Short track is more fun. The obvious difference, apart from short track being on a shorter course, is that all the skaters go at the same time. For me, this is more entertaining because: * Skaters are always trying to pass each other, rather than just competing against time. * Eight skaters in the same race means a potential medal winner is always on the ice. There are long track events that only get to determine who finishes 11th. * Because it gets so crowded around the turns, there's a lot of potential for drama. Turns are the best times to attempt a pass, but also the easiest times to make a mistake or be wiped out by a guy who makes a mistake. So there's always a tension between risk and safety. Some people hate short track because refereeing decisions can influence a race and sometimes the 4th best skater ends up winning after the three skaters in front crash into each other. But this is exactly like soccer! They're not the best things about the sport, but they don't me from enjoying the rest of it.
Short track is far more entertaining imo. Anyone catch women's final where China won gold against all the odds because the Brit wiped out Korea and Italy, allowing last place China an easy win? All 4 women were balling their eyes out, and all for different reasons. The Korean was balling because she had the race in the bag (as expected), the Italian was balling out of pure happiness that she even got a medal, the Brit was crying because she lost the bronze when the judges dq'd her and chinese girl was crying for pretty much the same reason as the Italian.d I've seen a lot of foregone conclusions with long track. The racers all go through the heats and so forth so that by the time the finals come around you have a pretty good idea who the medals will go to.