U.S. Speedskating announced its upcoming short-track ISU World Cup squad less than six months out from the Olympic Games in PyeongChang.
The 10-person team (five men, five women) has been unveiled after three days of World Cup team trials at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns. Leading the way are Olympians J.R. Celski, Jessica Kooreman, Katherine Reutter-Adamek and Lana Gehring.
“I was extremely encouraged by the way our athletes raced and handled the stress from this past weekend at qualifiers,” said Anthony Barthell, the short track national team coach, in a team release. “Our team is filled with international race experience, including four that have reached the biggest stage and have had success. Those individuals will provide valuable insights to the rest of the team as we continue to build towards PyeongChang.”
Celski won four of the six individual races over the weekend and finished as the overall points leader in the team qualifiers. Behind him was 22-year-old John-Henry Krueger, who reached five of the six final events and won the men’s 1,500-meter distance race. Joining Celski and Krueger are former world junior championship silver medalist Thomas Hong, Ryan Pivirotto and Aaron Tran.
All five Americans were part of last year’s World Cup squad.
Joining Kooreman, Reutter-Adamek and Gehring are Kristen Santos and 17-year-old Maame Biney, who finished as the overall points leader in the women’s events in Kearns last weekend. The first World Cup stop for the Americans comes Sept. 28 to Oct. 1 in Budapest, Hungary.
The Oval will host the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in short-track speedskating once again. The event is scheduled for Dec. 15 to 17 in Kearns.