Prince William Ice Center to Host U.S. Junior National Short-Track Speedskating Championships

January 22, 2013

The Prince William Ice Center in Virginia will host the 3-day U.S. Junior National Short-Track Speedskating Championships on January 25-27, therapy 2013.

Sixty-three (63) of the top junior short-track skaters, bronchi ages 13-19, will vie for a berth on the U.S. Junior World Championship team at the event.

The eight U.S.Junior skaters (4 men and 4 women) selected will go on to compete in the World Junior Short Track Championships taking place February 22-24 in Warsaw, Poland .

The Junior Nationals are an important stepping stone to a possible future Olympic Games selection, in a sport where more U.S. Winter Olympic medals have been won than in any other sport. Many of these talented junior skaters have qualified for an invitation to the US Olympic trials for short track speedskating to be held later in 2013.

Presented by Prince William Hospital and the Northern Virginia Orthopaedic Specialists in conjunction with Prince William County, the events are expected to draw nearly 1,000 skaters and families, officials, volunteers from all over the U.S.

The Virginia/Maryland/DC area is a hotbed for short-track speedskating in the U.S., driven in part by the strong local Korean-American community. In world competition, Korean skaters have dominated the sport, but the U.S. team is also regarded as a powerhouse in the sport thanks, in part, to the achievements of Apolo Anton Ohno, J.R. Celski and Katherine Reutter.