Martina Valcepina Qiuhong Liu Arianna Fontana Kexin Fan Marianne St-Gelais Jessica Smith Caroline Truchon Nannan Zhao Tatiana Borodulina Yui Sakai

ITA CHN ITA CHN CAN USA CAN CHN RUS JPN

Men 500 m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Olivier Jean Wenhao Liang Jon Eley Charles Hamelin Qiuwen Gong Ho-Suk Lee Francois-Louis Tremblay Robert Seifert Vladimir Grigorev Guillaume Bastille

CAN CHN GBR CAN CHN KOR CAN GER RUS CAN

Total Points

3470 3294 3000 2690 2000 1900 1765 1646 1180 1047

Total Points

3000 2804 2719 2600 2150 1897 1262 1131 1104 934

Ladies 1000m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Yui Sakai Elise Christie Jianrou Li Katherine Reutter Lana Gehring Ha-Ri Cho Ayuko Ito Marianne St-Gelais Veronique Pierron Meng Lin

JPN GBR CHN USA USA KOR JPN CAN FRA CHN

Men 1000m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Yoon-Gy Kwak Jinkyu Noh Charles Hamelin Olivier Jean Michael Gilday J.R. Celski Maxime Chataignier Da Woon Sin Yongjun Yu Yi Ra Seo

Ladies Relay 1 China 2 Japan 3 Republic of Korea 4 Canada 5 Italy 6 Russia 7 USA 8 Netherlands 9 Hungary 10 Bulgaria

Men Relay 1 Republic of Korea 2 Canada 3 China 4 Russia 5 Great Britain 6 Netherlands 7 Japan 8 USA 9 Germany 10 Australia

KOR KOR CAN CAN CAN USA FRA KOR CHN KOR

Total Points

3050 2230 1962 1668 1640 1340 1183 1035 829 828

Total Points

4312 2096 2000 1952 1952 1356 774 648 645 640

Total Points

3640 2408 1948 1836 1672 1480 1378 722 680 344

Total Points

2664 2650 2538 2338 2178 1394 1332 1132 664 468

Ladies 1500 m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ha-Ri Cho Katherine Reutter Eun-Byul Lee Arianna Fontana Lana Gehring Valerie Maltais Han Xiao Emily Scott Olga Belyakova Marie-Eve Drolet

KOR USA KOR ITA USA CAN CHN USA RUS CAN

Men 1500 m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Jinkyu Noh Yoon-Gy Kwak Charles Hamelin Ho-Suk Lee Yuzo Takamido Da Woon Sin Paul Herrmann Weilong Song Sjinkie Knegt Yuma Sakurai

Ladies Team 1 China 2 Canada 3 Republic of Korea 4 USA 5 Japan 6 Italy 7 Russia 8 Netherlands 9 Hungary 10 Bulgaria

Men Team 1 Canada 2 Republic of Korea 3 China 4 Great Britain 5 Russia 6 USA 7 Netherlands 8 Japan 9 Germany 10 Australia

KOR KOR CAN KOR JPN KOR GER CHN NED JPN

Total Points

2952 2800 2537 2289 1312 1312 1106 1077 1075 948

Total Points

4000 2240 1826 1600 1322 1196 1125 1120 959 849

Total Points

3312 2522 2432 2210 1890 1800 1180 866 578 344

Total Points

3600 3600 2088 1628 1594 1352 1246 1194 682 430

15

PAST MASTER SEIKO HASHIMOTO (JPN): BORN 1964 Olympic Winter Games Ladies’ 1500 m Bronze Medal 1992 World Championships Allround Ladies’ Silver 1990, Ladies’ Bronze 1992, World Sprint Championships Ladies’ Bronze 1989 Seiko Hashimoto, named after the Olympic Flame (seika), is a former speed skater and track cycling sprinter from Japan. She represented her native country in four consecutive Winter Olympics, starting in 1984 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and three consecutive Summer Olympics. In her third Winter Olympic appearance, at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, she won the bronze medal in the women’s 1500 meters event.

Hashimoto participated for thirteen consecutive years in the World All-round Championships. She is the first Japanese woman who participated in seven Olympic Games.

Hashimoto is currently the President of the Japan Skating Federation and a member of the House of Councilors from the Liberal Democratic Party.

Hashimoto served as state secretary (senior viceminister) for foreign affairs under the Taro Aso administration (2008-2009).