The ISU Junior World Cup Short Track has nurtured some major talent over recent seasons. 

Consider the success of Rim Jongun of the Korean White Tigers, who dominated at this level last term, and scored an explosive victory in his debut weekend in senior Short Track – winning the 1500m in Montreal on the ISU Short Track World Tour. 

There is no doubt that these events are a gateway to the future of the sport – and some brilliant racing was on show at the first Junior event of the season at the Alau Ice Palace in Astana, Kazakhstan. 

Korea and China would dominate – but the home nation also saw some heartening performances. 

Korea dominate in women’s events 

The Republic of Korea is famous for its production line of young skaters: the sport is coached intensively, which means its racers tend to win a lot at this level while other countries develop their athletes more slowly. 

Rim is a prime example – and Oh Songmi is another. The 18-year-old scooped Junior medals all season long in 2024/25 and looks in line to have another bountiful winter. 

Oh Songmi (KOR) looks set to repeat her success of 2024/25 as she stormed to victory in the first 1000m of this year's ISU Junior World Cup. © ISU

With great energy and technical excellence, Oh secured the women’s 1000m gold in Astana; it will be a surprise if she doesn’t follow Rim’s path into the senior team over the next couple of years. 

Oh finished ahead of another consistent performer, Lin Jingyi of China, who was second. 

There was something for the local fans to enjoy, too: 18-year-old Polina Omelchuk of Kazakhstan has been registering noteworthy results for a while, including a bronze medal at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games, and she finished third here, too.

Korea then completed a clean sweep in the final of the 1500m. Kim Minji, like Oh, was superb last season, and also looks ready to step up to senior level. 

In the 1500m she was tactically and technically superior to the rest, and conserved her energy for a brilliant burst of speed to take gold. Kang Minji, just 16 but also well established as a Junior after winning a silver at Gangwon 2024, got second place, while Yu Sumin was tidy as she took bronze. 

Racers go twice in the 1000m on Junior weekends, and in Sunday’s event Hao Ruoxuan prevailed. The Chinese racer was strong as she saw off Kim Minji and Li Jinzi of China (another who’d won a medal at the Gangwon YOG).

Hao Ruoxuan (CHN) won the second women's 1000m gold of the weekend, seeing off Kim Minji (KOR) and teammate Li Jinzi to secure the victory. © ISU

The sprint had two gold medalists – Oh Songmi of Korea and Kornelia Wozniak of Poland – an extremely rare occurrence in Short Track. Kuang Junyu of China claimed the bronze.

The Asian back-and-forth was complete when China won the women’s 3000m relay, ahead of Korea in second and Japan third.

Kazakh delight in men’s racing 

In the men’s races, the rest of the world hit back at Korea. Li Yuheng of China dazzled with a consummate performance in the 1000m, narrowly seeing off Japan’s Sasaki Taiga, who was second. 

Zhang Xinzhe was third. The Chinese racer already has great pedigree – he has competed at senior level, and won 1000m gold at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games.

Li Yuheng (CHN) pipped Japan's Sasaki Taiga to gold in the first men's 1000m of this year's ISU Junior World Cup Short Track. © ISU

The biggest cheer of the weekend was reserved for the A Final of the men’s 1500m, however. 

Bogdan Vekhov has been spoken of as the future of Kazakh Short Track for a while, and the Astana skater lit up his home rink by winning gold on Saturday.

Vekhov, 17, got a gold and silver at this level last year and continues his steady improvement. 

China’s Zhang Zixia was second, continuing his fine progress in Junior racing – he has two golds at this level – while Park Seojun was third, and is another Korean name to note down for the future. 

Bogdan Vekhov (KAZ) lit up his home rink with victory in the 1500m on Saturday, doubling the celebrations by adding 1000m gold on Sunday. © ISU

In the 1000m (2) on Sunday, Vekhov took excitement to a fever pitch as he clinched a Kazakh double. A fine combination of pace, power and technique saw him finish ahead of Wang Tianyou of China and Joo Jaehee of Korea. 

Joo is another racer with great potential, having also taken a gold medal at Gangwon 2024. 

It was then the turn of the fastest racers of all, in the men’s 500m. Park Seojun won over this distance on the Junior tour last year, and the lightning-quick Korean repeated the feat here. His late turn of pace was just too much for Kida Raito, the ever-improving Japanese athlete who took second place.

Third was Canada’s Victor Chartrand. It was North America’s only medal of the meeting, but Chartrand was steady last term, and like Mathieu Pelletier (now a member of the senior team) ahead of him, Chartrand is being tipped to progress to senior level over the next couple of seasons. 

But this was once again a weekend for the Asian racers. In the men’s relay, Republic of Korea finished first, China second and Kazakhstan third.

The Mixed Relay saw China take gold, as Vekhov and Omelchuk combined to help the home nation win silver; Italy were third. 

The action continues back at the Alau Ice Palace next weekend with the ISU Junior World Cup Short Track event #2.