BY ROBERT MURRAY – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
Since 2010, each discipline in the Winter Olympic program has undergone significant change. With less than one year to go until the 2014 Games, I’ll be taking a look at what to expect from Canada and the rest of the world in Sochi. Today I take a look at short track speed skating.
What happened in 2010?: As expected, the top four nations in the world at short track, Canada, USA, South Korea and China captured all but one of the medals. After being denied a Gold medal in Turin, Canada won two Golds in a matter of mere moments thanks to Charles Hamelin and the men’s relay team. On the Women’s side, Wang Meng won three Gold medals and Marianne St-Gelais picked up a pair of Silver medals in her first Olympic games.
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What has changed?: On the Men’s side, the Netherlands and Russia have emerged and re-emerged respectively as upper tier nations within short track speed skating. This may be surprising to group the Netherlands in there but they are known more for their success in the long track rather than the short track. Noh Jin-Kyu will be entering his first Olympic Games on a roll. The Korean has already won four World Championship titles. A fellow South Korean skater, Kwak Yoon-Gy, will be his main competition. Yoon-Gy is the reigning Overall World Champion ahead of Jin-Kyu. On the Women’s side, Chinese skaters Liu Qiuhong Li Jianrou and South Korean Shim Suk Hee have all burst onto the scene within recent years. Countless World Championship and World Cup medals to their names will make them all names worth remembering in Sochi.
What Canadians should I watch?: On the Men’s side, Olivier Jean suffered a concussion late in 2012 but he’s also been a headache for his opponents on the track. While he won his first Olympic medal as a part of the relay team in Vancouver, he has added several individual accolades since the 2010 Games. He will enter this weekend’s World Championships in Hungary as the reigning World Champion in the 500m and 5000m relay events. Charles Hamelin and Jean will act as the rebuttal to the strong, young South Koreans.
On the Women’s side, Canada’s hopes will lie in Valérie Maltais and Marie-Ève Drolet. The interesting storyline is with Drolet who was a Bronze medalist in Salt Lake City with the relay team but retired in 2003. She made a comeback to the sport in 2008 and was on the podium twice at the 2012 World Championships in Shanghai. Maltais will be defending her 3000m World Championship this weekend in Hungary and she will be looking to improve on her Silver in the Overall World Championship from last year. 2014 will mark the second Olympics for both competitors.
Who could spoil the show?: On the Men’s side, Russian Viktor Ahn isn’t as young as some of his fellow competitors but he’s certainly more accomplished. From 2002-2007, he was on the top of the short track world. Three Olympic Gold medals, twenty World Championship Gold medals and thirty-five World Championship medals in total. Injury prevented him from qualifying for Vancouver but anyone who counts him out in Sochi will come to regret it. On the Women’s side, Italy’s Arianna Fontana was just fifteen when she won her first Olympic medal back in 2006. Anything can happen in a short track race but at the end of the day, it’s better to have experience rather than luck. Expect the five-time Overall European Champion to be on the podium some way in 2014.