ISU World No. 52 Jan 2014

INTERNATIONAL SKATING UNION OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER

INSIDE • ISU NEWS • GRAND PRIX REVIEW • WORLD CUP REPORTS • OLYMPIC PREVIEWS • RESULTS

NO 52 JANUARY 2014

When approaching the anniversary of an International Sport Federation it is customary to produce a book which will tell the story and origins through photographs and text and give truly high importance to the concerned sport/s.

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But there is another message that is giving headaches to those empowered to decide. The message I refer to is a kind of input linked to the economic conditions that permit to focus on the relationships with television, sponsors and Media. As a consequence a main question comes to surface: is it preferable to stay with the reasons and facts which the sports are based on, or does an International Sport Federation have to suddenly give more attention to what spectators and public opinion could offer to the sports in question?

Yet again the power of television, sponsors and Media can become decisive, since they are in the position to influence and even convince the entitled bodies to decide to drastically change their view in relation to the policy to be followed.

At the very beginning the query seems easy to resolve, but there is always a terrific risk, i.e. that even by accepting the suggestions of the mentioned three entities, the final result would not substantially improve the economic situation and subsequently the sports would have been changed for almost nothing.

Behind the mentioned risk there is also the merit and the reputation of a few majorly recognizable and very commercial sport activities. They are able to attract the interest of the big commercial entities and this consequently results in the fact that famous sports form an obstacle to other sports trying to emerge. The dilemma we present today regretfully concerns many International Federations; but on the other hand for a sport entity to adequately conduct an activity that is also strongly endorsed by television, sponsors and Media, needs to count on sufficient means to sustain it. Frankly speaking, more money.

What might be the future? Nobody knows. Changes are necessary not for the sake of changing, but because sport, like everything in life, needs to adapt to remain in line with today’s fast moving world and public expectations.

The conclusion is that the individuals entitled to decide are progressively pushed by the three entities and are also recommended to adopt changes to remain in line with the normal development of sport life. In support of the traditional basis of any sport there is one element that is no longer so much available on the market: passion. The problem is probably linked to the fact that years ago passion permitted to achieve levels that were satisfactory for individual ambitions. At present there are many means that can produce good reasons to put passion a bit aside.

However this conclusion is not strong enough to kill the tradition of a sport and we do believe that each International Sport Federation should protect as much as possible the true value of its sport/s, while of course amending and updating certain rules and procedures, but without exaggeration.

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.

Editorial board : Selina Vanier, Rodney Lajoie.

Designed by : moserdesign.ch Front cover photograph : Thomas Bach (GER) IOC President © IOC/L. Perenyi Photography : © Getty Images, © AFP

ISU COUNCIL

The ISU Council met on October 11-13, 2013 in Paris (FRA) and accepted the provisional ISU Membership of Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. It was decided to suspend the ISU Membership of the Skating Federation of Azerbaijan Republic, Brazilian Ice Sports Federation, Georgian Figure Skating Federation, Union Luxembourgeoise de Patinage de Vitesse, Federacion Mexicana de Patinaje Sobre Hielo y Deportes de Invierno, A.C. and the Skating Association of Montenegro. Due to the change of dates of the 2nd Winter Youth Olympic Games 2016 in Lillehammer (NOR), it was agreed to change the date of the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships 2016 in Changchun (CHN), to March 11-13, 2016. The Council also accepted a request from the Chinese Taipei Skating Union to change the date of the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2016 to February 23 - 28, 2016.

A number of ISU Championships 2016 were provisionally allotted and the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating – Calendar Season 2014/15 was approved.

The Council acknowledged that besides the continued media operations, a new ISU website will be launched and the 56th Ordinary ISU Congress 2016 was tentatively allotted to be held in Dubrovnik (CRO) on June 6-10, 2016.

It was agreed to pursue for a 2nd season the ISU Development Trophy events that are planned to be held at different regions/venues and dates. Finally Meng Wang’s (CHN) new World Record of 42.597 during the 500 meters race at the Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track event in Dresden (GER) on February 10, 2013 was homologated.

The Council met again in Milano on December 16-17, 2013 and approved a revised calendar schedule for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating season 2014/15, reinstated the The Union Luxembourgeoise de Patinage de Vitesse (ULPV) as a full Speed Skating ISU Member and clarified the possibility of interclub competitions of Ballet on ice or Theater on ice or other recreational ice skating competitions.

The Council agreed to meet again, on February 14, February 17 and February 20, 2014 in Sochi (RUS), on June 8 & June 14-15, 2014 in Dublin (IR) and finally on October 17-19, 2014 in Geneva (CH).

For more information on the decisions of the Council see ISU Communications 1826 and 1842.

SPORTS DIRECTORATE

The Sports Directorate is busy with the deadlines for proposals and motions for the

ISU NEWS next ISU Congress 2014. The Sport Directorate Chair and Speed Skating Sport Director were appointed as consultants to the architect and planning company responsible for the construction of the Figure Skating/Short Track and Speed Skating venues in PyeongChang (CHN) for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Therefore they travelled to South Korea twice in order to attend meetings that were deemed very successful and more trips are planned in the near future.

The ISU Junior and Senior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series and Final, the Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating and Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track series have dominated the pre-Olympic period so far. In the New Year the ISU will focus on the Championships and a strategy to encourage more media coverage and increase public interest is currently been developed in cooperation with the ISU Council.

Many high profile skaters will retire from competitive skating after the Olympic Games 2014 which makes the task a priority.

ISU TECHNICAL COMMITTEES Single and Pair Skating

The Single & Pair Skating Technical Committee (SPTC) members served as Referees and Technical Controllers at various Grand Prix Events and International Competitions.

Together with the Official Assessment Commission (OAC) the SPTC evaluated the judging at Junior and Senior Grand Prix Events and a number of Assessment letters were issued.

The Committee members studied numerous Referees and Technical Controllers Reports for the competitions of the ongoing season. A lot of time was devoted to the preparation of the Committee’s proposals for changes in Special Regulations and Technical Rules for the next ISU Congress. Many of these proposals were prepared jointly with the IDTC with the goal to unify rules and procedures for Singles/Pairs and Ice Dance wherever possible.

Ice Dance

Members of the Ice Dance Technical Committee (IDTC) participated as Referees and Technical Panel participants in Grand Prix Events in addition to International Competitions. Many Referee and Technical Controller Reports have been received as well as OAC Reports which were reviewed. Much work was done in preparing proposals for the ISU Congress 2014 which were submitted in late November. Proposals from Members were reviewed during this process. Harmonization of Regulations continues with these proposals to eliminate repetition and clarify Rules.

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New ISU Website

If accepted, a new Section of the Regulations will contain common competition Regulations for Singles & Pairs and Ice Dance.

with more than 120 participants from 17 ISU Members.

Synchronized Skating

The Short Track Technical Committee (STTC) was heavily involved in the Samsung ISU World Cups especially the last two that were qualifying events for the upcoming Olympic Games. Following the event the ISU Communication announcing the entries for the Games was published. The STTC is pleased that the number of nations that are qualified has increased from 19 countries from the 2010 Olympics to 25 countries for the Sochi Games.

The STTC also met during the last World Cup in Kolomna (RUS) to discuss the World Cup schedule for seasons 2014/15 to 2017/18.

The main point of discussion however was the preparation of the Proposals for the 2014 ISU Congress. An estimated 20 to 30 Proposals for the Special Regulations and Technical Rules will be submitted.

The Synchronized Skating Technical Committee (SySTC) organized their second Championships Officials Seminar and Technical Update Seminar last November in Finland. This brought together the Judging and Technical Officials for a practical seminar which was well received by participants. The first international events of the season took place in Belgium and will continue with the Junior World Challenge Cup in Neuchâtel (SUI) next February followed by the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships in April in Courmayeur (ITA). The SySTC has also been busy with the preparations of the proposals to be presented to Members at the 2014 Congress.

Speed Skating

The bi-annual ISU Starters’ course was successfully organized on October 4-6 in conjunction with an International Competition at the Max Aicher Arena in Inzell (GER). 39 ISU and International Starters from 15 ISU Members took part. The Speed Skating Technical Committee held a meeting on this occasion, with an agenda focused on planning for the upcoming ISU Events and preparations for the 2014 ISU Congress agenda. The fight for Olympic quota places between almost 300 participating skaters representing 29 different ISU Members was very competitive. At the conclusion of the qualification process, 23 countries qualified quota places with 3 substitute countries. The World Cup circuit will resume after the Olympic Winter Games and the ISU Junior World Cup series 2013-14 started with the European regional event in Zakopane (POL) in December

Short Track

THOMAS BACH

Last September former Fencing Olympic Champion Thomas Bach (GER) was elected to an eight year term as the ninth President of the IOC at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Dr. Thomas Bach pledged to lead the IOC at best and according to his motto “unity in diversity”.

ISU WEBSITE

The new ISU website launched in December 2013. The new website offers quick and easy access to essential information on Figure Skating and Speed Skating disciplines and boasts a modern, responsive and colorful design.

ISU WEBSITE : WWW.ISU.ORG

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ISU GRAND PRIX

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series 2013/14 was a build-up towards the ISU Championships and the Olympic Winter Games.

NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN) was event number four followed by Trophée Eric Bompard in Paris (FRA) and the final spots were decided at Rostelecom Cup in Moscow (RUS) end of November.

30 Men, 31 Ladies, 28 Pairs and 30 Ice Dance couples representing 18 countries from Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan competed in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2013/14. The series started in October with Hilton HHonors Skate America in Detroit (USA) followed by Skate Canada International in St. John (CAN) and Lexus Cup of China in Beijing (CHN).

Several outstanding performances highlighted the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series in the Olympic season. World Champion Patrick Chan (CAN) set new highest scores with 98.52 points in the Short Program (until the Grand Prix Final), 196.75 points in the Free Skating and 295.27 points total score (all at Trophée Bompard). World Champions Tatiana

Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (RUS) posted new highest scores as well at Skate America: 83.05 points for the Short Program, 154.66 points for the Free Skating and 237.71 points overall.

World Champions Meryl Davis / Charlie White (USA) earned a new personal best score in the Free Dance at NHK Trophy with 112.95 points and Daisuke Takahashi improved his personal best in the Short Program at NHK Trophy with 95.55 points.

Newcomers Anna Pogorilaya (RUS) and Han Yan (CHN) stole the spotlight by winning the very first senior-level Grand Prix events of their career. Stefania Berton/Ondrej Hotarek became the first Italian pair skaters to win a Grand Prix event when they claimed gold at Skate Canada.

The Grand Prix season cumulated in December with the combined ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Fukuoka (JPN). The top six skaters and couples (senior and junior) advanced to the Final. The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final is the first and only event where most of the World’s current top skaters met before the Olympic Winter Games.

Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) earned two silver medals at Skate Canada and Trophee Bompard and went on to triumph at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. The now 19 year old set a new highest score in the Short Program with 99.84 points and racked up a total of 293.25 points, a personal best total score.

Chan, who won his two Grand Prix events and was the top qualifier, had to settle for silver in the Final. He made errors in the Short Program, but came back strong in the Free Skating. Nobunari Oda (JPN) was the first substitute for the Final after picking up a silver and a bronze medal on the circuit. The 26 year old replaced defending Grand Prix Final Champion Daiskue Takahashi (JPN) as the latter withdrew due to injury and claimed the bronze in Fukuoka. Tatsuki Machida (JPN) advanced with two gold medals from the Grand Prix series to the Final where he placed fourth ahead of first-time qualifiers Maxim Kovtun (RUS) and Han Yan (CHN). Kovtun and Yan made it to the Final in their debut on the senior Grand Prix circuit. Adam Rippon (USA) and Jason Brown (USA) were also substitutes for the Final with good results from the circuit.

Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy (GER)

World silver medalist Mao Asada (JPN) added a fourth Grand Prix Final title to her impres-

FIGURE SKATING sive resume. The 23 year old had won her two Grand Prix events as well. Julia Lipnitskaia (RUS), who struck gold in her two Grand Prix events as well, went on to take the silver medal in her debut at the Grand Prix Final.

2012 Grand Prix Final silver medalist Ashley Wagner (USA) returned with a silver and a gold medal to the Final and this time earned the bronze. 2013 World Junior Champion Elena Radionova (RUS) collected a silver and a bronze medal on her way to Fukuoka and finished fourth. Adelina Sotnikova (RUS) came with a silver and a bronze as well to Japan and placed fifth ahead of Anna Pogorilaya (RUS), who had booked her ticket with a victory and a bronze medal. All Russian Ladies competed in their first Grand Prix Final. The substitutes for the Final were Akiko Suzuki (JPN), Carolina Kostner (ITA) and Gracie Gold (USA).

Four-time World Champions Aliona Savchenko/ Robin Szolkowy (GER) won their two Grand Prix events in Beijing and Moscow and went on to beat reigning World Champions Volosozhar/ Trankov (RUS) for the gold in Fukuoka.

Volosozhar/Trankov had topped the Grand Prix standings following their two victories on the circuit. Qing Pang/Jian Tong (CHN) came with a gold and a silver medal to Fukuoka and skated to the bronze medal in the Final. Cheng Peng/ Hao Zhang (CHN) qualified with a silver and a bronze medal for their first Grand Prix Final as a team and placed fourth. World bronze medalists Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (CAN) and

2014 ISU CHAMPIONSHIPS FIGURE SKATING European Championships Venue: Budapest (HUN) Dates: January 13 - 19 2013 European Champions Ladies: Carolina Kostner (ITA) Men: Javier Fernandez (ESP) Pairs: Tatiana Volosozhar/ Maxim Trankov (RUS) Ice Dance: Ekaterina Bobrova/ Dmitri Soloviev (RUS) Four Continents Championships Venue: Taipei City (TPE) Dates: January 20 – 26

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Julia Lipnitskaia (RUS)

2013 Four Continents Champions Ladies: Mao Asada (JPN) Men: Kevin Reynolds (CAN) Pairs: Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (CAN) Ice Dance: Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) World Junior Championships Venue: Sofia (BUL) Dates: March 10 - 16 2013 World Junior Champions Ladies: Elena Radionova (RUS) Men: Joshua Farris (USA) Pairs: Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier (USA) Ice Dance: Alexandra Stepanova /Ivan Bukin (RUS) ISU World Figure Skating Championships Venue: Saitama (JPN) Dates: March 24 - 30

2013 World Champions Ladies: Yuna Kim (KOR) Men: Patrick Chan (CAN) Pairs: Tatiana Volosozhar/ Maxim Trankov (RUS) Ice Dance: Meryl Davis/ Charlie White (USA) Synchronized Skating Junior World Challenge Cup Venue: Neuchatel (SUI) Dates: March 6 - 8 World Synchronized Skating Championships Venue: Courmayeur (ITA) Dates: April 4 - 5 2013 World Champions Team: Team Finland 1

Proklova (RUS) and Angela Wang (USA) finished fifth and sixth. Wang had replaced Karen Chen (USA), who dropped out because of injury.

Russian pairs dominated on the circuit.

However, Xiaoyu Yu/Yang Jin (CHN) were the only pair to have taken gold in two events and also dominated in the Final. Last year’s Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalists Maria Vigalova/Egor Zakroev (RUS) this time took the silver while defending Junior Grand Prix Final Champions Lina Fedorova/Maxim Miroshkin (RUS) earned the bronze this time.

Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov (RUS), Vasilisa Davankova/Andrei Deputat (RUS) and Kamilla Gainetdinova/Ivan Bich (RUS) were ranked fourth to sixth in Fukuoka.

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Nobunari Oda (JPN)

Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch (CAN) had silver and bronze medals from the circuit as well and came fifth and sixth. The substitutes for the Final were Wenjing Sui/ Cong Han (CHN), Stefania Berton / Ondrej Hotarek (ITA) and Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov (RUS).

World Champions Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) edged out World silver medalists Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) for their fifth ISU Grand Prix Final gold medal by 1.35 points.

Both teams had qualified with two gold medals from their two events. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA) advanced with a gold and a bronze medal to the Final and claimed another bronze. Ekaterina Bobrova/ Dmitri Soloviev (RUS) who had picked up a gold and a silver medal en route to Fukuoka finished fourth ahead of Kaitlyn Weaver/ Andrew Poje (CAN) and Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA). All couples had been to the Final before. The substitutes were Elena Ilinykh/ Nikita Katsalapov (RUS), Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) and Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA).

ISU JUNIOR GRAND PRIX

The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating entered its 17th season in 2013. Overall 343 skaters/couples (143 Ladies, 110 Men, 26 Pairs, 64 Ice Dance couples) from 55 ISU Members participated in the seven events of the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating

series. The series started in late August in Riga (LAT) and continued in Mexico City (MEX), Kosice (SVK), Gdansk (POL), Minsk (BLR), Ostrava (CZE) and Tallinn (EST). Michael Christian Martinez (PHI) earned the first Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating medal for his country when he claimed the bronze in Tallinn.

Viewers all over the world were able to follow the performances in the Junior Grand Prix events and the Junior Final via internet.

Russia had a strong showing in the Junior Final by sweeping the Ladies podium and claiming a total of seven medals.

Nathan Chen (USA), Keiji Tanaka (JPN) and Boyang Jin (CHN) were the top qualifiers in the Men’s after winning their two events. Jin went on to win the Final, pulling up from fifth place following the Short Program. He landed three quadruple jumps in the Free Skating.

Adian Pitkeev (RUS) skated to the silver medal in Fukuoka and the bronze went to Chen.

Tanaka, who led after the Short Program, slipped to fourth. Alexander Petrov (RUS) and Ryuju Hino (JPN) were ranked fifth and sixth.

Chen and the two Russian skaters competed in their first Final.

Maria Sotskova (RUS) led the Russian sweep in the Ladies and was joined by Serafima Sakhanovich and Evgenia Medvedeva on the podium. Polina Edmunds (USA) who had won her two Junior Grand Prix events like Medvedeva came fourth. Alexandra

In the Ice Dance event, top qualifiers Anna Yanovskaya/Sergei Mozgov (RUS) went on to claim the title in Fukuoka. Kaitlin Hawayek Jean-Luc Baker (USA), who had also won their two JGP events, took the silver in the Final while Lorraine McNamara/Quinn Carpenter (USA) collected the bronze medal.

Betina Popova/Yuri Vlasenko (RUS), Alexandra Nazarova/Maxim Nikitin (UKR) and Rachel Parsons/Michael Parsons (USA) finished fourth to sixth. Only Yanovskaya/Mozgov had competed in the Final before in the past two seasons and were silver medalists in the 2011/12 season.

OLYMPIC PREVIEW

30 Men, 30 Ladies, 20 Pairs and 24 Ice Dance couples have qualified for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi (RUS), February 5 to 23.

Team Event

For the first time in history, a Figure Skating Team event has been included into the Olympic program. The following ten ISU Members have qualified: Canada, Russia, USA, Japan, Italy, France, China, Germany, Ukraine and Great Britain. To be eligible for the team event, the ISU member had to qualify a minimum of three entries for the individual events. Qualified teams can use the “additional athlete quota” to complete their teams. All teams will compete with one entry per discipline in the Short Program/Short Dance. The top five teams will advance to the Free Skating/Free Dance. The Figure Skating competition at the Olympic Winter Games starts with the Team event.

FIGURE SKATING Individual Events

After a strong start into the season, threetime World Champion Patrick Chan (CAN) is a hot favorite for Sochi. The Canadian also holds the highest seasons best (and personal best) total score of 295.27 points, set this Fall.

Chan has to expect stiff competition from the Japanese skaters like Yuzuru Hanyu and Daisuke Takahashi (provided they are selected for the Olympic team). Hanyu set a new record score in the Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and went on to win the event and has a seasons best total score of 293.25 points. Takahashi dropped out of the Grand Prix Final due to injury, but has the third-highest seasons best with 268.31 points.

Tatsuki Machida is another strong contender for the Japanese Olympic team and scored a seasons best of 265.38 points. Reigning World silver medalist Denis Ten (KAZ) was handicapped by injury earlier this season, but is on the comeback trail and shouldn’t be overlooked. Other contenders to watch out for are

Nathalie Pechalat / Fabian Bourzat (FRA)

European Champion Javier Fernandez (ESP) and Han Yan (CHN). Veterans such as three-time Olympic medalist Evgeni Plushenko (RUS) and former World Champion Brian Joubert (FRA) could be good for a surprise. They didn’t compete in the Grand Prix series. 2010 Olympic Champion Evan Lysacek (USA) announced that he had to give up his comeback plans due to a hip injury.

2010 Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada started her quest for Olympic gold with victories in the Grand Prix series and Grand Prix Final. The 23 year old also scored the highest seasons best with 207.59 points.

Asada needs to watch out for reigning World and Olympic Champion Yuna Kim (KOR), who withdrew from the Grand Prix Series because of injury but returned to competition in December. Other top contenders include World silver medalist Carolina Kostner (ITA/ seasons best 190.12 points), ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalist Ashley Wagner (USA /

seasons best 194.37 points), provided she qualifies at U.S. Nationals, and two Russian Ladies. At the time of writing, the most likely candidates were ISU Grand Prix Final silver medalist Julia Lipnitskaia (seasons best 198.23 points) and Adelina Sotnikova (seasons best 189.81 points).

The Pairs competition shapes up as an exciting duel between World Champions Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (RUS) and current World silver medalists Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (GER). These two teams dominated the ISU Grand Prix of Series.

The Russians hold the highest total score with 237.71 points, but the Germans beat them at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and posted a new personal best total score of 227.03 points. Several other couples are ready to challenge for the Olympic podium: 2010 Olympic silver medalists Qing Pang/ Jian Tong (CHN/ seasons best 213.98 points), 2013 World bronze medalists Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (CAN/seasons best 193.38 points), 2013 Four Continents silver medalists Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch (CAN/seasons best 208.45 points) and possibly Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov (RUS/ seasons best 201.61 points).

In the Ice Dance event, reigning World Champions and Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) and current World silver medalists and Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) are expected to battle it out for gold and silver in Sochi. These two couples have dominated Ice Dance in the past Olympic cycle. Davis/White won their fifth consecutive Grand Prix Final title in December and earned a personal best and highest total score of 191.35 points.

Virtue/Moir are not far behind with a personal best of 190.00 points. Waiting in the wings for their chance to step on to the podium in Sochi are several teams: ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalists Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA/seasons best 171.08 points), 2013 World bronze medalists Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev (RUS/seasons best 168.32 points), Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje (CAN/seasons best 175.23 points), 2013 European silver medalists Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov (RUS/seasons best 171.89 points) and 2013 European bronze medalists Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA/seasons best 168.49 points).

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SPEED SKATING

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The Essent ISU World Cup season for 2013/14 consists of six events of which four took place in 2013. All competitions are for sprinters and allround skaters. The first in the series took place in Calgary (CAN) followed by Salt Lake City (USA). In December races continued in Astana (KAZ) and Berlin (GER).

last race where Lee took rest and currently has 510 points, Heather Richardson (USA) with three podium finishes stands with 490 points and with 473 points follows Jenny Wolf (GER).

After four silver medals Wolf fell in Berlin which cost her the second place in the ranking. Beixing Wang (CHN) has been strong too, reaching the podium five times but missed it in Astana.

In the Ladies 500 m Olympic champion Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR) leads with 700 points.

She won all 500 m races she competed in, improving the world record in Calgary from 36.80 to 36.74 and again in Salt Lake City to 36.57 and further to 36.36. She also set new track records in Astana and Berlin. Behind her, the battle is between Olga Fatkulina (RUS) who has four podium finishes and won the

Heather Richardson and Brittany Bowe, both from the USA lead the 1000 m. In Salt Lake City Bowe won in a new world record time of 1:12.58, with Richardson as runner up, the other three wins went to Richardson, who now leads with 380 points. Bowe follows with 330, finishing third in Calgary and being runnerup twice. Third is Fatkulina with 250 points, she completed the podium in Astana and

Berlin, ahead of Lotte van Beek (NED), who was second in Calgary. Ireen Wüst (NED) reached the podium in Salt Lake City. Christine Nesbitt (CAN) who dominated the 1000 m and 1500 m for a long time is absent from the top place due to physical problems this year.

Wüst leads the 1500 m with 280 points.

She lost the first race to Van Beek and won both Salt Lake City and Berlin and did not compete in Astana. Van Beek is third in the ranking with 230 points, adding a fourth and third place to her victory. In Astana, Bowe won and took silver in the second World Cup and with 244 points she ranks second. Julia Skokova (RUS) got silver in Astana and is ranked fourth with 178. Thanks to her first individual medal Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus (POL) follows with 161 points (she finished second in Berlin). There were third place finishes from Martina Sáblíková (CZE), Richardson and Brittany Schussler (CAN).

In the long distance, Sáblíková leads with 380 points. She won three races and was second in the first 3000 m race, where Claudia Pechstein (GER) won, who finished second every other time. Pechstein has 340 points.

There were bronze medals for the Dutch ladies Wüst (twice), Antoinette de Jong and Yvonne Nauta. De Jong skated a new junior record twice, bringing it to 4:00.56 in Calgary and to 3:59.49 in Salt Lake City. She is the most consistent of the rest and is ranked third with 180 points.

The strongest Pursuit Team has been the Dutch, winning all three races gathering 300 points. Poland follows with 195 then Canada with 190 and Japan with 180.

Shani Davis (USA)

So far eight 500 m races were won by seven different skaters. Keiichiro Nagashima (JPN) won twice and Gilmore Junio (CAN) and Joji Kato (JPN) shared the victory in the first race in Salt Lake City. The highest ranked is Tae-Bum Mo (KOR) with 527 points. He won the last race and has four second place finishes and one third place finish. Behind him Michel Mulder (NED) has 458 points he won the prelast race and had two other podium finishes.

Nagashima reached the podium three times and ranks third with 414. Besides his win in Salt Lake City, Kato was runner-up in the second race and stands in fourth with 406.

Ronald Mulder (NED) finished four times on

SPEED SKATING 250. Third with 230 is Seung-Hoon Lee (KOR), with third place finishes in Calgary and Berlin.

In the 10,000 m Alexis Contin (FRA) and Patrick Beckert (GER) completed the podium, Kramer’s countrymen Bob de Jong and Jan Blokhuijsen took the remaining silver medals.

In the Team Pursuit, the Netherlands won all races and lead with 300 points; Korea follows with 220 after two third places and one second, then the USA with 190 after two second places. In Berlin the Polish team completes the podium.

Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR)

the podium but skipped Berlin. The other two wins were for Artyom Kuznetsov (RUS) and Tucker Fredricks (USA). The other medalists are Dmitry Lobkov (RUS) and Jamie Gregg (CAN).

Shani Davis (USA) won three of the four 1000 m races and leads with 370 after finishing in third position in Berlin. Mo won that race, but is only fourth overall with 173 points.

In the first two races, Kjeld Nuis (NED) was second but did not compete in the last two races and neither did Brian Hansen (USA), who completed the podium in the first two races. Second in the ranking is Michel Mulder with 232 points who ended with a third and second place finish. World Champion Denis Kuzin (KAZ) did not reach the podium but gathered 191 points nevertheless. A surprise was the second place in Astana, where Mirko Giacomo Nenzi (ITA) won the first World Cup medal for an Italian man in a sprint distance.

Salt Lake City 1500 m winner Shani Davis also leads the rankings with 266 points. Koen Verweij (NED) won in Calgary and was on the podium twice and is ranked second with 250 points. Denis Yuskov (RUS) is third with 244. He won in Astana and was third in Berlin. Zbigniew Bródka (POL) is fourth in the ranking and also made the podium twice. Inline world champion Joey Mantia (USA) won his first race on ice in Berlin. Kjeld Nuis and Brian Hansen took the other two podium places.

The long distance skaters had three 5000 m and one 10,000 m races. The only race that Olympic champion Sven Kramer (NED) did not win was the 5000 m in Berlin, as he was absent. Jorrit Bergsma (NED) won there, he also made the podium in the other 5000 m races.

Kramer leads with 300 points, Bergsma has

2014 ISU CHAMPIONSHIPS SPEED SKATING European Championships Venue: Hamar (NOR) Dates: January 11 - 12 2013 European Champions Ladies: Ireen Wüst (NED) Men: Sven Kramer (NED)

For the third time overall Grand World Cup points can be earned in all individual events.

10 points for a victory, 8 for second place, and then 7, 6, 5 and half points for the 500 m.

The leader in the Ladies is Richardson with 69.5 points, followed by her teammate Bowe with 51 and Wüst with 49 points. Shani Davis leads the Men’s leader board with 60 points.

Davis has a huge advantage on Michel Mulder who follows with 38 points and Verweij with 35.

In 2014 after the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, there is one remaining Essent ISU World Cup that will take place in Inzell (GER) before the series returns to Heerenveen for the World Cup Final, in March.

2013 World Junior Champions Ladies: Miho Takagi (JPN) 500 meters: Hyun-Yung Kim (KOR) 1000 meters: Vanessa Bittner (AUT) 1500 meters: Miho Takagi (JPN) 3000 meters: Antoinette de Jong (NED) Team Pursuit Ladies: Japan Men: Jeong-Su Seo (KOR)

World Sprint Championships Venue: Nagano (JPN) Dates: January 18 - 19

500 meters: Tsubasa Hasegawa (KOR) 1000 meters: Joon Hong Im (KOR) 1500 meters: Jeong-Su Seo (KOR) 5000 meters: Emery Lehman (USA) Team Pursuit Men: Italy

2013 World Sprint Champions Ladies: Heather Richardson (USA) Men: Michel Mulder (NED)

World Allround Championships Venue: Heerenveen (NED) Dates: March 22 - 23

World Junior Championships Venue: Bjugn (NOR) Dates: March 7 - 9

2013 World Allround Champions Ladies: Ireen Wüst (NED) Men: Sven Kramer (NED)

9

OLYMPIC PREVIEW

With six Ladies’ and six Men’s Speed Skating Events at the Olympic Winter Games, Speed Skating is one of the most medaled Olympic winter sports, but the race to the podium is high-paced and a hundredth of a second can separate gold from silver.

10

In the Ladies 500 m, reigning Olympic Champion and two time World Champion SangHwa Lee (KOR) dominates the distance thus far by winning all the fall World Cup races.

However other medal contenders are reigning bronze medalist Olga Fatkulina (RUS), Heather Richardson (USA) who is the current World Sprint gold medalist, Jenny Wolf (GER) (reigning Olympic silver medalist and four times World Champion) and Beixing Wang (CHN) (reigning Olympic bronze medalist and reigning silver medalist).

The 2010 1000 m Olympic Champion Christine Nesbitt (CAN) has not had a good season so far as she is currently 19th in the World Cup rankings. However Heather Richardson (USA) (2011 bronze medalist) is a strong contender for an Olympic medal along with team mate Britanny Bowe. Olga Fatkulina (RUS) (reigning World Champion), Lotte van Beek (NED), Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR) and Margot Boer (NED) also have a fair chance to finish on the Olympic podium.

In the 1500 m, Dutch ladies Ireen Wüst (reigning Olympic Champion, 2006 Olympic Bronze medalist and 3 times World Champion) and Lotte van Beek (reigning World silver medalist) are strong contenders for the Olympic podium, however Brittany Bowe (USA) will not make the task easy for them. Yuliya Skokova (RUS), Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus (POL) also had podium finishes this season.

In the past years, Martina Sáblíková (CZE) has been the strongest in the Ladies Olympic 3000 m and 5000 m distances. She is facing tough competition this year from veteran Claudia Pechstein (GER) and Ireen Wüst (NED) who hasn’t had a good season yet. Antoinette de Jong (NED) on the other hand is proving to be a strong contender and Katarzyna BachledaCurus (POL) should not be neglected either.

For the Team Pursuit the ladies from the Netherlands, Poland, Canada, Japan, Korea and Russia, USA and Norway have qualified (China, Italy and Germany are reserve).

Arianna Fontana (ITA)

In the Men’s 500 m the competition is wide open. Olympic Champion Tae-Bum Mo (KOR) finished in the fastest time this season so far with 34,28. However twin brothers Michel and Ronald Mulder (NED), Keiichiro Nagashima (JPN), Joji Kato (JPN), Artyom Kuznetsov (RUS) and Tucker Fredricks (USA) are not far behind Mo and will give it their all to finish on the podium.

Reigning Olympic Champion Shani Davis (USA) dominated the Men’s 1000 m this season and intends to renew his title. Michel Mulder, Denis Kuzin (KAZ), Tae-Bum Mo, Kjeld Nuis (NED) and Denny Morrison (CAN) are also in decent form and will battle it out during the Olympics for a medal.

On the 1500 m, the favorites resemble those in the 1000 m. Shani Davis has had two podium finishes this season, but Koen Verweij (NED) has had three and did not compete in one competition which makes him a strong contender. Denis Yuskov (RUS), Zbigniew Bródka (POL) and Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) have had a decent season and could give the others a run for their money.

In the longer distances World Cup leader Sven Kramer has been superior in the past years and he intends to win both 5000 and 10,000 m. Team mate Jorrit Bergsma and Seung-Hoon Lee (KOR) will also be ones to watch. Over the last season Inline World Champion Bart Swings (BEL) has proved that he can be a strong contender and Frenchman Alexis Contin got off to a good start this season too.

2014 ISU CHAMPIONSHIPS SHORT TRACK European Championships Venue: Dresden (GER) Dates: January 17 - 19 2013 European Champions Ladies: Arianna Fontana (ITA) Men: Freek Van der Wart (NED) World Junior Championships Venue: Erzurum (TUR) Dates: March 7 - 9 2013 World Junior Champions Ladies: Do Hee Noh (KOR) Men: Se Yeong Park (KOR) World Championships Venue: Montreal (CAN) Dates: March 14 - 16 2013 World Champions Ladies: Meng Wang (CHN) 500 meters: Meng Wang (CHN) 1000 meters: Meng Wang (CHN) 1500 meters: Seung-Hi Park (KOR) Ladies Relay: China Men: Da Woon Sin (KOR) 500 meters: Wenhao Liang (CHN) 1000 meters: Da Woon Sin (KOR) 1500 meters: Da Woon Sin (KOR) Men Relay: Canada

SPEED SKATING In the Team Pursuit, the following eight teams qualified Netherlands, Korea, USA, Norway, Poland, Canada, France, Russia (as the Olympic Winter Games host nation) (Germany, Italy and Belgium are reserves).

SHORT TRACK The 2013/14 Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track season concluded in November after four exciting events across Asia, and Europe.

At each competition the Men and Ladies races were held over 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 3000 m Ladies’ Relay and 5000 m Men’s Relay. The Asian competitions were held in Shanghai (CHN) and Seoul (KOR) in September and October. Short Trackers then competed in Europe for the second segment of the series in Torino (ITA) and Kolomna (RUS) in November. The last two Events were Olympic Qualifying Competitions, crucial for many athletes vying for Olympic berth, while others were trying to get the maximum quota for their respective countries.

Meng Wang of China was the queen of the 500 m distance, winning three out of four events of the season and banking the

Front Dajing Wu (CHN) & back Freek van der Wart (NED)

maximum 30000 points. Teammate Kexin Fan finished second with one gold, one bronze and two silver medals totaling 26000. Italian skater Arianna Fontana finished in overall third place in both the 500 m and 1000 m distances. Suk Hee Shim from Korea clinched the 1000 m and 1500 m Ladies titles with 30000 points. Alang Kim also from Korea finished her World Cup season in overall second place in both the 1000 m and 1500 m. Yang Zhou (CHN) got the third place in the Ladies 1500 m distance.

Finally in the Ladies Relay Korea dominated the season with three gold medals and a silver and closely behind is China with three silver and a gold. Italy finished third with three bronze medals.

In the Men’s races Charles Hamelin (CAN) got two top standings in the 1000 m and 1500 m and is second in the 500 m. Victor An (RUS) finished in the top three of each distance.

He is overall first in the 500 m, second in the 1000 m and third in the 1500 m. Vladimir Grigorev (RUS) is third in the 500 m, Niels Kerstholt (NED) is third in the 1000 m and finally Han-Bin Lee (KOR) is second in the 1500 m. In the Men’s Relay USA and Canada both got two gold medals, however USA also got a silver medal while Canada got a bronze

medal. Therefore Team USA tops the World Cup Standings, followed by Canada then Russia.

The European skaters will have an opportunity to fine tune their preparation for the Olympic Winter Games at the European Short Track Speed Skating Championships on January 17-19 in Dresden, Germany.

OLYMPIC PREVIEW

The Iceberg Skating Palace will host, among other events, eight Olympic Short Track competitions; the Men’s and Ladies’ 1500 m, 1000 m and 500 m as well as the Men’s 5000 m Relay and the Ladies’ 3000 m Relay.

Unlike ISU Championships the Olympic format focuses exclusively on single distances. Only NOC’s which qualified for the Relay competitions can enter the maximum number of 5 skaters in the Olympic Winter Games. Team Korea, China, Italy, Canada, Russia, Netherlands, Japan and Hungary qualified for the Ladies Relay while on the men’s side Russia, Canada, USA, Netherlands, Korea, Italy, China and Kazakhstan are qualified for the Olympics. 25 Members at the time of print have earned entry spots in the ladies and men’s events respectively.

11

FIGURE SKATING Grand Prix of Figure Skating – overall standings after six of six events

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 26 27

Mao Asada Julia Lipnitskaia Ashley Wagner Anna Pogorilaya Adelina Sotnikova Elena Radionova Akiko Suzuki Carolina Kostner Gracie Gold Elizaveta Tuktamysheva Samantha Cesario Mirai Nagasu Satoko Miyahara Kanako Murakami Christina Gao Mae Berenice Meite Amelie Lacoste Nikol Gosviani Valentina Marchei Agnes Zawadzki Viktoria Helgesson Haruka Imai Courtney Hicks Natalia Popova Alena Leonova Kexin Zhang Veronik Mallet

JPN RUS USA RUS RUS RUS JPN ITA USA RUS USA USA JPN JPN USA FRA CAN RUS ITA USA SWE JPN USA UKR RUS CHN CAN

Men

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 26 27

Patrick Chan Tatsuki Machida Yuzuru Hanyu Maxim Kovtun Daisuke Takahashi Han Yan Nobunari Oda Adam Rippon Jason Brown Javier Fernandez Takahiko Kozuka Jeremy Abbott Michal Brezina Max Aaron Richard Dornbush Konstantin Menshov Denis Ten Florent Amodio Artur Gachinski Nan Song Peter Liebers Joshua Farris Alexander Majorov Takahito Mura Elladj Balde Andrei Rogozine Misha Ge

CAN JPN JPN RUS JPN CHN JPN USA USA ESP JPN USA CZE USA USA RUS KAZ FRA RUS CHN GER USA SWE JPN CAN CAN UZB

Hilton HHonors Skate America

Skate Canada International

Lexus Cup of NHK China Trophy

1st

2nd

3rd

4th 5th

6th

7th

8th

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th 7th

8th

1st 2nd

3rd

4th

5th

7th

6th

8th

ilton HHonors Skate America

Skate Canada International

Lexus Cup of NHK China Trophy

Trophée Eric Rostelecom Total Bompard Cup Points

2nd

1st

3rd

5th

4th 6th

8th 7th

1st

1st 2nd

2nd

4th

3rd

3rd

5th

5th

4th

7th

6th 6th

7th

8th

8th

1st 1st

2nd

4th

3rd 2nd

5th

6th

6th

4th 3rd

8th

5th 7th

7th

8th

Trophée Eric Rostelecom Total Bompard Cup Points

1st

1st

1st

3rd

2nd

2nd

3rd

2nd 4th

4th

4th

8th

3rd 5th

5th

7th

8th

5th

6th

8th 6th

6th

7th

7th

1st

2nd 4th

5th

3rd

7th

8th

6th

30 30 28 26 26 24 24 24 20 18 16 14 14 13 12 12 12 10 9 9 7 5 5 4 4 3 3

30 30 26 26 24 24 24 22 18 18 16 16 16 15 14 12 9 9 8 8 8 7 7 5 4 3 3

GRAND PRIX 5 – 8 December,

Total Final - Ladies Points 1 Mao Asada

JPN

204.02

2 Julia Lipnitskaia

RUS

192.07

3 Ashley Wagner

USA

187.61

4 Elena Radionova

RUS

183.02

5 Adelina Sotnikova

RUS

173.30

6 Anna Pogorilaya

RUS

171.88

Total Final - Pairs Points 1 Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy GER 227.03 2 Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov RUS 223.83 3 Qing Pang / Jian Tong

CHN 213.98

4 Cheng Peng / Hao Zhang

CHN 197.37

5 Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford

CAN 193.38

6 Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch

CAN 189.11

JUNIOR GRAND PRIX 5 – 8 December,

Total Final - Ladies Points 1 Maria Sotskova

RUS

176.75

2 Serafima Sakhanovich

RUS

172.86

3 Evgenia Medvedeva

RUS

163.68

4 Polina Edmunds

USA

161.71

5 Alexandra Proklova

RUS

157.77

6 Angela Wang

USA

131.58

Total Final - Pairs Points 1 Xiaoyu Yu / Yang Jin

CHN 163.52

2 Maria Vigalova / Egor Zakroev

RUS 161.57

3 Lina Fedorova / Maxim Miroshkin

RUS 156.55

4 Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov RUS 152.01 5 Vasilisa Davankova / Andrei Deputat RUS 151.02 6 Kamilla Gainetdinova / Ivan Bich

RUS 140.65

The top six skaters / couples in each category qualified for the Grand Prix Final

Pairs

OF FIGURE SKATING FINAL Fukuoka, Japan

1 Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov RUS 1st

1st

30

2 Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy GER

1st

1st

30

Total 3 Qing Pang / Jian Tong Final - Men Points 1 Yuzuru Hanyu

JPN

293.25

2 Patrick Chan

CAN

280.08

3 Nobunari Oda

JPN

255.96

4 Tatsuki Machida

JPN

236.03

5 Maxim Kovtun

RUS

233.24

6 Han Yan

CHN

232.55

CHN

2nd

1st

28

4 Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch

CAN 2nd

3rd

24

5 Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford

CAN

3rd

2nd

24

6 Cheng Peng / Hao Zhang

CHN

3rd

2nd

24

7 Wenjing Sui / Cong Han

CHN

2nd

3rd

24

8 Stefania Berton / Ondrej Hotarek

ITA

5th

1st

22

9 Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov

RUS

4th

2nd

22

10 Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov

RUS 3rd

4th

20

11 Caydee Denney / John Coughlin

USA 4th

3rd

20

USA 6th

4th

14

13 Paige Lawrence / Rudi Swiegers

CAN

4th

6th

14

14 Haven Denney / Brandon Frazier

USA

5th

5th

14

15 Alexa Scimeca / Chris Knierim

USA

5th

6th

12

16 Xuehan Wang / Lei Wang

CHN

4th

9

17 Julia Antipova / Nodari Maisuradze

RUS

5th

7

18 Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres

FRA

5th

7

19 Felicia Zhang / Nathan Bartholomay

USA

6th

5

20 Lindsay Davis / Rockne Brubaker

USA

6th

5

21 Natasha Purich / Mervin Tran

CAN

6th

5

Total 12 Marissa Castelli / Simon Shnapir Final - Ice Dance Points 1 Meryl Davis / Charlie White

Hilton HHonors Skate Lexus Trophée Skate Canada Cup of NHK Eric Rostelecom Total America International China Trophy Bompard Cup Points

USA 191.35

2 Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir

CAN 190.00

3 Nathalie Pechalat / Fabian Bourzat

FRA 169.11

4 Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev RUS 166.72 5 Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje

CAN 165.04

6 Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte

ITA 156.58

Ice Dance

OF FIGURE SKATING FINAL Fukuoka, Japan

1 Meryl Davis / Charlie White

USA 1st

1st

30

2 Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir

CAN

1st

1st

30

RUS

2nd

1st

28

FRA

1st

3rd

26

3 Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev

Total Final - Men Points 4 Nathalie Pechalat / Fabian Bourzat CHN

218.73

2 Adian Pitkeev

RUS

216.24

3 Nathan Chen

USA

214.61

4 Keiji Tanaka

JPN

5 Alexander Petrov

RUS

6 Ryuju Hino

JPN

Hilton HHonors Skate Lexus Trophée Skate Canada Cup of NHK Eric Rostelecom Total America International China Trophy Bompard Cup Points

1 Boyang Jin

5 Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje

CAN

2nd

2nd

26

6 Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte

ITA

2nd

2nd

26

205.71

7 Elena Ilinykh / Nikita Katsalapov

RUS

4th

2nd

22

198.63

8 Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani

USA 3rd

3rd

22

182.39

9 Madison Chock / Evan Bates

USA

3rd

3rd

22

10 Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue

USA 4th

3rd

20

11 Ekaterina Riazanova / Ilia Tkachenko

RUS

4th

4th

18

Total 12 Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi Final - Ice Dance Points

GER

6th

4th

14

13 Pernelle Carron / Lloyd Jones

FRA 6th

4th

14

14 Ksenia Monko / Kirill Khaliavin

RUS

6th

5th

12

3 Lorraine Mcnamara / Quinn Carpenter USA 135.89

15 Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier

CAN

5th

6th

12

4 Betina Popova / Yuri Vlasenko

16 Cathy Reed / Chris Reed

JPN 5th

6th

12

5th

7th

7

1 Anna Yanovskaya / Sergey Mozgov RUS 152.48 2 Kaitlin Hawayek / Jean-Luc Baker

USA 139.42 RUS 129.47

5 Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin UKR 123.17 6 Rachel Parsons / Michael Parsons

USA 116.60

17 Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron FRA

18 Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam

CAN

5th

7

19 Alexandra Aldridge / Daniel Eaton

USA

5th

7

20 Xiaoyang Yu / Chen Wang

CHN

6th

5

13

SPEED SKATING

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

14

Ladies 500 m Points

Total

Ladies 1000 m Points

Total

Total

Points

1 Sang-Hwa Lee

KOR

700

1 Heather Richardson

USA

380

2 Olga Fatkulina

RUS

510

2 Brittany Bowe

USA

330

3 Heather Richardson

USA

490

3 Olga Fatkulina

RUS

250

4 Jenny Wolf

GER

473

4 Lotte van Beek

NED

172

5 Beixing Wang

CHN

430

5 Sang-Hwa Lee

KOR

155

1 Netherlands 2 Poland 3 Canada 4 Japan 5 Republic of Korea

6 Nao Kodaira

JPN

322

6 Margot Boer

NED

131

Total

7 Margot Boer

NED

262

7 Nao Kodaira

JPN

124

8 Thijsje Oenema

NED

258

8 Ireen Wüst

NED

110

9 Brittany Bowe

USA

220

9 Beixing Wang

CHN

96

10 Maki Tsuji

JPN

209

10 Karolina Erbanová

CZE

95

1 2 3 4 5

69.50 51.00 49.00 46.00 46.00

Ladies 1500 m Points Ladies 3000/5000 m

Total

Total Points

1 Ireen Wüst

NED

280

1 Martina Sábliková

CZE

380

2 Brittany Bowe

USA

244

2 Claudia Pechstein

GER

340

3 Lotte van Beek

NED

230

3 Antoinette de Jong

NED

180

4 Yuliya Skokova

RUS

178

4 Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus

POL

170

5 Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus

POL

161

5 Jorien Voorhuis

NED

155

6 Ida Njåtun

NOR

149

6 Ida Njåtun

NOR

155

7 Claudia Pechstein

GER

137

7 Ireen Wüst

NED

140

Total

8 Yekaterina Lobysheva

RUS

130

8 Yvonne Nauta

NED

136

9 Brittany Schussler

CAN

121

9 Shiho Ishizawa

JPN

128

10 Marrit Leenstra

NED

120

10 Masako Hozumi

JPN

128

1 2 3 4 5

60.00 38.00 35.00 34.50 30.00

Men 500 m Points

Total

Total

1 Tae-Bum Mo

KOR

527

1 Shani Davis

USA

370

2 Michel Mulder

NED

458

2 Michel Mulder

NED

232

3 Keiichiro Nagashima

JPN

414

3 Denis Kuzin

KAZ

191

4 Joji Kato

JPN

406

4 Tae-Bum Mo

KOR

173

5 Ronald Mulder

NED

376

5 Kjeld Nuis

NED

160

6 Artyom Kuznetsov

RUS

366

6 Denny Morrison

CAN

149

7 Tucker Fredricks

USA

354

7 Brian Hansen

USA

140

8 Jesper Hospes

NED

302

8 Mirko Giacomo Nenzi

ITA

137

9 Dmitry Lobkov

RUS

300

9 Koen Verweij

NED

118

10 Mitchell Whitmore

USA

273

10 Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen

NOR

113

Ladies Team Pursuit

300 195 190 180 160

Ladies Grand World Cup ranking Points Heather Richardson Brittany Bowe Ireen Wüst Sang-Hwa Lee Olga Fatkulina

USA USA NED KOR RUS

Total

Points

Men Team Pursuit 1 Netherlands 2 Republic of Korea 3 USA 4 Norway 5 Poland

300 220 190 165 145

Men Grand World Cup ranking Points Shani Davis Michel Mulder Koen Verweij Tae-Bum Mo Sven Kramer

USA NED NED KOR NED

Men 1000 m Points

Men 1500 m Points Men 5000/10000 m

Total Points

1 Shani Davis

USA

266

1 Sven Kramer

NED

300

2 Koen Verweij

NED

250

2 Jorrit Bergsma

NED

250

3 Denis Yuskov

RUS

244

3 Seung-Hoon Lee

KOR

230

4 Zbigniew Brodka

POL

231

4 Bart Swings

BEL

170

5 Sverre Lunde Pedersen

NOR

193

5 Alexis Contin

FRA

162

6 Konrad Niedzwiedzki

POL

140

6 Jonathan Kuck

USA

162

7 Rhian Ket

NED

136

7 Bob de Jong

NED

161

8 Joey Mantia

USA

131

8 Patrick Beckert

GER

151

9 Denis Kuzin

KAZ

126

9 Sverre Lunde Pedersen

NOR

145

10 Kjeld Nuis

NED

110

10 Jan Blokhuijsen

NED

143

Astronaut Koichi Wakata (JPN), cosmonaut Mikhail

SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING

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

Ladies 500 m

Total Points

Ladies 1000 m

Total Points

Ladies 1500 m

Total Points

1 Meng Wang

CHN

30000

1 Suk Hee Shim

KOR

30000

1 Suk Hee Shim

KOR

30000

2 Kexin Fan

CHN

26000

2 Alang Kim

KOR

24000

2 Alang Kim

KOR

19342

3 Arianna Fontana

ITA

17677

3 Arianna Fontana

ITA

19216

3 Yang Zhou

CHN

16896

4 Seung-Hi Park

KOR

13438

4 Seung-Hi Park

KOR

16497

4 Valérie Maltais

CAN

16078

5 Suk Hee Shim

KOR

12594

5 Jianrou Li

CHN

13198

5 Seung-Hi Park

KOR

12955

6 Martina Valcepina

ITA

11313

6 Elise Christie

GBR

12593

6 Arianna Fontana

ITA

12861

7 Marianne St-Gelais

CAN

10536

7 Valérie Maltais

CAN

8678

7 Jorien Ter Mors

NED

9880

8 Qiuhong Liu

CHN

9994

8 Jorien Ter Mors

NED

8022

8 Bernadett Heidum

HUN

9419

9 Sofia Prosvirnova

RUS

8476

9 Marianne St-Gelais

CAN

7923

9 Jessica Hewitt

CAN

7052

10 Tatiana Borodulina

RUS

7339

10 Meng Wang

CHN

6396

10 Jianrou Li

CHN

6633

Men 500 m

Total Points

Men 1000 m

Total Points

Men 1500 m

Total Points

1 Victor An

RUS

28000

1 Charles Hamelin

CAN

30000

1 Charles Hamelin

CAN

22096

2 Charles Hamelin

CAN

21678

2 Victor An

RUS

16859

2 Han-Bin Lee

KOR

21277

3 Vladimir Grigorev

RUS

21120

3 Niels Kerstholt

NED

12099

3 Victor An

RUS

20800

4 Dajing Wu

CHN

14424

4 Dajing Wu

CHN

11299

4 Jinkyu Noh

KOR

14619

5 Olivier Jean

CAN

11532

5 Tianyu Han

CHN

10494

5 Sjinkie Knegt

NED

11520

6 Se Yeong Park

KOR

11355

6 Olivier Jean

CAN

10420

6 Francois Hamelin

CAN

10894

7 Freek Van der Wart

NED

9994

7 J.R. Celski

USA

10095

7 J.R. Celski

USA

10016

8 Wenhao Liang

CHN

8395

8 Han-Bin Lee

KOR

9839

8 Da Woon Sin

KOR

9175

9 Eduardo Alvarez

USA

7306

9 Se Yeong Park

KOR

9678

9 John-Henry Krueger

USA

8859

10 Charle Cournoyer

CAN

6972

10 Vladimir Grigorev

RUS

9152

10 Thibaut Fauconnet

FRA

8497

Ladies Relay

Total Points

1 Republic of Korea

30000

2 China

26000

3 Italy

19200

4 Canada

16640

5 Russia

10289

6 Netherlands

10289

7 Japan

9175

8 USA

7995

9 Hungary

7240

10 Great Britain

4698

Total Points

Men Relay

Tyurin (RUS) & astronaut Rick Mastracchio (USA) with the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic torch

1 USA

28000

2 Canada

26400

3 Russia

21120

4 Republic of Korea

18496

5 Netherlands

14797

6 China

10494

7 Italy

10362

8 Great Britain

9839

9 France

6060

10 Hungary

5037

15

PAST MASTER

DR JEAN GRENIER (CAN): BORN 1937 Dr Jean Grenier got involved in Speed Skating when his children took an interest in the sport.

Once the coroner in chief for the province of Quebec realized that there was no organization in Quebec, he helped found the Ste. Foy Speed Skating Club and then became the founding President of the Quebec Speed Skating Federation.

In 1975 the ISU created a new technical committee for Short Track Speed Skating and Dr Grenier was elected as one of the founding members along with current ISU President Mr Ottavio Cinquanta. From 1976 to 1977 Dr Grenier became the President of the Canadian Speed Skating Association. In 1984 he was Assistant Chef de Mission for the Olympic Games and Chef the Mission for the 1988 Games.

In 1988, his relentless dedication was rewarded when short track speed skating won demonstration status at the Calgary Olympic Games. The IOC officially recognized the sport in 1989 and short track speed skating became an Olympic sport in 1992. That same year Dr Grenier was inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame.

His dedication and hard work have inspired many in the sport and to remember his legacy Speed Skating Canada established the Jean Grenier Appreciation Award in 1999 which is presented to an outstanding volunteer who contributed to the betterment of the sport. Dr Jean Grenier’s involvement in the sport has contributed to the development of many skaters, some who later became World Champions and even Olympic winners.