Sean McAnuff Completes Salt Lake City World Cup Season Opener

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Irish short track speed skater Sean McAnuff competed over the weekend at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Salt Lake City to begin his season of racing at the Utah Olympic Oval.

McAnuff started the competition with the heats of the 500 metres where he lined up in Heat 1. He finished fourth in a time of 42.826, just over half a second off his personal best. In the repechage quarterfinals, he also came fourth in Heat 4 while bringing his time down once again to 42.658. Overall, he finished 40th for the distance.

McAnuff also participated in the 1000 metres heats where he was drawn in Heat 4. Half way through the race, contact was made between him and another skater on a corner and he was subsequently disqualified. Unfortunately, this also meant he could not skate in the repechage.

Full results for the ISU World Cup Short Track are available here.

Sean McAnuff In Salt Lake City World Cup Season Opener

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Sean McAnuff (22) will make his season debut as Ireland’s sole representative at this weekend’s International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating in Salt Lake City, United States of America (1-3 November).

McAnuff concluded last season with a 38th place at the World Championships debut in Sofia, Bulgaria. This season he will be aiming to build on this performance and move up the global standings.

“I am looking forward to this coming season,” he said. “I am excited to begin racing this weekend in Salt Lake CitySe.”

The weekend’s event in Salt Lake City will be the first of six World Cup events across three continents. McAnuff will compete in two individual distances – the 500 metres and the 1000 metres.

The event will be live streamed on the ISU Skating Channel (geo blocking may apply in certain territories) and for the first time ever, live streams will be available in certain territories on social media platforms, follow us on social media to find out more.

For further information on Short Track Speed Skating, visit https://www.isu.org/short-track.

Learn To Skate Classes At South Dublin On Ice

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The Ice Skating Association of Ireland (ISAI) is pleased to announce Learn to Skate classes will be available at South Dublin on Ice, Tallaght for the 2019/2020 season.

Classes will run for eight weeks starting 16 November. Each class is 50 minutes long and taught by a qualified ISAI Emerald Skate Instructor. Participants will be placed in classes based on age and ability. Contact info@isai.ie for further information.

2019-2020 Irish Speed Skating Team Announced

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The selection of the Irish National Speed Skating Team Team for the 2019-2020 season has been made by the Board of Directors of the Ice Skating Association of Ireland (ISAI).

The ISAI has selected the following members to compete in International Skating Union (ISU) speed skating events for the 2019-2020 season:

Speed Skating

Tara Donoghue

Short Track Speed Skating

Ava Fradlin-Ryan
Ryan McAnuff
Sean McAnuff
Liam O’Brien

Tara Donoghue continued to make history last season by becoming the first Irish speed skater to participate in the World Junior Speed Skating Championships. She also set a number of new Irish records and personal bests over the course of her competitive assignments.

Ava Fradlin-Ryan is the first female short track speed skater to be named to an Irish national team. She trains under Simon Cho, 2010 Olympic medallist, at the Potomac Speed Skating Club in Maryland, United States of America.

Ryan McAnuff started a degree in medicine at the University of Limerick last year and balanced his studies with training and competition. At the European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Dordrecht, Netherlands, he smashed his 1500 metres national record by four seconds.

Sean McAnuff joined his brother Ryan at those Europeans and they became the first Irish ice skaters to compete in the same category at an International Skating Union (ISU) Championships. Sean capped off his season by making his World Short Track Speed Skating Championship debut in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Liam O’Brien is selected for the Irish national team for the first time. He currently trains at the Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink in Sydney, Australia with coaches Scott Weekes and Maggie Holland.

You can find out more about our national team members here.

Member Workshop

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A two hour members workshop will be held from 14.00hrs at the Premier Inn London Stratford Hotel, London on Sunday, 31 March. The workshop will cover membership of the Ice Skating Association of Ireland, rules and regulations, competitions and national team selection. Please contact info@isai.ie for further details.

Sean McAnuff 38th At World Short Track

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Ireland’s Sean McAnuff has finished in 38th place overall at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships this weekend in Sofia, Bulgaria.

On the first of three days of racing, McAnuff participated in the qualifying rounds. In the 1500 metres quarterfinals, he lined up in Heat 4 and came home in fifth in a time of  2:23.770. Next up were the 500 metres preliminaries where he finished third in Heat 5 with a time of 43.333 and advanced to the heats. He posted a quicker time of 43.277 in Heat 2 to end up in fifth. The 1000 metres preliminaries ended up being his final race of the opening day and he placed fourth in Heat 1 in a time of 1:31:968.

There were two ranking finals for McAnuff on the second day of competition inside the Arena Armeec. In Heat 3 of the 1500 metres, he crossed the line in first place in a time of 2:37.283. He backed that result up by coming second in Heat 6 of the 500 metres where he clocked 43.440.

The final race of McAnuff’s maiden World Championships appearance was the 1000 metres ranking final on the last day of competition. He placed fourth in Heat 4 with a time of 1:32.266. This gave him an overall classification of 38th for the event.

“I had a great weekend of racing against the best in the world,” McAnuff. “I am looking forward to next season already and will be working hard in preparation over the coming months.”

Full results for the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships are here.

Sean McAnuff Takes On Short Track Worlds

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Sean McAnuff carries Irish hopes that this weekend’s International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track Speed Skating World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria (8-10 March). Read more

Introductory Short Track Officials Seminar

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An introductory short track officials seminar will be held at The Beacon Hotel, Sandyford, Dublin 18 on Sunday 3 March from 10am until 2pm. Please email info@isai.ie to register for the seminar.

2018 Review: A Year Of Milestones For Irish Ice Skating

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2018 got off to a bright start with Elizabeth Golding claiming gold in the Advanced Novice Ladies event at the FBMA Trophy (Abu Dhabi, UAE) in January. Conor Stakelum took home Senior Men’s silver at the same event. Later on in the month, Stakelum also became the first male skater from Ireland to compete at a European Figure Skating Championships when he took to the ice in Moscow Russia. He finished in 36th place. Sean McAnuff made his debut at the European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Dresden, Germany where he finished 28th overall and thus secured two spots for Ireland in the 2019 championships.

In February, Stakelum set two new national senior records in the short programme (54.77) and total score (158.33).

March saw Sam McAllister become the first Irish skater since Viv Murphy in 2010 to compete at a World Junior Figure Skating Championships when he placed 44th in Sofia Bulgaria. Ryan McAnuff raced to 35th place overall at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Montreal, Canada over St. Patrick’s weekend.

The 2018/2019 season got off to a magnificent start in August when Elizabeth Golding set a new set of Irish Junior records at the Junior Grand Prix in Linz, Austria. At the age of 13, Golding also became the youngest Irish skater to ever participate in the series.

In October, Tara Donoghue broke the Irish women’s 1500 metres speed skating record in Berlin, Germany. Her time of 2:11.76 also qualified her for the Junior World Cup Final and World Junior Speed Skating Championships in February 2019.

Sean McAnuff broke both the 500 metres and 1000 metres senior Irish records at the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating in Calgary, Canada in November. Tara Donoghue smashed her Irish 3000 metres record at the ISU Junior World Cup Speed Skating in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland by eight seconds to also qualify herself for that distance at the Junior World Cup Final and World Junior Speed Skating Championships in February 2019. Conor Stakelum posted a new set of Irish senior records on his way to a fourth place at the Denkova-Staviski Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Thanks to everyone who supported Irish ice skating in 2018!

 

Tara Donoghue Smashes Another Irish Record At Junior World Cup

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Tara Donoghue broke new ground this weekend as she participated in her first International Skating Union (ISU) Junior World Cup Speed Skating of this season in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.

Donoghue began her racing with the 1000 metres where she placed 36th in a time of 1:27.03, just 0.33 outside her personal best.

The Irish skater proceeded to the 3000 metres where she demolished her previous Irish record of 4:46.37 by almost eight seconds. Her clocking of 4:38.55 put her in 15th place for the distance and also earned her the qualifying time for the Junior World Cup Final in February 2019.

Donoghue was back on the ice for the 500 metres earlier today where she put in another solid showing. Her time of 43.46 was only 0.09 seconds outside her personal best and gave her a ranking of 33rd. She made the qualifying time for the 1500 metres in Germany last month.

Her final event of the competition was the Mass Start and she finished 16th overall in a time of 6:10.96.

Detailed results for the competition can be found here.