The short track national short track competition will be held in the upcoming 2024-25 season.
The Korea Skating Union said on the 4th, “A short-track national competition will be held to select athletes to compete in the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Series, World Championships, and the 2025 Harbin Winter Asian Games (AG) in the 2024-25 season.”
According to the federation, the first short track national short track competition for the 2024-25 season will be held at the indoor ice rink in Mok-dong, Seoul, from the 5th to the 7th. The KB Financial Group’s 39th National Short Track Speed Skating Championship and the second short track national competition for the 2024-25 season will be held from the 11th to the 12th.
The first and second national competitions will be held by summing up the ranking scores for each of the three events: individual events ▶ 500m ▶ 1000m ▶ 1500m for each competition to determine the overall ranking.
The top 24 men and women of the first competition will advance to the second competition, and the final short track national team will be selected by summing up the overall scores of the two competitions.
There are a total of 16 short track athletes (8 male and 8 female) representatives for the 2024-25 season.
The federation explained, “Except for Kim Ki-li (Seongnam City Hall), who was automatically selected as the national team for the next season, one male and one female player in the top overall rankings of the 2024 ISU Short Track World Championship (winning a gold medal in more than one individual event), eight male and seven female players will be selected.”
While Choi Min-jeong (Seongnam City Hall), who took a break from last season’s training, is known to return, attention is drawn to the reunion of Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Provincial Office) and Park Ji-won (Seoul City Hall).
Hwang Dae-heon and Park Ji-won wore national flags side by side in the 2023-24 season, and there were three collisions during races in that season alone. In particular, Park Ji-won complained of pain after colliding with Hwang Dae-heon at the World Championships, and when he returned home, he even showed up with a neck brace and a bandage on his arm, causing shock.
In this regard, the federation conducted its own investigation into the collision between the two players, but announced, “We confirmed that there was no intention at all and that there was no intention of playing ‘team kill’.
The two players are likely to face each other once again as competitors in this selection match.
Meanwhile, the second national short track speed skating competition will be held at the same time as the “39th National Men’s and Women’s Short Track Speed Skating Championship” sponsored by KB Financial Group, Korea’s national short track sponsor.
Finally, the federation added, “The first short track competition will be broadcast live on the official YouTube channel of the Korea Skating Union, and the second competition will be broadcast on KBS 2TV and the federation’s YouTube channel.”