Dutch skater Suzanne Schulting is favourite to get her season off to a winning start in Salt Lake City ©Getty Images

Olympic champion Suzanne Schulting will bid to get the 2019-2020 season off to a winning start, as the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating series begins in Salt Lake City tomorrow.

Dutch skater Schulting claimed gold at Pyeongchang 2018 and became only the second European winner of the women's title at the 2019 ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Bulgaria, clinching gold in the 1,000 metres and 3,000m super final.

She comes into the season as hot favourite again after going through the 2019 series without losing a single 1,000m final she competed in, becoming both overall champion in the 1,000m and 1,500m ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating events.

The first event on this year's calendar will be at Salt Lake City's Utah Olympic Oval, with action starting tomorrow and concluding on Sunday (November 3).

But Schulting may not have it all her own way, with South Korean star Choi Min Jeong and Canadian Kim Boutin also gunning for glory this weekend.

Choi was slowed by injury in the last campaign, but had previously won three World Championships in the last five years, while Boutin improved through the 2018-2019 season, claiming bronze at the World Championships.

South Korean Lim Hyo Jun claimed 1,500m gold at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang ©Getty Images
South Korean Lim Hyo Jun claimed 1,500m gold at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang ©Getty Images

Poland's Natalia Maliszewska, Martina Valcepina from Italy and Lara van Ruijven from The Netherlands are expected to dominate the 500m, with Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic champion Arianna Fontana back in the medal hunt after a season off.

In the men's field, Lim Hyo Jun from South Korea became 2019 500m world champion in Sofia after a fearsome battle with compatriot Hwang Dae Heon, and the duo are expected to resume their rivalry as the season begins.

Fellow Koreans Park Ji Won and Hong Kyung Hwan finished first and second, respectively, in the overall series at the end of the 2018-2019 campaign and will have a duel with the returning Sjinkie Knegt from The Netherlands and Shaoang Liu from Hungary.

Knegt and Liu both endured off-ice accidents last season, but are back in action. 

Following the conclusion of the World Cup event in Salt Lake City, the series will move on to Montreal between November 8 to 10 and Nagoya between November 29 to December 1.

Shanghai will host the fourth leg between December 6 to 8 before back-to-back stages in Dresden, from February 7 to 9, and Dordrecht, between February 14-16.