Kristen Santos-Griswold has finished the short track speed skating World Tour season ranked No. 1 in the world, becoming the third American to win an overall title.
Santos-Griswold had the best results across 18 total races among the 500m, 1000m and 1500m distances over six stops on the circuit dating to last October.
She wrapped up the overall title this weekend at the 2026 Olympic venue in Milan, Italy, winning the 1000m on Saturday and the 500m on Sunday.
The previous Americans to finish a short track season ranked No. 1 were eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno (2000-01, ’02-03, ’04-05) and Katherine Reutter ('10-11), the last American woman to win an Olympic short track medal in 2010. The annual short track World Cup began in 1998-99.
Last season, Santos-Griswold won a medal in all five events at the World Championships, including her first world title in the 1000m.
Santos-Griswold made her Olympic debut in 2022 with a best finish of fourth, then took time to decide whether to keep skating.
This season brought challenges. Santos-Griswold won four individual races, but also crashed at least six times on the World Tour.
“Bad luck seemed to be the theme of the season for me,” she said recently, according to the International Skating Union.
Next up are the World Championships from March 14-16 in Beijing, live on Peacock.
Competition could ratchet up in the 2025-26 Olympic season.
Dutchwoman Suzanne Schulting, the world No. 1 from 2018-19 to 2022-23, spent this season skating long track instead as she worked her way back from breaking an ankle at last March’s short track worlds. She has said she wants to race both disciplines at the 2026 Olympics.
South Korea’s Kim Gil-Li, the 2023-24 overall champion, missed the fifth of six World Tour stops to compete in the Asian Winter Games. That took her out of the running for this season’s overall, though she trailed Santos-Griswold after four stops.
