Sean Shuai Takes Fifth in Men’s 1500m at Short Track Junior World Championships
Share:
by Paul D. Bowker
Sean Shuai scored a fifth-place finish in the Men’s 1500m to lead the U.S. team at the ISU Short Track Junior World Championships over the weekend in Calgary, Canada.
The 18-year-old Shuai, competing in his second Junior World Championships, was the only American to reach an A Final in the three-day competition.
Justin Liu, competing in his third Junior World Championships, joined Shuai in the 500m B Final and finished fourth, or ninth overall. Liu was in the 500m B Final for the second consecutive year. He finished eighth in 2024.
Liu, Shuai and Youth Olympians Kyungeun Jang and Elizabeth Rhodehamel combined for the Mixed Team Relay. In a competitive Quarterfinal race against South Korea and Japan, along with teams from Belgium and Turkiye, U.S. athletes stayed on their feet and crossed the finish line third, just missing qualifying for the semifinals.
Shuai posted third- and fifth-place finishes in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, on the way to the 1500m A Final. He ultimately finished fifth with a time of 2:22.951, missing a podium spot by 3.773 seconds.
A Junior Worlds Silver medalist in the 500m a year ago, Shuai won his quarterfinal heat at that distance this time around but was fourth in his semifinal, missing an A Final spot by less than half a second. He ended as the runner-up in the B Final to take seventh place overall. His time of 41.078 seconds in the B Final was the second fastest of all the finalists.
Last year, Shuai won the 500m at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, becoming the first American short track skater to win a Gold medal in that event.
Of the weekend, Shuai shared that this weekend was “not the race I wanted,” but that he’ll “come back stronger next season for my last year of juniors.”
Justin Liu, competing in his third Junior World Championships, joined Shuai in the 500m B Final and finished fourth, landing at ninth overall. Liu was in the 500m B Final for the second consecutive year. He finished eighth in 2024.
Eliza Rhodehamel was the only American to reach a semifinal in the women’s events. She finished second in the 1500m quarterfinals before taking eighth in the semis. Sofia Koons had a fourth-place finish in the Women’s 1500m quarterfinals.
The Men’s Relay team, composed of Shuai, Justin Liu, Aidan Liu, and Benjamin Sullivan had a strong start in the Quarterfinals but after an unfortunate fall did not qualify for the next round.
Other members of the Junior World Team were Selena Su, who combined with Jang, Koons, and Rhodehamel, raced the Women’s Relay, again just missing qualifying for the semifinals in a competitive quarterfinals race Friday afternoon in Calgary.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic 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.
