Faster, fiercer and far more intriguing with the Olympics on the horizon — the endgame of short-track speed skating's 2024-25 season is serving up the closest possible test to the challenge that will face the world's best at Milano-Cortina 2026.

From heated battles between in-form superstars to some era-defining rivalries on ice, the 2025 International Skating Union short-track world championships, which take place from Friday to Sunday in Beijing, will have it all, as aspirant medal contenders do battle at the Capital Indoor Stadium in a bid to get a head-start on their race to the Olympic podium.

Skaters from China's national short track speed skating team train in Beijing on October 17, 2024. (Xinhua/Luo Yuan)

Among the 164 skaters from 36 nations and regions to hit the ice in Beijing, fresh ISU Crystal Globe winners Kristen Santos-Griswold of the United States and her male counterpart William Dandjinou of Canada have emerged as rarely-seen all-arounders — and as undisputed favorites across all individual events — but, everywhere they look, top-class challengers are waiting to pounce.

Despite their dominance on the recently concluded 2024-25 World Tour, both Santos-Griswold and Dandjinou are approaching the meet knowing they have to step it up a gear with the Milano-Cortina Games just 11 months away.

"Nothing is given to you in short-track, so I have to earn everything," said Dandjinou, who collected a whopping eight gold medals from six World Tour events to claim the first season top-performer trophy for Canadian men last month.

"To me, the world championships provide another opportunity to improve myself to the best of my ability. So, I come into them with a clean slate and desire to win.

"But, everyone's ready, so I can anticipate some good races. I think, besides the Olympic Games, this is the biggest competition."

Led by the 23-year-old Dandjinou, the defending 1,000m world champion, Canada bagged 37 medals, including 21 gold, on the topflight ISU tour, winning the inaugural team Crystal Globe, while signing off the tour season with its skaters ranked top-three overall in five of the six individual distances and all three relays.

Women's reigning 1,000m world champion Santos-Griswold has also opted to start from scratch on her return to the Beijing 2022 venue, where she narrowly missed out on the Olympic podium.

"I honestly don't really have too many expectations, besides showing up every day and trying my hardest. That's what I do every day, and it's been working out for me," said the 31-year-old distance-event specialist.

"I've also been working on the mental aspect of my skating. It's definitely a really hard sport mentally. A lot of things can happen that are out of your control, and sometimes that's really frustrating. But, I just try to really take it one step at a time, one race at a time," said Santos-Griswold, who won four gold medals on the tour to become the third American winner of the globe trophy.

With all the world powerhouses on its doorstep, the ambitious host team — known as the "Chinese Loongs" — won't be satisfied with just doing its best this coming weekend, after a relatively thin medal harvest from the tour — and more crucially, from last month's Asian Winter Games — it is fired up to live up to its aggressive tour moniker.

"Everyone is in pretty good form, and we all expect to show more fight on our home ice for sure," said Sun Long, China's men's 1,500m defending world champion.

"I believe we have what it takes to go and compete for gold in all relay events, while racing at home and being cheered on by our own crowd with the red flags flying. That will definitely give us an extra push to go for the best results we can," said Sun, who won his second 500m gold this season at the tour's Italy leg last month, on the same rink that will host the Olympic short-track competition in Milan.

Even with a competitive roster featuring Sun and Olympic champions, such as Lin Xiaojun, Liu Shaoang and Fan Kexin, Team China finished the 2024-25 World Tour with a subpar haul of five gold, two silver and five bronze medals, while also being dominated by its neighboring rival South Korea on home ice at the Winter Asiad in Harbin.

The Beijing worlds have just offered them a final chance this season to pick up their pace and confidence in time for the ultimate race in Italy. "This is the final battle this year, up against the world's best. When next season kicks off with the real business leading up to the Olympics, we cannot afford any more mistakes. So, this is where we shall make our stand and fight to bounce back," veteran women's skater Fan said after Thursday's opening training session.

Racing against the host and the mighty Western powerhouses are the South Korean "White Tigers", a longtime dominant force in the short-track discipline that has seen young leaders Park Ji-won and Kim Gil-li mature enough to lead the East Asian country back into Olympic medal contention.

Park, as a two-time men's Crystal Globe winner (2022-2024), will channel his frustration from a medal-less worlds campaign last year in the Netherlands into a stronger push for gold in Beijing, while Kim, the reigning women's 1,500m world champion, is keen to emerge from the shadow of her two-time Olympic champion teammate Choi Min-jeong and demonstrate her own Olympic medal credentials.