Goetz, Sklutovsky Capture Multiple Wins at U.S. Junior Championships and AmCup2
Share:
by Paul D. Bowker
Kimi Goetz, a 2022 Olympian, won four races and Alec Sklutovsky won three at the U.S. Long Track Junior Championships & American Cup 2 held over the weekend at the Guidant John Rose MN Oval in Roseville, Minnesota.
Goetz won every race she entered — the Women’s 500m, 1000m, 1500m and 3000m — with times of 39.72 seconds, 1:20.48, 2:09.71 and 4:45.43.
Sklutovsky won both Men’s 500m races with times of 37.63 and 37.55 seconds, and also the 1000m in 1:16.26.
Max Weber and Piper Yde were the top medal-winners in the men’s and women’s competition, respectively, each capturing five podium finishes.
Weber won the Men’s 1500m in 1:58.40, finished second in the 1000m and 5000m, and was third in the first 500m and Mass Start.
Yde won the Women’s Mass Start in 8:15.92, finished second in the 1500m and 3000m, and third in the 500m and 1000m.
The competition, held Dec. 13-15, was a qualifier to determine the U.S. team for the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships, which will be held Feb. 7-9 in Collalbo, Italy.
William Silk reached a podium finish four times in the men’s competition. He won the 5000m in 7:06.27, finished second in the Mass Start and 1500m, and was third in the 1000m.
Liam Kitchel was the other winner in a Men’s event, taking first in the Mass Start with a time of 6:13.35.
Three other men reached the podium. Auggie Herman had a pair of second-place finishes, both in the 500m behind Sklutovsky. Thomas Fitzgerald scored a pair of third-place finishes in the distance events, the 1500m and 5000m. And Zachary Jensen scored a third-place finish behind Sklutovsky and Herman in the second 500m.
Blair Cruikshank and Marley Soldan each had three podium finishes in the women’s competition. Cruickshank won the second 500m race in a time of 42.05 seconds after finishing runner-up to Goetz in the first 500m. Cruikshank also finished runner-up to Goetz in the 1000m. Soldan finished runner-up to Yde in the Mass Start and finished third in the 1500m and 3000m.
The other Women’s podium finishes came from Ilsa Shobe, who took third in the Mass Start and the second 500m race, and Libby Williams, who scored a second-place finish, one spot ahead of Shobe, in the 500m.
Jeff Terwilliger had the top U.S. finish in the Masters Men’s 3000m, finishing second behind Canada’s Randy Plett.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USSpeedskating.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
