Short track speed skating kicked off Tuesday at the 2026 Winter Olympics, with Team USA's Kristen Santos-Griswold and Corinne Stoddard delivering a split result in the women's 500-meter heats.
Santos-Griswold won her heat with a time of 42.767 seconds, advancing to the quarterfinals alongside China's Chutong Zhang. And for the 31-year-old, the result opens a redemption tour four years in the making.
A crash on the final lap cost Santos-Griswold a bronze medal at the 2022 Beijing Games, knocking her off the 1,000-meter podium. She briefly considered retiring from the sport, before ultimately returning to become the world's top all-around short track skater.
Things didn't go as well for Santos-Griswold's US teammate Corinne Stoddard.
Racing against China's Xinran Wang, Japan's Rika Kanai, France's and Aurelie Leveque, the 24-year-old speed skater fell on the third lap to trigger a multi-skater pileup. She attempted to recover but stumbled again, effectively ending her race. She subsequently finished last with a time of 1:11.651.
Despite the setback, Team USA managed to advance three skaters overall, with Julie Letai also qualifying for the quarterfinals despite finishing third in her heat.
Santos-Griswold enters as the reigning Crystal Globe champion following a dominant 2024/25 season that included nine individual distance World Tour medals and a historic five medals at the 2024 World Short Track Championships. She stands as the first US women's short track speed skater to medal at three individual distances at a single world championship.
US women's speed skating hasn't reached an Olympic short track podium since 2010, as Santos-Griswold now leads Team USA's best chance of ending that drought.
