Maame Biney celebrates victory at the U.S. Speedskating Short Track Olympic Team Trials on Dec. 16, 2017 in Salt Lake City.
Two young speedskating sensations who are already Olympians highlight a field of up-and-coming young athletes who will comprise this year’s U.S. Speedskating Short Track Fall World Cup team.
The 12 athletes named will be competing in the world cup events in Calgary on Nov. 2-4 and Salt Lake City on Nov. 9-11.
Maame Biney, who captured hearts when she became the first black woman to qualify for a U.S. Olympic speedskating team, and Thomas Hong, who was the youngest man on the team that went to PyeongChang, were among those named to the team Sunday following the qualifying event in Kearns, Utah.
Biney, 18, returned to the ice just weeks ago following a long break after competing in PyeongChang and was the top points earner in the qualifying.
Just behind her was Corinne Stoddard, who was the long-track female junior development skater of the year for 2015-16 and an inline skater who qualified to compete at the Youth Olympic Games taking place right now. The U.S. did not send any inline skaters to the YOG.
Kristen Santos, who has been part of the short-track national training program since 2015, made the team, as did Danielle Amos, Elizabeth Johnson and Jamie Jurak. Johnson was the 2016 short-track female junior developmental skater of the year.
At 20 years old, Hong was the youngest man on the U.S. speedskating team at PyeongChang in 2018. He did not make the final in the 500 but won the “B” final and placed fifth with the 5,000-meter relay team. He first participated in the Olympic Trials in 2014 at the age of 16 and finished 11th despite being the youngest competitor there.
Hong led the men in points in the fall qualifying.
Joining him on the team will be fellow Olympian and 5,000-meter relay teammate Aaron Tran as well as Jonathan So, the 2017 men’s short-track junior development skater of the year.
Adam Callister, Aaron Heo and Brandon Kim — the 2016 short-track male junior developmental skater of the year — will also be competing.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
