MASS START SPEEDSKATING

Here is proof that the IOC is all for rock’em sock’em sport. They have taken the elegant, graceful sport of long track speedskating and tossed in the mayhem of short track, via the mass start of as many as 24 skaters. Rules: They race 16 laps of a 400-metre oval, but there are bonus points for winning the intermediate sprints, including the one at the finish.

No wonder USA skater Joey Mantia described the event as “NASCAR on ice.” Canada’s

Susan Auch, who started her career in short track events, switched to long track because she was tired of training years for a big event, only to lose out in a fluke crash. Auch must be glad she is interim CEO of Speed Skating Canada, and not lining up for a mass start race. Interestingly, there was a mass start event in the 1932 Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Who’s hot: Mantia won the 2017 men’s world title. Korea’s Kim Bo-Reum, the 2016-17 World Cup overall champion will be a contender on her home turf.

MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES The women’s mass start race of the European Speed Skating Championship in Kolomna last month.