#WorldShortTrack

Do not make plans for 14-16 March. You are not going to want to miss a moment of the rebranded 2025 CNSG ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships.

New branding unveiled for the ISU World Short Track Championships 2025, in Beijing, China.  © ISU

From in-form superstars to era-defining rivalries via returning greats and rising talents, the pinnacle Short Track event of the season, sponsored by the Chinese National Sports Group, has it all. 

Complementing all this comes the first unveiling of a dynamic rebrand for the Championships. Part of the ISU’s Vision 2030, a long-term strategy designed to unleash Short Track’s full potential, this will give fans exciting new ways to engage ever deeper with this explosive sport. 

Add on a packed Capital Indoor Stadium, ready to watch the final global Championships before the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, and it’s easy to see why excitement levels are peaking in Beijing. 

Women sprinters provide headline act

The number of skaters competing for top-billing in the women’s events provides a perfect indication of why all eyes are on China’s capital city. Fresh from winning her first ever ISU Crystal Globe, true all-rounder Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) is the undisputed world No.1 but everywhere you turn she has top-class challengers waiting to pounce.

No.1: Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) in Milan, Italy © ISU

Take the 500m. Victory at the Seoul and Milan legs   of the ISU Short Track World Tour – the latter key to securing that longed-for Crystal Globe – mean that Santos-Griswold ended the regular season as the top women’s sprinter. But right behind her sits a skater who can already lay claim to being one of the all-time great 500m racers. 

Xandra Velzeboer (NED) holds the world record, is a two-time 500m World Champion and won the first three ISU Short Track World Tour sprints of the season, before being briefly derailed by an ankle injury. Now fully fit again, Velzeboer has the added advantage of having won both the two most recent World Tour 500m races in the Capital Indoor Stadium. 

Xandra Velzeboer (NED) wins the women's 500m at the ISU Short Track World Tour in Beijing, China last December © ISU

But Velzeboer, like Santos-Griswold and the rest, will have to try and get the better of two-time and reigning Olympic 500m champion Arianna Fontana (ITA) – a skater who recently warned she is “starting to feel better” as she chases Speed Skating and Short Track glory at her home Olympics next year. 

Kim Boutin (CAN) knows what it’s like to face a fired-up Fontana in Beijing, having taken Olympic bronze behind her in 2022, just as she had four years earlier in PyeongChang (KOR). But the veteran Canadian also knows what it’s like to finish on the top step of a 500m podium, having won 2024 World Championship gold.

The 2024 500m world championship medalists (L-R): Xandra Velzeboer (NED, silver), Kim Boutin (CAN, gold) and Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA, bronze) in Rotterdam, Netherlands © ISU

Quality stacks up in distance races

Remarkably, the women’s distance races make an equally compelling case for being unmissable. 

The most recent 1500m World Tour A final neatly underlines the quality on offer. After an enthralling, high-paced race, Hanne Desmet (BEL) emerged triumphant to give serious weight to her recent assertion that she “feels confident for the Worlds”. Behind her came Santos-Griswold, the reigning 1000m world champion, followed by Fontana, her countrywoman Elisa Confortola and the 2018 and 2022 Olympic 1500m gold medalist Choi Minjeong (KOR). 

Those performances relegated Corinne Stoddard (USA) to sixth – an unfamiliar spot for the skater who finished third in the Crystal Globe race. 

Incredibly, there is another top contender who did not even make that final. Like many of her geographical neighbors, Kim Gilli (KOR) has been clear that January’s Asian Games and these World Championships were her main goals for the season. Gold in the 1500m and silver behind teammate Choi in the 1000m and 500m suggests the first part of the job has been achieved.

Ready: Kim Gilli (KOR) photographed during the ISU Short Track World Tour in Beijing, China, December 2024 © ISU

Relays ready to thrill

All these names and more will go head-to-head in the women’s 3000m Relay and the mixed team 2000m Relay. Both could be highlights. 

A well-balanced Canadian outfit took the early honors in the women’s relay on the World Tour but a hungry Dutch team roared back at them to claim the final two titles. Add on a vibrant Italian quartet and the always-strong Korean and Chinese teams and it becomes extremely tricky to predict the finalists, let alone champions. 

The home nation’s mixed relay team has enjoyed great recent success both on the Beijing ice and in big finals. Not only the Olympic champions, they’re also the defending world champions. World No.1 outfit the Netherlands are likely to provide the local favorites’ stiffest competition. 

Park Ji Won (KOR) and Liu Shaoang (CHN) battle it out in the mixed relay in December 2024 in Seoul, Rep. Korea © ISU

Dangers lurk for dominant Dandjinou

Matters are just as irresistible on the men’s side. For while one man dominated much of the World Tour season, he is no doubt more aware than most that he’s unlikely to have it all his own way in Beijing. 

William Dandjinou (CAN) deserves every ounce of praise after winning eight races across all three distances during the regular season. But the fact that Jens van ’t Wout (NED) pushed him all the way to the penultimate day of the season before the Canadian claimed a first ISU Crystal Globe shows Dandjinou will have to be at his very best to add to the 1000m World gold he won 12 months ago. 

The man to beat: William Dandjinou (CAN) captured here at the ISU Short Track World Tour #6 in Milan, Italy © ISU

Van ’t Wout will certainly offer stout competition in the distance races. Victorious twice on the World Tour over 1000m and once in the 1500m, the Dutchman looks ready to upgrade the 1500m silver he won at the 2024 Worlds. 

Fresh from playing a key part in Korea and China’s domination of the men’s individual events at the 2025 Asian Games – the two nations shared all nine medals – Park Ji Won (KOR) looks ready to put right one of the few failures of his storied career. After being crowned Crystal Globe champion for the second time a year ago, an exhausted Park did not win a single individual 2024 World medal. It will be a big shock if that happens again. 

Park Ji-won (KOR) wins on home ice during the ISU Short Track World Tour in Seoul, Rep. Korea. © ISU

Compatriot Jang Sungwoo plus Italy’s Pietro Sighel and Japan’s fast-rising Shogo Miyata are other names the big three will be wary of. 

Canadians ready to take on home stars

While many of those racers will be huge threats in the 500m too, there is one sprinter they will all be looking up to. 

After ending the past two seasons as No.2 in the discipline’s rankings, Steven Dubois (CAN) flew to three wins and two second places to nail down his position as the men’s best 500m racer on the World Tour this season. The 2022 500m Olympic bronze medalist is yet to win a major championship sprint title but Beijing’s fast ice could be the place for it. 

China’s Sun Long is the only other man apart from Dubois and Dandjinou to win a 500m this season. With one of his victories coming in Beijing and the other in the most recent race in Milan, Sun is a serious contender to claim a first individual world title. The Chinese sprinter will have to watch out for teammate Liu Shaoang – the man who won Olympic 500m gold in the Capital Indoor Stadium three years ago. 

Liu Shaoang (CHN) takes Short Track World Tour 5000m Relay gold for China on home ice at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China last December © ISU

While the 500m could well end up a battle between the Canadians and the Chinese, so too could the men’s 5000m Relay. The two nations equally shared four of this season’s six World Tour golds, while China are the reigning world champions and Canada the Olympic champions. 

The achingly close nature of that battle sums up a Championships that is bound to thrill. 

Where to watch 

Viewers will be able to watch the CNSG ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships via their national broadcaster/channel.

For countries where there are no broadcasters and for the qualification and repechage races, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list on the Where to watch webpage here.

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