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One of the final steps toward the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, begins this World Cup season. On Monday afternoon, U.S. Speedskating announced its 2016-2017 short-track World Cup team for the upcoming ISU World Cup season.

Twelve skaters (six men and six women) earned national-team spots following last weekend's U.S. team trials at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns — nine of whom return from last year's squad. Highlighting the teams are three-time Olympic medalists J.R. Celski and Katherine Reutter, also a three-time Olympic medalist, who recently returned to the track ending a four-year retirement from the ice.

Celski, who has battled injuries since the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, won all four race events in the 15 heats he competed in over the weekend. Joining him on the men's World Cup team are World Cup gold medalist John-Henry Krueger, Keith Carroll Jr., Thomas Hong, Ryan Pivirotto and Salt Lake City's Adam Callister.

"From top to bottom, the men pushed one another this past weekend and brought the best racing out of each other," said men's short-track head coach Anthony Barthell in a statement. "We have a strong and deep group of skaters on Team USA heading into the first four ISU World Cups. We have a few more guys who just missed the team but will continue to push our top skaters in training and contribute to everyone's preparation."

Reutter is joined by World Cup veteran Jessica Kooreman as well as Kimi Goetz, Katy Ralston, Kristen Santos and April Shin.

"It's exciting to see Jessica [Kooreman] and Katherine [Reutter] lead our women's team into the World Cup season and help with the growth of the rest of the team," said women's short-track head coach Alex Izykowski. "From what we saw this past weekend, we've got a competitive women's team with any of our women capable of battling in every distance."

The first two ISU short-track speedskating World Cups are featured on North American soil. The 2016 debut will be held in Calgary, Canada, Nov. 4-6, before the circuit makes its way to Utah for the second World Cup stop of the season, Nov. 11-13 at the Olympic Oval.

— Christopher Kamrani