Ryan Sets Three National Records At Short Track World Juniors Debut

Ava Ryan (18) made a successful debut at the ISU (International Skating Union) World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships as she set three new Irish national records in Bormio, Italy over the weekend.

Ryan began the championships with the qualifying rounds of the 500, 1000 and 1500 metres on Day One. In Heat 3 of the 1500 metres quarterfinals, she placed fifth in a time of 2:33.047. She followed that up a 47.657 clocking in Heat 4 of the 500 metres preliminaries to finish in fifth again with her first new national record of the competition. She ended the first day of the event with the 1000 metres preliminaries where she raced in Heat 5 and raced to fourth place in another national record of 1:36.734.

Day Two saw her line up for the ranking finals of the 1500 and 500 metres. In the 1500, Ryan broke her third national record of the weekend with a time 2:32.183 in Heat 2 for a third place. She finished 38th overall for the distance. She was back on the ice for Heat 2 of the 500 in which she clocked 48.387 to come second and place 45th overall.

On the final day of competition, Ryan competed in the 1000 metres ranking final. She participated in Heat 3 where she posted a time of 1:38.320 to come in fourth place. She was classified as 37th overall for the distance.

“Though I got personal records in all the distances, I feel I could have raced better this weekend,” Ryan said. “I made a lot of my mistakes due to my lack of experience competing at this level. Since I’ve only been racing for three years at local competitions, I hope with more international racing experience my results will improve in the future.”