S’pore speed skater, 17, earns world c’ships spot

SINGAPORE — It was her first time donning Singapore colours at an international competition, but speed skater Cheyenne Goh made a big impression at the Intercontinental Short Track Invitational in Calgary last weekend.

The 17-year-old clocked new personal best times across her three events — the women’s 500m, 1,000m (1:38.188), 1,500m (2:31.457) — with her time of 47.658sec in the 500m qualifying her for a spot in the 2017 International Skating Union (ISU) World Short Track Speed Skating Championships.

Cheyenne is the first Singapore female skater to qualify for the prestigious event, which will be held in Rotterdam in March next year.

The teenager — a former ice hockey player who is based in Canada and only joined the Singapore national team this year — will also compete in next month’s ISU World Cup Short Track Championships in Calgary and Salt Lake City, before heading to Innsbruck, Austria for the ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships in January 2017.

“It’s my first international competition for Singapore and I think it went quite well,” said the Leduc Composite High School student yesterday. “My times were good but I would have liked to place higher. I’m really excited for worlds and I think it will be a good experience. I haven’t had a lot of experience at the high level and I want to do as well as I can.”

Cheyenne’s achievement in Calgary will be a boost for the national team ahead of next year’s SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, where winter sports ice skating and ice hockey will feature in the biennial event for the first time in its 58-year history.

Cheyenne is looking forward to her debut at the regional Games, as she added: “I’m definitely looking at that and I hope to do well there. I’ve skated with some of my competitors from Malaysia and it’s going to be really competitive at the SEA Games.”

The sport of speed skating has made significant progress in recent years, with the Singapore Ice Skating Association (Sisa) landing a major coup last November with the hiring of South Korea’s four-time Olympic gold medallist Chun Lee-kyung as its national coach.

“Singapore short track speed skating has been achieving phenomenal growth, and we are seeing very promising talent emerge in the last few years,” said Sisa president Sonja Chong.

“With her personal bests, Cheyenne has proven yet again that she has what it takes to help put Singapore on the world short track stage. We will be tracking her progress and performance closely in the upcoming major competitions.”