Kristen Santos-Griswold Becomes 1000m World Champion in Rotterdam

Vegan speed skater Kristen Santos-Griswold is world champion. The American won the women's 1000m at the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Rotterdam on Sunday, March 17, her first world title.

The final had to be run twice. Santos-Griswold was one of three skaters who crashed into the wall behind leader Hanne Desmet of Belgium, and when Desmet was disqualified the race was re-run. Santos-Griswold led the restart from start to finish and held off Crystal Globe winner Kim Gilli of South Korea in 1:42.717, US Speedskating reports.

She leaves Rotterdam with five medals. On Saturday she took silver in the 1500m and bronze in the 500m, and she added silver in the women's 3000m relay and bronze in the mixed team relay. She is the first American short tracker to win medals at all three individual distances at one World Championships since the sport joined the Olympics in 1992, and the first American to win a short track world title since 2011.

Several of her rivals in the final had also been in the Beijing 2022 Olympic 1000m final, where she finished fourth. She said:

It was almost all the same people from the Beijing 2022 (Olympics) final, just Gilli instead of Choi (Min-jeong, the Olympic Silver medalist). So it feels like redemption.

"I almost quit two seasons ago," she added. "The mental aspect was tough, so I'm very glad I didn't."

Santos-Griswold was raised vegetarian, has never eaten meat, and went fully vegan in 2018. She told Great Vegan Athletes that she began "feeling just overall so much better and began skating better too" after the switch, and she has no doubts about competing on plants:

I fully believe it's possible, if not, more beneficial to compete and succeed as a vegan.

In December she became the first American woman to win a World Cup 500m. Last month Ferrari confirmed vegan Lewis Hamilton will join them next year, and in November plant-based Novak Djokovic won a record seventh ATP Finals.

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