Short track skaters Corinne Stoddard and Brandon Kim kicked off their Olympic campaigns with a bang, snapping one national record each and claiming national titles in all of the three contested races at the 2026 U.S. Championships Short Track & World Tour Qualifier in Kearns, Utah.

Held at the Utah Olympic Oval, the three-day event carried bigger stakes than usual this year. Typically, the United States pieces together its Olympic roster based on performances on the World Tour circuit and at Olympic Trials. This year, however, the country will not hold Trials, meaning the only chance U.S. skaters have to clinch an Olympic spot is through the World Tour.

On the first day of competition, the 24-year-old Kim broke a nearly 13-year-old mark set by three-time Olympian J.R. Celski, racing the men's 500m in 39.83 seconds. The following day, Stoddard raised the national bar in the women's 1000m, finishing the race in a record 1:26.46. The record previously was held by Kristen Santos-Griswold, who elected to skip the event to recover from a back injury.

Despite two finals that were restarted due to disastrous spills or contact between the athletes' skates — including one that was recalled six times — Stoddard stayed cool through the entire competition, cruising to victory in all six of her races and beating her opponents to the finish line by a second or more in five of them.

The men's contests were a little tighter, but Kim battled his way to first place three times, completing each race within one- or two-tenths of a second in front of the second-place finisher. 

With decisive victories in all three events, Kim and Stoddard also topped the overall podiums at the competition, each securing their spot on the World Tour team. Andrew Heo and Clayton DeClemente rounded out the men's podium, while Julie Letai and Kamryn Lute followed Stoddard on the women's side.

 

Below are the full results of the contest:

2026 U.S. Championships Short Track & World Tour Qualifier Results
Event Men Women
500m
  1. Brandon Kim
  2. Andrew Heo
  3. Seung-Min Kwon
  1. Corinne Stoddard
  2. Julie Letai
  3. Eunice Lee
1000m
  1. Brandon Kim
  2. Clayton DeClemente
  3. Marcus Howard
  1. Corinne Stoddard
  2. Grace Lee
  3. Julie Letai
1500m
  1. Brandon Kim
  2. Andrew Heo
  3. Clayton DeClemente
  1. Corinne Stoddard
  2. Kamryn Lute
  3. Eunice Lee
Overall
  1. Brandon Kim (54,225 points)
  2. Andrew Heo (45,887)
  3. Clayton DeClemente (35,601)
  1. Corinne Stoddard (60,000)
  2. Julie Letai (40,515)
  3. Kamryn Lute (38,748)

 

US Speedskating is expected to release its full World Tour squad sometime this week. Upon announcing her decision to sit out U.S. Champs, Santos-Griswold, who won the 2025 Crystal Globe, invoked her Medal Contender status, which automatically qualifies her for the circuit.

The event also will determine the Junior World Cup team.

The ISU World Tour will kick off in October, with back-to-back stops in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 9-12 and Oct. 16-19.