Table of Contents
Short-track speed staking is a sport that analyzes the velocity, technical skating proficiency, and enforcement of the competitors. It isn’t like long-track speed skating.
For a short track, the contestants run against the clock, this is what makes it different from the long track where they run against each other.
Introduction
Short-track speed skating was gotten from the pack-style racing that used to be a big hit sport in the North American continent in the early 20th century.
Let’s take out the possible negative outcomes that could occur here but it is a rougher style of speed skating that was played during the winter in 1932 during the Olympics game which was held in Lake Placid, New York, USA.
This sport became very popular in the world today in 1960 going down to 1970.
Short-track championships were held every year from 1978 to 1980, this was all organized by the international skating union.
After those two years of championships game, this sport then evolved, and then the world championships were held in 1981.
Short-track speed skating was introduced into the Olympics just after a decade of the world championship games. The first year was hosted in 1992 during the winter games in Albertville, France.
Short-Track Speed Skating – Overview
Let’s talk about short track speed staking a little more, the game just like most sports have its own arena where it is played.
The arena is a 111.12-meter oval track on a rink, its size is a whopping 30 meters wide area and a 60-meter length of the area.
Judging from the size mentioned above, you can tell that it isn’t a very wide arena so because they don’t want the contestants running into the crowd and causing any casualties.
The board decided to help them place something to protect them, it is polyurethane and it is placed in every match, 20 centimeters thick, and has a height of one meter.
It is a mat-like material that is covered using a water-resistant and cut-resistant material that has to be joined with the boards and also joined with each other like a mat.
Places where they allow only short-track speed skating mostly utilize the self standing mat system that does not require boards to give people extra security so the contestants don’t crash straight into the crowd.
The Races
Different races are held during the championships competition, there are male and female contestants in the game, the four distances ran in these games are
500, 1000, 1500, and 3000-meter races. Although the 3000 meters relay races were for women and the 5000 meters relay was for the male contestants.
The whole competition is held for three days and the slate the events in a particular order which is 1500 first, 500, 1000, and 3000 meters, in this same order.
Another difference between this sport and the long-track speed staking is that they run in pairs for long-track while short-track races have four to eight skaters on the starting line before the race.
The positions are pictured out by lots and the competition involves skaters facing skaters head-on.
Just like every other game, you would need to use good strategies and tactics when going into play.
Most times, the speed might not come in handy although the smartest contesters come in and win the races against the guys with speed.
In competitions held against different nations, players have to finish among the first two winners during the quarter-finals and semi-finals to get them into the finals where they get to contest for the 500, 1000, and 1500 meters races in the finals.
In Short-track skating, points are being allowed to the winners and these points are what the players need to be allowed to contest in the 3000 meters final.
This is how the points are shared, the contestant that finishes first place would be given 34 points, 2nd place contestant is given 21 points, 3rd place contestant is 13 points, 4th place goes with 8 points, 5th place has 5 points, sixth place is 3 points, 7th place has 2 points, and then the last man standing which is the 8th position contestant has to go with one point.
These points are given after every event, and the winner of the whole competition is the player with the highest points after all the events.
The whole world cup championships do the 500 meter, 1000 meter, 1500 meter, and some relay races where they have different winners for different events being played for the whole season.
Every distance race ran has to happen eight times with every six outcomes for every athlete moving toward the last category.
Officiating And Judging
The main office at a short track championship is the referee.
The referee in these games are in charge of every assignment of the contestants to heats, they also tell when the ice must be worked on and oversees every event race held.
There isn’t only one referee in the games, there are several assistant referees who helps the main referee in the game to watch over the game.
They also have the authority in the game to take out anyone and can also determine which of the players are allowed to move to the next stage and a skater who has been removed.
We have the starter, someone who looks over and makes sure that all skaters on the arena has to get a good start.
The contestants are allowed to enjoy one false start and after that, when done again, the contestant would immediately be taken off the game.
The timers in the games give out the backup to the electronic timing procedures, the judges make sure that the placings of everything are all intact, the lap recorders are officials in the game that make sure they provide information of the laps remaining to the audience and contestants.
As the last lap starts, the lap recorders ring a bell to get the crowd all excited and watching out for who will win.
The Rules
In short-track speed skating, the contestants run in a counterclockwise motion.
Every contestant is allowed to overtake during the race but has the risk of causing a collision if he or she loses control, and in the rules, the law is that the overtaker is at fault.
If a skater is lapped, the referee is obligated to move him to the track outside but when this happens twice, the contestant is taken out of the race by the referee.
Why we said from the onset that the smarter players here are always the winners is because the contestants are only allowed to run in straight lines from the beginning to end, moving about can get you disqualified. Speed is what makes you move around like that in this game.
Equipment
Based on these fact that all the corners in the arena are mostly tight, the game has been changed to help thee players continue with speed while turning.
The boot used is made from fiberglass has been molded to be like a shoe where you can easily put your legs in, a blade is also there that helps, the blade is just as long as the ones they use in long track.
Conclusion
Short track is a very fun game and is mostly enjoyed by people in North America.
