Ohno Zone

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October 30, 2004

Apolo's 1000m quarterfinal crash

Here's a shot of the crash that took Apolo down during his 1000m quarterfinal race:

Chinese skater Haonan Li was disqualified for impeding and Apolo advanced to the semifinals. via sina.com

Posted by noelle at 11:11 PM | Comments (1)

World Cup Beijing Day 3 -- 1000m qualifying

Ohno comes from behind to advance to final; Kim DQ'ed

Boy, this is the weekend of DQ's for the Americans! Hyo-jung Kim, skating for a place in her first final, evidently impeded on Amanda Overland at some point. Overland fell, and Kim finished 3rd, subsequently getting disqualified. Better luck next time!

In an exciting and crowded men's semifinal 2, Apolo Ohno appeared to be all over the place... Live CSB splits showed him in last place much of the race. Still not sure how he came from behind at the very end to finish 2nd and advance to the final, but we all know what Apolo is capable of! He posted a blazing-fast final lap time of 7.5 seconds -- anyone know if such a time is actually possible?!

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Ohno goes down in his quarterfinal; he and Kim advance to semis

There is just no smooth sailing for the Americans this weekend in Beijing. Apolo Ohno endured a rocky quarterfinal race against Mathieu Turcotte, Andre Hartwig and Haonan Li.

It's so rare to see Apolo fall. He and Li somehow tangled with about 2 laps to go and it looked like both skaters fell, though Li recovered first. Apolo slowly completed his final 2 laps, finishing the race 30 seconds later. Li was disqualified for impeding and thankfully Apolo was advanced to the semis. Let's just hope that fall wasn't so hard that it affects his subsequent races!

Hyo-jung Kim had a trouble-free quarterfinal and managed to finished second, qualifying for her 2nd semifinal this weekend.

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DQs and a fall eliminate several Americans early on...

The final day of competition in Beijing got off to a difficult and disappointing start overall.

Allison Baver, skating in the first women's 1000m heat, earned her 3rd disqualification in a row. (This was a race I would have loved to see, with Allison, Mara Zini and Russian DQ Queen Tatiana Borodulina as well as two others.) Allison finished 3rd and therefore would not have advanced even without the DQ. This time Borodulina made it through unscathed!

Kristen Biondo faced stiff competition (she drew Meng Wang yet again!) in her heat and finished last.

Alone among the U.S. women to advance was Hyo-jung Kim, who skated in 1st or 2nd the entire race and ultimately won her heat.

Skating in the men's second-round heats, Shani Davis seemed to be making his way patiently forward one lap at a time. With three laps to go he was in 3rd and still looking to move up when he apparently fell and finished the heat in last place, some 14 seconds back. However, no call was made so Shani did not advance.

Rusty Smith easily won his preliminary race and seemed poised to finish his second-round heat in qualifying position. The splits on Live CSB were a bit odd to see and it looked like he went from 2nd to last back to 2nd all in the final 2 laps. If so, that may be where he ran into trouble as he was subsequently disqualified for impeding, making it two in a row for him.

Thankfully Apolo Ohno avoided all difficulty, winning his first-round heat and finishing 2nd in his second-round race.

Posted by noelle at 9:45 PM | Comments (3)

Maria Garcia hospitalized in Beijing after hard fall

Lots of news from US Speedskating, with details of falls overcome in most races on Day 2 in Beijing. However, Maria Garcia is another story. She suffered a bad fall yesterday during the women's relay semifinal that sent her into the mats. She was taken to a Beijing hospital where she is reportedly in stable condition. This after she suffered a fall and concussion almost a year ago (in Calgary?).

It sounds like she did very well to finish her race yesterday. Best wishes go out to Maria for a very speedy recovery. We'll be pulling for you!

For more details from yesterday's races:
US Speedskating | American Speedskaters Demonstrate ‘Comeback Kid’ Attitude at World Cup II in Beijing

Posted by noelle at 7:29 PM | Comments (10)

500m podium photo

Apolo Ohno (USA-silver), Hyun-soo Ahn (KOR-gold), Jeff Monette (CAN-bronze)

Nice hair, Jeff Monette. Neil Diamond's got nothing on you!

A couple more photos - Allison skating behind Tianyu Fu and Mile Zhu in her 500m final, and Apolo and Ahn in the men's 500m final. (Click to enlarge)

images via sina.com

Update: Speed Skating Canada reports that Apolo and Jeff Monette clashed blades during yesterday's men's final:

With just over a lap to go, Monette passed Ohno to take the lead but their blades clashed and the Canadian’s skate was slightly damaged.

"I could feel there was something wrong with the skate on the next turn" said Monette. "I wasn’t able to gain any speed at all and I tried to race defensively. But aside from that, this was a very good day for me and a big improvement on last weekend. Right now my back is not bothering anymore."

So glad he's on the mend!

Posted by noelle at 11:17 AM | Comments (13)

October 29, 2004

500m finals - another silver for Apolo!
Allison Baver skates her first 500m final; DQ'ed

Men's 500m Final

Apolo Ohno earned himself his second silver medal in as many days with his oh-so-close 2nd place finish today in the men's 500m final. Nine-thousandths of a second were all that separated him from gold medalist Hyun-soo Ahn.

Ahn seems determined to follow the game plan Apolo established in World Cup #1 last weekend with gold medals in the 1500m and 500m. Looks like we're in for an exciting season.

Congratulations, Apolo on silver medal #2!

P.S. You look way better in a pink helmet cover than Ahn does!

Women's 500m Final

Skating in her first ever 500m final, Allison Baver crossed the finish line 3rd and in medal contention. Adrenaline and maybe a little inexperience got the best of her as she was disqualified for impeding. No matter -- Allison deserves a huge hand for taking her skating to the next level this season.

Also noteworthy is that Allison established a new personal best time at 500m in her semifinal today, besting her previous record by .436. Not bad, after she set two new PBs at 1000m and 3000m last weekend in Harbin!

Congratulations, Allison!

We couldn't be prouder of you both and the rest of Team USA!

Images and results courtesy FinishLynx. Click both images for the full size versions. Complete results at Cyberscoreboard.

Posted by noelle at 11:51 PM | Comments (11)

World Cup Beijing Day 2 -- 500m qualifying

500m semifinals -- Allison Baver and Apolo Ohno advance to the 500m final!

If these races were this exciting on Live CSB, how thrilling must they have been in person?

Allison Baver started from lane 2 in the second semifinal. She got off the line in 3rd and it was tough to tell during most of the race if she would finish in qualifying position. Allison crossed the line 2nd behind Marta Capurso, who subsequently got herself disqualified for impeding, making Allison the winner of the semifinal, facing 1 Canadian and 2 Chinese in the final! This is shaping up to be a breakout season for her.

In the first semifinal, Apolo Ohno started in lane 1 against Canadians Jeff Monette (the 500m world record holder) and Charles Hamelin plus Seung-jae Lee. This was a nail-biter of a race as well till Ohno pulled into 2nd place with 1 lap to go. He finished behind Monette.

The 2nd men's semi looked like a crazy race -- I couldn't tell what was going on! I'm still not sure how Mathieu Turcotte managed to win it, as the Live CSB splits showed him in back the whole time. However, win it he did, with Hyun-soo Ahn claiming the 2nd qualifying spot.

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500m quarterfinals

Things started getting exciting in the quarterfinals! The first women's heat saw the elimination of another big threat when Meng Wang was disqualified.

Skating in heat 3, Allison Baver had her work cut out for her, starting from lane 4 against the likes of Marta Capurso and 2004 World Junior Champion Yun-mi Kang. Allison skated a great race to finish 2nd behind Capurso.

Hyo-jung Kim on the other hand finished 3rd in another tough field and didn't advance to the semifinal round.

Apolo Ohno drew a tough heat for his quarterfinal as well, facing off against Hyun-soo Ahn and Haonan Li and from the dreaded outside lane starting position that he managed to avoid last weekend in Harbin. Ahn won the race with Ohno 2nd.

Rusty Smith encountered some bad luck as he too started from lane 4. He crossed the finish line in third place and out of qualifying position. To add insult to injury, Smith was subsequently disqualified for impeding.

Another heavyweight was eliminated from contention when Jiajun Li was disqualified in the second heat.

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500m prelims and heats
Through the first round of skating, the U.S. skaters' races were blessedly unremarkable. All three men advanced from the preliminaries to the heats, while two out of three women made it into the quarterfinals.

Kristen Biondo was eliminated in her heat. Allison Baver prevailed in a crowded field to beat out Amanda Overland for the 2nd qualifying spot in the quarterfinals. The biggest surprise of the women's heats was the early elimination of reigning World Champ Eun-kyung Choi, who finished 4th out of 5 skaters.

In the men's 2nd round of 500m racing, Rusty Smith led his heat from wire to wire. Apolo Ohno encountered his first real competition of the day and finished his heat in 2nd behind Haonan Li, helpfully eliminating Korean Kyung-taek Song.

Unfortunately Shani ran into difficulty in his heat. For a 500m race, there was quite a bit of passing going on... Though Shani finished 2nd, he was subsequently disqualified for impeding in the last lap, and Jiajun Li was advanced.

Posted by noelle at 10:22 PM | Comments (1)

World Cup Beijing Day 2 -- 500m draw and relays

Here are tonight's opening heats:

500m women heat 3: Kristen Biondo
500m women heat 6: Allison Baver
500m women heat 7: Hyo-jung Kim
500m men heat 5: Shani Davis (same heat as Seung-jae Lee)
500m men heat 8: Apolo Anton Ohno
500m men heat 11: Rusty Smith

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I'm sure everyone knows by now that both the U.S. men's and women's relay teams finished 2nd in their respective heats yesterday, and will advance to today's semifinals.

The men take on Korea, Germany and Russia and seem like a sure bet to advance to the final tomorrow. The women face off against Germany, Japan and China and are also likely to move on to the relay final.

In keeping with recent practice, the U.S. has brought only four men and four women, compared with other countries, who have five athletes available to compete should a skater become ill or injured -- as regrettably happened at Worlds last March when Rusty Smith was injured.

Let's hope everyone stays fit! Looking forward to later in the season when USS has announced plans to field a full team of five men and five women.

Posted by noelle at 5:15 PM | Comments (3)

1500m podium

Many thanks to Hugues for sending in this shot from the men's 1500m medal ceremony in Beijing:

Apolo Ohno (USA - silver), Hyun-soo Ahn (KOR - gold), Jiajun Li (CHN - bronze)

FinishLynx Rocks!
I just want to say how much these guys rock. Hugues is good enough to send photos from competitions fans aren't able to attend, and yesterday, after receiving a request, Rich was able to start posting reasons for individual DQs on the Live Cyberscoreboard.

On top of that these guys work hard at every competition to produce live results and updates for the online audience, struggling at times with unreliable internet connections that aren't under their control. If you noticed that the live board went down briefly during a heat yesterday, that was actually these guys making sure things were working ok. Thanks, FinishLynx, for all your great work!

Posted by noelle at 9:45 AM | Comments (7)

Two more podium photos

Click to enlarge:

images via sina.com/Chinese Skating Assn.

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Also, the USS press release includes quotes from Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith and Li Yan: Short Track World Cup II Opens in Beijing, American Skaters Come Out Strong

Posted by noelle at 9:31 AM | Comments (4)

Xinhuanet | S. Koreans sweep 1,500 at World Cup short track

Reports from the Chinese press indicate that day 1 of competition in Beijing was 'sparsely attended.'

Once again acknowledging team skating tactics, here is Meng Wang on Korean superiority:

"The South Koreans have a better strategy. The three of them cooperate well, which is the key factor for their victory," the 19-year-old said.

Yang Yang A and Eun-kyung Choi may have been disqualified from the 1500m final for impeding against each other:

Chinese double Olympic champion Yang Yang, who made her comeback in August after two-year leave, failed to clock the time in the final after being disqualified for impeding. South Korean Choi Eun-Kyung was also disqualified after interfering with Yang Yang when Yang tried to squeeze past her.

Oh the men's side, Apolo Ohno was quoted as follows:

Ahn led virtually throughout the men's final to win in 2:20.330,beating Olympic champion Apolo Anton Ohno in 2:20.627. "I was satisfied with my performance and I got a medal anyway," Ohno said. "Short track is a crazy sport. Even if you skate well, you might not be the champion," he said.

Posted by noelle at 9:30 AM | Comments (4)

World Cup Beijing Day 1 -- 1500m
Silver for Apolo in 1500m!

Men's 1500m final
In a field of seven, including 3 Chinese and 2 Koreans, Apolo Ohno pulled through for a silver medal, getting his second World Cup off to another strong start. With much traffic in this final, Apolo moved into 3rd place and medal contention with 3 laps to go. Hyun-soo Ahn won the race, coming from behind at various points and Jiajun Li was 3rd. Korean Kyung-taek Song earned himself his second consecutive DQ in a final for impeding, though it's not clear on whom, since the DQ did not affect the medals.

[Update: Speed Skating Canada reports that Song was DQ'ed for impeding on Mathieu Turcotte with 3 laps to go. It was Jiajun Li who ultimately benefited by moving into bronze medal position.]

1500m final results - men
1. AHN , Hyun-Soo (KOR) 2:20.330 (34 pts)
2. OHNO , Apolo Anton (USA) 2:20.627 (21 pts)
3. LI , JiaJun (CHN) 2:20.864 (13 pts)
4. TURCOTTE , Mathieu (CAN) 2:21.713 (8 pts)
5. LI , Ye (CHN) 2:22.106 (5 pts)
6. SUI , Baoku (CHN) 2:25.514 (3 pts)
DQ SONG , Kyung-Taek (KOR)

Women's 1500m final - crazy race!
The women's final was testament to who is dominant in short track right now, with three Chinese and three Koreans facing off. This set the stage for another showdown between reigning World Champion Eun-kyung Choi and Greatest Ever Yang Yang A.

And what happened? Both wound up DQ'ed! Somehow I missed this race but it must have been something to see! I'm still not sure what happened, and judging from the Finishlynx photo, neither Choi nor Yang crossed the finish line in medal contention. It's an odd day when two such dominant skaters both get shut out. The Korean newscomers took gold and silver, followed by Yang's heir, Meng Wang with bronze.

1500m final results - women
1. KANG , Yun-Mi (KOR) 2:20.455 (34 pts)
2. JIN , Sun-Yu (KOR) 2:20.945 (21 pts)
3. WANG , Meng (CHN) 2:21.127 (13 pts)
4. WANG , Wei (CHN) 2:23.716 (8 pts)
DQ YANG (A) , Yang (CHN)
DQ CHOI , Eun-Kyung (KOR)

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Womens 1500m semifinals
Hyo-jung Kim was eliminated after she finished 4th in her semifinal heat in heavy traffic. She briefly put herself into qualifying position but was passed in the last lap.

The first matchup of the day between Yang Yang A and Eun-kyung Choi took place in the 2nd semifinal. They occupied 5th and last positions for most of the race, Yang started to move up with 5 laps to go. Ultimately Choi won the heat with Yang 2nd.

Mens 1500m semifinals -- only Ohno moves on
Shani Davis was also eliminated in his semifinal which featured a pretty tough group of skaters. Shani was in a strong position the first half of the race, but with all the passing going on he wound up 5th behind Jonathan Guilmette.

Apolo's semifinal also saw much jockeying for position. He gradually moved his way up in the pack to 1st with 6 laps to go, a position he never relinquished. Seung-jae Lee managed to cross the line 2nd behind Ohno but was subsequently DQ'ed for impeding on Ye Li, who was advanced to the final. Lee's DQ also bumped Mathieu Turcotte up to 2nd, qualifying him for the final as well.

Rusty Smith was never quite in contention in his semifinal. He crossed the finish line in 5th but Charles Hamelin's disqualification moved him up to 4th.

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Women's 1500m heats -- only Kim moves on
- Allison Baver appeared to skate a strong race, gradually picking her way to the front of a crowded field. With 5 laps to go, she was in 3rd -- potentially a qualifying position -- but moved up to cross the finish line first. Unfortunately she was subsequently DQ'ed -- not clear why, but likely was something on that final pass.

- Kristen Biondo led for most of her race. With Meng Wang lurking in last during most of the heat, I kept hearing the theme from 'Jaws' playing in my head as I waited for Wang to pounce, which she did with 3 laps to go. With only the 4 fastest 3rds advancing to the semis, Kristen won't move on.

- Hyo-jung Kim made sure to stay at or near the front of the pack in her heat. She qualified for the semis easily, finishing in 2nd behind Yang Yang A and is thus the only American woman to advance.

Mens 1500m heats -- all the U.S. men move on
- Apolo Ohno skated a clean and unremarkable race, easily winning his heat to advance to the semis while posting the fastest qualifying time so far.

- Shani Davis somehow paced his race perfectly. He had been in 2nd and qualifying position before Fabio Carta passed him in the final lap. Shani finished 3rd behind Kyung-taek Song and Carta. Skating in heat 2, it was important to post a fast time since only the 2 fastest 3rds move on and fortunately, Shani managed to be one of those two.

- Rusty Smith stayed in a strong position throughout his heat and moved up with Hyun-soo Ahn. Those two finished 1st and 2nd respectively.

Complete results available at Cyberscoreboard.com.

Posted by noelle at 2:52 AM | Comments (4)

October 28, 2004

1500m draw

The Beijing World Cup gets underway in a few more hours (see the schedule posted below for details).

This time around, Kristen Biondo along with Allison Baver and Hyo-jung Kim will skate individual distances for the women, replacing Maria Garcia. On the men's side, Shani Davis takes his turn alongside Apolo Ohno and Rusty Smith (instead of J.P. Kepka.)

To optimize your middle of the night viewing (if that's possible!), here are the opening heats:

1500 women heat 1: Allison Baver
1500 women heat 3: Kristen Biondo (same heat as Meng Wang)
1500 women heat 5: Hyo-jung Kim (same heat as Yang Yang A)
1500 men heat 1: Apolo Anton Ohno
1500 men heat 2: Shani Davis (same heat as Fabio Carta)
1500 men heat 5: Rusty Smith (same heat as Hyun-soo Ahn)

On a side note, remember to set your clocks back one hour on Sunday!

Posted by noelle at 5:25 PM | Comments (5)

A couple interesting articles this morning

1. Avon Grove (PA) Sun | AGHS senior on target for Olympic dream

This is an article about high school student and aspiring Olympian in trap shooting Jack Aldridge. He was recently invited to spend time training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs:

...every morning while he was there training he ate breakfast with Apollo Ohno [sic], who won the Gold Medal in Men's 1500-meter short track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. "He told me not to quit," said Aldridge. "The whole experience hit me when I got home, and I wanted to go back. The guys were so cool and you'd never know by talking to them that they were on the Olympic team."

2. People's Daily Online | Ice cool Yang Yang strikes back

Yang's return to competition encountered a few bumps last week in Harbin. Though admitting she's not yet in fighting form, Yang has an important and influential role mentoring the young members of China's national team:

"I have asked myself many times whether I want to continue my skating or not. Finally I followed the voice from the bottom of my heart and yes, I'm still eager to stand on the track," Yang said. "As my I get older, I have begun to treasure my sporting life. With the team calling me back as well, I feel the value of myself," said the smiling Yang.

Stumbling twice at her first returning final in Harbin, which cost the team's 3,000m relay medal in the world cup, predicted a likely difficult future of her comeback. But Yang does not care about the failure.

"I'm a person who will seek for perfection all the time," she said. "I know that there will be more stumbles waiting for me. But I will go on with my ice dream."

Yang Yang A will skate the 1500m in Beijing this weekend.

Posted by noelle at 10:13 AM | Comments (4)

October 27, 2004

Trick or treat World Cup: Schedule for ISU World Cup #2 - Beijing

The schedule for this weekend's World Cup is a bit tricky, esp. for West coasters on Day 1 and East coasters on Days 2 and 3. Remember that Day 1 action begins overnight Thursday, and Days 2 and 3 start Friday and Saturday evenings. (No need to choose between short track and trick or treating!)

Friday, Oct. 29
1:45 - 5pm Beijing time
East Coast: 1:45 - 5am ET Friday
West Coast: 10:45pm PT Thursday - 2am PT Friday

Saturday, Oct. 30
9:15am - 2pm Beijing time
East Coast: 9:15pm ET Friday - 2am ET Saturday
West Coast: 6:15 - 11pm PT Friday

Sunday, Oct. 31
9:40am - 2pm Beijing time
East Coast: 9:40pm ET Saturday - 2am ET Sunday
West Coast: 6:40 - 11pm PT Saturday

I am going to try a new approach to posting results over the weekend. Instead of having multiple new entries for each day and distance, I'll create a single entry for each of the distances (1500, 500, 1000, 3000 and relays), and will put all the news and results related to those distances in each entry.

I'm not a naturally organized person, but hopefully this will makes things a bit better organized. We shall see!

Posted by noelle at 7:47 PM | Comments (16)

October 26, 2004

USA Today names Apolo Ohno its Athlete of the Week

USA Today | Ohno back in the front of the pack

Despite the flocks of adoring fans, it's not always easy to be Apolo Anton Ohno. His sport, short-track speedskating, is unpredictable and sometimes dangerous. Death threats forced him to withdraw from a 2003 World Cup meet in South Korea, where bitterness over a controversial refereeing decision in the 2002 Olympics runs deep. He won the 2003 World Cup championship but slipped to third last year. He had a terrible time at the World Championships in March, missing the final in each event.

This season, Ohno couldn't have asked for a better start. The 22-year-old skater took overall honors at the World Cup season opener in Harbin, China, with victories at 500 and 1,500 meters. Ohno advanced to the final of each race, also placing second in the 3,000 and fourth in the 1,000.

For his efforts in showing that he's ready to return to his days of dominance in short-track skating, Ohno is USATODAY.com's U.S. Olympic Athlete of the Week.

Also in China, Rusty Smith advanced to two finals, placing third in the 500 and sixth in the 3,000. He also ranked eighth in the 1,500. Smith, Ohno, Shani Davis and J.P. Kepka reached the final in the 5,000-meter relay but were disqualified.

Allison Baver reached two finals, placing second in the 3,000 and sixth in the 1,500. She also ranked sixth in the 1,000.

image by Mark Duncan, AP

Posted by noelle at 12:39 PM | Comments (11)

October 25, 2004

Eyewitness comments from China

I heard from a couple different people in China this weekend. First, an American who watched yesterday's competition live on Chinese tv. It sounds like the monkey business in the 3000m may not have happened on the last lap after all:

It's 8:30pm, Sunday the 24th and I'm watching the short track world cup on t.v... here in China. Even though the commentating is in Chinese, I still know what's going on. Well, the 3000m mens just finished and Apolo Ohno came in 3rd behind 2 Koreans... One of them gave him a little shove with about 6 laps to go or so, so that guy ended up being disqualified which put Apolo in 2nd. Rusty Smith was last.

Then this observation from someone who was at the competition and sees about as much short track as anybody does:

Allison Baver was skating superbly... looked very strong and confident... very different from last year. Actually, this was the case for much of the US team.

I think we're all gonna float happily along all week till Beijing. What a thrilling beginning to the season for Apolo and the whole U.S. short track team. Hopefully they can carry this momentum and confidence along with them to Beijing and throughout the season!

Congratulations to all of them on their performances in Harbin! Although things didn't turn out ideally with the relay teams (women eliminated in the semifinal; men dq'ed in the final), they still put in some solid racing and I'm sure the relays will only improve as the season progresses.

Way to go, USA!!

Posted by noelle at 9:56 AM | Comments (7)

Harbin World Cup press roundup

Here are some more links for World Cup coverage in the media:

Seattle Times | Speedskater Ohno stages gold rush
Seattle Times | Seattle's Ohno leads after first short-track stop

The Korea Times finally got the headline they were looking for:
Ahn, Choi Lead Korea to Gold Rush in Short Track

US Speedskating press releases for all three days.

Apart from the typical reciting of results, there were some interesting tidbits from the ISU's press release:

In the men's 5000m relay, the South Korean team conducted their customary strategy of taking the lead by turns to disturb the normal rhythm of other skaters, which proved to be very effective.

Apolo Ohno and Meng Wang topped the overall ranking with 97 and 90 points respectively. Despite his two gold medals in Harbin, Ohno refused to predict the 2006 Olympics. "Last year I didn't skate very well, but this year I have made a big step. But now it is too early to made predictions about the 2006 Olympic Winter Games because short track is such a crazy sport," said Ohno.

USOlympicTeam.com | Apolo wins two races in World Cup opener

Apolo Anton Ohno faced his toughest rivals in the season's first World Cup event and outskated them for the overall title.... American Allison Baver scored a silver medal in the 3,000-meters; her first career World Cup podium.

Posted by noelle at 9:50 AM | Comments (10)

October 24, 2004

3000m silver for Apolo!
Ohno clinches overall title with second-place finish in 3000m

World Cup Harbin Day 3 -- men's 3000m superfinal

Apolo Ohno added to his medal collection again today by winning silver in an exciting and nervewracking men's 3000m in Harbin. Though he crossed the finish line in 3rd place behind Koreans Hyun-soo Ahn and Kyung-taek Song, Apolo moved up to silver when Song was disqualified -- apparently for impeding on Ohno -- which assured Apolo of the overall title.

Rusty Smith, also skating in the 3000m, finished 6th.

Posted by noelle at 8:08 AM | Comments (22)

3000m silver for Allison Baver!
Her first individual medal in ISU competition

World Cup Harbin Day 3 -- women's 3000m superfinal

Congratulations to Allison Baver on winning silver today in the women's 3000m final. An American woman hasn't medalled in World Cup competition since Julie Goskowicz won 1500m silver in 2000.

With this result, Allison finishes in 6th overall for this World Cup. In addition, she set a new personal best time in her 1000m semifinal and shattered her previous PB in the 3000m by a whopping 6.4 seconds!

Posted by noelle at 7:59 AM | Comments (15)

Feel-good headline of the week

Korea Times | Lee Can't Catch Ohno in Short Track

Posted by noelle at 7:45 AM | Comments (3)

World Cup Harbin Day 3 -- 1000m finals

Apolo comes up empty

Apolo was angling for a sweep of the gold medals in Harbin today, but it wasn't to be as he finished out of the money in the men's 1000m final -- but secured what proved to be a valuable 8 points with his 4th place finish.

Hyun-soo Ahn finally got the win he has been looking for as the reigning World Champion, while his teammate Song finished second. Veteran Li Jiajun managed third, collecting his second bronze of the meet.

On the ladies' side, reigning women's World Champ Eun-kyung Choi also secured her first win of the season. Chinese powerhouse Meng Wang added silver to her two golds in the 1500m and 500m and 2004 World Junior Champion Yun-mi Kang (KOR) added another bronze.

1000m final results - men
1. AHN , Hyun-Soo (KOR) 1:27.907
2. SONG , Kyung-Taek (KOR) 1:28.0703
3. LI , JiaJun (CHN) 1:28.268
4. OHNO , Apolo Anton (USA) 1:28.732

1000m final results - women
1. CHOI , Eun-Kyung (KOR) 1:33.629
2. WANG , Meng (CHN) 1:33.951
3. KANG , Yun-Mi (KOR) 1:34.426
4. WANG , Wei (CHN) 1:34.577

Posted by noelle at 7:36 AM | Comments (10)

1000m grudge match

The most interesting race of the day had to be heat 2 of the men's 1000m quarterfinals, where Seung-jae Lee, Apolo Anton Ohno and Jonathan Guilmette met up for the fist time since the 2004 World Championships last March.

At the Worlds, Lee was charged with protecting the fortunes of teammate Hyun-soo Ahn, resulting in Ohno's controversial DQ in the 1000m semi followed by Guilmette's horrific crash in the 1000m final.

Today the three met up again. Live CSB showed Guilmette in front for much of the race. He and Ohno shared the lead at times, keeping Lee behind them, and you could almost feel them working together to settle their score with Lee. In the end, Lee managed to pass a still-recuperating Guilmette to take second. Jo finished 3rd, eliminating him from competition in the 1000m.

As you can see, the finish was extremely close, with Lee just edging Guilmette by .11 sec and Apolo winning by a blade.

I'm not above wanting a little revenge for them myself (of the fair and square variety, of course). Better luck next time, and that's an important mental milestone that's behind Jonathan now.

Posted by noelle at 6:43 AM | Comments (5)

Looks like Apolo gave a press conference yesterday

Anyone read Chinese? This looks like a transcript.

image courtesy sina.com

Posted by noelle at 4:50 AM | Comments (10)

How 'bout this sweet shot from the 1500m final?

Apolo skates to victory ahead of Koreans Hyun-soo Ahn and Kyung-taek Song and Chinese Ye Li and Jiajun Li

image courtesy sina.com

Posted by noelle at 4:48 AM | Comments (0)