salt lake city: talk about the advantage of ice at home. American short track speed skater Kristen Santos-Griswold capped off the second World Cup of the season on Sunday with her third bronze medal of the weekend, finishing third in the 1000m final despite of crashing on the last corner.
“It was a little crazy,” he said Sunday after his last race on the Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City, the city Santos-Griswold calls home. “I crashed in the last corner and managed to get up and cross third, so that’s good.”
Dutch suzanne schulting (1:28:24) won gold in the 1000 m, while Canadian courtney sarault (1:28:29) won gold in the 1000 m took the silver.
“Overall, I felt very good; just at the end, i felt like i had nowhere to go,” added santos-griswold, who finished in 1:32:96. “The two skaters in front of me are really strong and fast and they know how to throw amazing tracks. So, I think for the next time it’s about positioning myself better earlier, because it was more about having the right place at the right time.”
The bronze medal trifecta was also a personal achievement for Santos-Griswold, who finished third in the 500m on Saturday and was also part of the u.s. mixed relay team Despite capturing a bronze medal in the 1500m last week at the world cup opener in Montreal, she skipped the event this week as something of a personal challenge.
“I tend to like longer distances, but I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone a little bit and really force myself to skate everything,” explained Santos-Griswold, who competed in her first Olympics in February in Beijing and He finished just off the podium, fourth, in the 1000m Olympic final.
“The more I can skate and the more I can do better over different distances, the more opportunities there are for me. … I love the 500. I love the idea that you like the fact that you just skate and go. you don’t have to think about anything. You know they’re all going to get out of the guns fast. but it just hasn’t necessarily been my forte. I’ve been working hard in my beginning, so I hope that one day it will be.”
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fellow American corinne stoddard reached the 1000m b final on Sunday and finished fourth (1:31.61). The 21-year-old, who also competed at the Beijing Olympics, also earned her second career World Cup medal in Salt Lake City on Saturday as part of the U.S. mixed relay team.
“My top speed is definitely there,” said Stoddard, who also competed in the 3,000-m relay, but USA. uu. the team failed to advance from the quarterfinals. “But my stamina in the last two rounds of the distances could be better because I’m pretty quick in the first two rounds, but then as we keep going back and forth it’s a bit more tiring for me.”
the next step for the us. uu. short track athletes is the third consecutive week of competition: at the isu four continents short track championships on november 10. 11-13, also in Salt Lake City. As for his goals for the coming week, the answer was easy for Santos-Griswold.
“I’m ready to switch from bronze medals to something else,” she said. “I feel like right now I know I have the speed and the strength. it’s really about marking the races and the best strategy and attacking early. but not too soon either, because I’ve done it too and it doesn’t work either. so just find that happy middle ground. skate a little more to be the first and be the one who seizes the opportunities and takes the initiative in a race a little more.”