Kim and Santos-Griswold Win U.S. Titles as Corinne Stoddard Sits Out the World Tour Qualifier

Brandon Kim and Kristen Santos-Griswold are the United States' short track champions again. Kim defended his men's overall title and Santos-Griswold took the women's at the U.S. Short Track Championships & World Tour Qualifier, held at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah from September 25 to 27. The meet doubled as the qualifier for the U.S. World Tour team, which US Speedskating says "will be announced later". The World Tour opens in Vancouver on October 23–25.

How the Championships Worked

Every skater raced the 500m, 1000m and 1500m twice, six races in all. Each race pays 10,000 points for a win, with every place after worth 85% of the one before, and the six scores add up to the overall classification. More than 50 skaters started (57 appear in the official protocol: 39 men and 18 women).

Men: Kim Wins, Sullivan Wins Races but Sits Fifth

Brandon Kim won the overall title on 51,437 points. He won both 500m races and the second 1000m, and was second in both 1500m races, so he was on the podium in five of six.

Clayton DeClemente was second overall on 42,651, winning the first 1500m and placing second in both 1000m races. Andrew Heo was third on 35,723 with third places in both 1000m races. Justin Liu finished fourth on 35,392, second in both 500m races.

Benjamin Sullivan, a U19 skater, won the first 1000m and the second 1500m but was only fifth overall (29,934) because of a 20th place in the second 1000m and 9th and 10th places in the 500m. Marcus Howard was sixth, third in both 500m races. Noah Troppe was seventh and Ryan Shane eighth. Caleb Park, the other men's national team member in the field, was 11th.

Women: Santos-Griswold Wins Five of Six

Kristen Santos-Griswold won the overall title on 54,437 points. She won five of the six races, the exception being a sixth place in the second 500m. Isabella Chen, a U17 skater, was second on 43,350 points and Kamryn Lute third on 39,963, runner-up in both 1000m races and both 1500m races.

Louisiana Stahl was fourth and Olimpia Kazanecka fifth. Elizabeth Rhodehamel was sixth and was runner-up in the second 500m. Vanessa Chan, one of two under-15 skaters in the field, won that second 500m and finished seventh overall.

Corinne Stoddard Is Taking a Break

The most important line for managers is about someone who did not race. Corinne Stoddard, the defending women's overall champion and an Olympic bronze medallist in Milano Cortina, is not in the results. US Speedskating reports that she will take a break from short track to return to her roots as an inline skater, and is set to return to short track later this season. The report gives no date. Eunice Lee, the other women's national team member named in July, is also not in the protocol.

Who Makes the World Tour Team?

Not decided yet. The roster will be announced later, and the report does not spell out how the results will be applied. Treat the standings above as a strong indicator, not a confirmed squad.

What It Means in Short Track Manager

Vancouver and Montreal are World Tour #1 and #2 in the game, the first two scoring competitions of 2026/27. Here is where the top finishers who are in the athlete pool sit at season-start pricing:

Five of the top seven finishers were not in the athlete pool before the Championships: Benjamin Sullivan (5th), Isabella Chen (2nd), Olimpia Kazanecka (5th), Elizabeth Rhodehamel (6th) and Vanessa Chan (7th). They have now been added, priced from their Championships finish through the game's national-trial boost: Chen, Kazanecka and Rhodehamel at ◆3M, and Sullivan and Vanessa Chan at ◆2M.

Isabella Chen is the one to watch. The U17 skater finished second overall on 43,350 points, ahead of senior Kamryn Lute (39,963), and at ◆3M she costs the same as Lute. The boost is based on how strong the U.S. women's field is, and it was calculated without Stoddard, who did not race, so it is modest. It is a starting price only: it will move with her World Tour results, and she still needs a World Tour berth to score.

Stoddard at ◆25M is the risk. She is the only American in the top price tier, and she did not race the qualifier. Prices use a rolling window that includes the last four World Tour competitions held, so every stop she misses adds a zero to that window. With no return date given, she is a hold-or-sell decision rather than a buy until the team list shows where she stands.

Kim and Santos-Griswold look cheap for champions. Kim is a national champion at ◆7M with a downward trend, and Santos-Griswold won five of six races at ◆14M, also trending down. Both still need a World Tour berth, and neither is priced near Stoddard's tier.

DeClemente and Lute are the value story. DeClemente is second overall at ◆7M and Lute third at ◆3M, both trending up. Heo at ◆10M was third and is the priciest of the men's trio.

The ◆1M finishers are a selection lottery. Liu, Howard, Troppe, Shane, Stahl and Willhoite all sit at the price floor after top-eight finishes. Whether they pay off depends entirely on the roster, so wait for the list before spending on any of them.

The Relay Angle

The championships did not include relay races, and the report gives no relay results, so nothing here changes the picture. The men's 5000m relay has the deepest pool of the three, but the lineup depends on the roster, which is not out yet.

A reminder on all of the above: prices move. Every athlete and relay team is repriced after each competition based on the rolling scoring window, so these figures are a starting point for the season, not a fixed cost.

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Sources

• US Speedskating — Brandon Kim, Kristen Santos-Griswold Open Season With U.S. Overall Titles (September 28, 2026)
• US Speedskating — Results (official protocol PDF for the 2026 U.S. Short Track Championships & World Tour Qualifier)
• US Speedskating — Introducing the 2026-27 Short Track National Team (July 7, 2026)