Belarusian short track skaters earn two Olympic spots

There will be first Belarusian male short track speed skaters at the Winter Olympics that are due in Sochi, Russia in 2014, BelTA learnt from press officer of the Belarusian Skating Union Olga Chernaya.

Before Belarus was represented at the Winter Games by Yulia Yesalkova-Pavlovich, in 2002 and 2006.

Belarusian skaters earned the Olympic berths following the results of the four ISU World Cup events of the 2013-14 season. Two of them, i.e. those in Turin, Italy and Kolomna, Russia, in November, were the Games qualification starts. The Belarusians made their focus on in individual events. Both of the spots are for the 1,500m heats.

According to Olga Chernaya, four short-track speed racers are getting ready for the Winter Olympics in Sochi: Maxim Sergeyev and Yevgeny Ryzhov (men’s team), Olga Talayeva and Vera Antonenko (women’s team).

Belarus’ best short track skaters will take part in the Belarus Cup at the Minsk Arena skating rink on 7-8 December. Medal events will be held in the individual 500m, 1000m, 1,500m, 3,000m, as well as in 3,000m (women) and 5,000m (men) relay events.

Belarusian speed skaters have not been able to earn Olympic Winter Games quota places yet. The Olympics qualification is held according to the showings demonstrated by athletes at the competitions held in the period from 1 July 2013 to 13 January 2014. The Belarusian Skating Union confirmed that the national speed racing team with Vitaly Mikhailov, Tatiana Mikhailova and Ksenia Sadovskaya had taken part in the two ISU World Cup events in Calgary (Canada) and Salt Lake City (the U.S.) which provided chances to qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Belarusians did not qualify.

Belarus will have one more chance to earn Olympics spots in Sochi at the ISU World Cup event in Berlin scheduled for 6-8 December.

It has been earlier reported that Belarus failed to qualify for 2014 Winter Games in figure skating and qualified for the Olympic competitions in biathlon, cross-country skiing, freestyle and Alpine skiing.

The Olympic Games in Sochi will be held on 7-23 February 2014. The program will include seven sports: biathlon, bobsleigh and skeleton, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating (speed skating, figure skating, short track speed skating), skiing (cross-country skiing, Alpine skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, freestyle skiing, snowboarding).