ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating, Dordrecht: India’s Akash Aradhya makes early exit
The Indian finished last in the 500m preliminary race and second-last in the 1000m. Neither was enough for him to progress to the heats.
India’s Akash Aradhya failed to progress beyond the preliminaries in both men’s 500m and 1000m at the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating 2021 in Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
In the men’s 500m preliminaries on Thursday, Akash Aradhya finished last in his four-man group with a timing of 43.673 seconds. France’s Sebastien Lepape (41.158) topped the group followed by Dutch skater Dylan Hoogerwerf (41.225). Australia’s Keanu Blunden (42.165) came in third.
The Indian skater did better in the 1000m preliminaries on Friday, and finished fourth in a five-man group, clocking 1:30.784 seconds. He finished ahead of Malaysia’s Sean Qi Jun Yeo, who finished the track in 1:37.474.
Israel’s Vladislav Bykanov (1:28.677) won the group with USA’s Ryan Pivirotto (1:28.822) and Czech skater Zdenek Sejpal (1:29.201) coming in second and third, respectively.
In both 500 and 1000m, the top two skaters from each group and up to a maximum of four fastest third-placed skaters qualify for heats.
The Dordrecht meet is the fourth and final event of the International Skating Union’s (ISU) 2021 World Cup series, where each World Cup acts as qualifiers for the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Each short speed skater’s three best results from the series of four counts towards qualification for next year’s big event in China.
Akash Aradhya has been unable to progress beyond the first round - the preliminaries – in any of the four events held in Beijing, Nagoya, Debrecen and now in Dordrecht.