Sean Shuai Lands New Jr. U.S. Record, Jr. U.S. Title At Utah Olympic Oval

Sean Shuai reached the podium four times while breaking a Junior U.S. Record, and Clayton DeClemente and Louisiana Stahl each won three events, at the Winter World Tour Qualifier  & U.S. Junior Championships Short Track over the weekend in Utah.

Shuai, who’s coming off a season in which he won the Men’s 500m at the Winter Youth Olympic Games and finished second at the Junior World Championships, blasted to a Junior National Record in the event with a time of 40.483 seconds.

“Came out from literally nowhere, broke a record, consistently under 41 (seconds) for all my 500s and then making it to World Champs, which was my dream,” Shuai said.

The three-day event, which was held Jan. 3-5 at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, was a qualifier for the 2025 ISU Junior World Championships Short Track and the US Speedskating Winter World Tour Team.

The Junior World Championships will be held Feb. 27-March 2 in Calgary, Alberta. The World Tour resumes Feb. 7-9 in Tilburg, Netherlands.

Shuai claimed the top spot in the Men’s Overall Classification with 38,994 points, finishing more than 2,000 ahead of senior skaters DeClemente and Andrew Heo.

Isabella Chen, a Junior C skater who won the Women’s 1000m and 1500m, topped the women’s competition with 48,007 points and four podium finishes. Grace Lee, whose age qualifies her for the Junior World Championships, was the top Junior A skater with 37,908 points.

In addition to his 500m win, Shuai had second-place finishes at 1000m and 1500m and added a third-place finish in the second 500m A Final, behind two-time Junior Worlds medalist Marcus Howard and 2022 Olympian Andrew Heo.

Shuai’s win in the first 500m of the weekend broke the 12-year-old record of 40.588 seconds. He suggested he could have gone even faster except for a late race strategy.

“I’m going to save energy for the finish on this one because obviously somebody’s going to try to pass me,” he said of his strategy.

“I feel I could have gone faster if I hadn’t saved energy at the start,” Shuai added.

Chen, who helped the Potomac Speedskating Club win a club national title last year, had wins in the Women’s 1000m and 1500m with times of 1:37.058 and 2:36.185, respectively. She added a second-place finish in the 1500m and a third-place finish in the 500m.

DeClemente won both 1500m finals with times of 2:30.140 and 2:35.542, and he also won the 1000m in 1:27.709.

Also winning three times was Stahl, who skated to victories in the Women’s 500m twice with times of 44.772 and 45.059 seconds, and in the 1500m with a time of 2:38.722.

Lee scored three podium finishes with second-place finishes in the 500m and 1000m, and a third-place finish in the 1500m. She said her focus will be on the upcoming Junior World Championships and “maintaining my strength, doing everything I can.”

Shuai, meanwhile, was looking forward to a couple of days off.

“Just playing games. Relaxing and listening to music, eating like crap for two days,” he said with a laugh. “Then I’ll get back to training.”

Also posting three podium finishes were Howard and Heo in the men’s competition. In addition to his win in the 500m, Howard posted third-place finishes in the 500m and 1000m. Heo had second-place finishes in the 500m and 1500m, and a third-place finish in the 1000m.

Seung-Min Kwon won the second Men’s 1000m with a time of 1:30.118 and posted a runner-up finish in the 500m. Justin Liu had a second-place finish in the 1000m. Posting third-place spots were Caleb Park in the 1000m and Brandon Kim in the 1500m.

The other win in the women’s competition was posted in the 1000m by Elizabeth Rhodehamel. She won the race with a time of 1:47.414. She also had a third-place finish in the 1500m.

Olimpia Kazanecka, a Potomac teammate of Chen, had four podium finishes spread over all three distances: a pair of second-place finishes in the Women’s 500m and 1500m, and third-place finishes in the 500m and 1000m.

Sofia Koons posted a second-place finish in the Women’s 1000m, and Selena Su had a third-place finish in the 1000m.

Find the full results list here.

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.