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February 5, 2005
Two relays in one night!
I tell you, it's harder to cover a World Cup in person than from at home in my living room. I was watching the men's relays just now and trying to work out in my head how the final would work tomorrow with three heats tonight, and generally the top 2 teams advancing... just how many relay teams can fit on the ice at once?!
This World Cup is so oversubscribed that these were just the quarter finals. Presumably the semifinals will be skated tonight also and that's why the men skated before the women, who have semifinals only.
Men's relay quarterfinal: The U.S. skated a great race. Apolo gave the U.S. the lead on his 3rd turn and everyone did a great job maintaining it till a few turns later Fabio Carta took the lead for Italy. Subsequently the U.S. guys used a series of great exchanges on several occasions to take back the lead. They took the lead for good with about a quarter of the race to go.
Apolo looks for a push from Rusty...
...and brings it home for the U.S. in the last 2 laps of the relay quarterfinal
The Canadian guys were their usual well-oiled relay machine against China, Netherlands and Hungary. Hungary capitalized on a couple falls by the Netherlands to take 3rd place though it wasn't enough to move on. Canada demolished the field, winning by 9 seconds over second-place China.
[update]
Women's relay semi: I missed the women's relay semi. I was sure they were in the 2nd heat but they were in the first and I didn't get to see it. They finished 3rd so unfortunately won't be able to skate in tomorrow's final. I heard they skated hard and they drew a tough heat for their semi! Allison was later showing us her blade which has (I think) a partially stripped edge -- you can feel where the blade is very rough.
Men's relay semi: The U.S. men were a solid third with about 15 laps to go and a chance to move into qualifying position when our guys fell. It happened just after an exchange and there was no contact with other teams -- just bad luck! There was no way to get back in it at that point, even when Canada fell a few laps later (ironically I had just finished remarking to somebody about what a flawless relay machine they are. Oops). The fall didn't cost them a dime though as they bounced right back and finish first with China second and the U.S. a somewhat distant third after their fall.
Nice efforts all around, and I'm sure all these guys are really exhausted with all the skating they've done today!
[correction]
China won the men's relay semi after Canada fell near the end. Canada finished 2nd.
Articles on day 1 action:
US Speedskating | U.S. Short Track Speedskating Team Hungers for More Medals in Hungary
Speed Skating Canada | Charles Hamelin wins bronze medal at short track speed skating World Cup
Posted by noelle at 12:31 PM | Comments (6)
500m finals in Budapest
The women's 500m final saw Evgenia Radanova facing down all three Chinese women. She nearly hung on long enough to finish 2nd but was passed by Meng Wang toward the end. Tianyu Fu won gold. Yang Yang A, the 3rd Chinese skater, once again didn't really seem to be in the race and finished a distant 4th, more than 3 seconds back. Oddness.
Unfortunately, Fabio Carta's prediction about who would win the men's final proved wrong. Apolo once again drew the dreaded 4th position and didn't get a great start. Both Canadians went to the front and stayed there. Apolo searched in vain for an opening. Finally he tried to pass Seung-jae Lee on the inside in the last quarter lap. They tangled and Apolo didn't make it.
From the video replay I really couldn't tell for certain who was responsible for the contact, although Lee's arm was stretched out behind him. There was no DQ either way, so I guess the refs didn't think it was significant to the race's outcome. Turcotte got gold, Tremblay silver, Lee bronze.
If Apolo couldn't win this time, I'm at least glad that two Canadians are bringing home some hardware!
Unfortunately I don't think I have a single photo from this race worth sharing. I'm feeling fortunate right about now that I still have Saguenay photos left to post!
Posted by noelle at 11:30 AM | Comments (7)
Budapest 500m semis
Apolo waiting to be introduced for his semifinal
Just after crossing the finish line
What can I say? They were exciting races. Rusty started well, Seung-jae Lee passed him for 2nd and that was that. Flou Tremblay led wire to wire, and Charles Hamelin never really got into it.
Mathieu Turcotte also led his race start to finish. Apolo thankfully drew the pole position this time around and was in 2nd most of the way if not quite the whole race!
Posted by noelle at 11:06 AM | Comments (5)
500m qualifying rounds
Apolo skates in his 500m prelim
500 prelims: This race was a piece of cake and Apolo Ohno led the whole way. Rusty Smith had a smooth trip to to win his heat. Jordan Malone's lack of experience caught up with him when he drew the unlucky lane 4 start position. He started last and was never able to get into contention.
All three ladies will advance to the next round of 500m qualifying. Allison Baver placed 2nd in her preliminary race. Bridie Farrell and Halie Kim were 3rd in their respective heats. The top 2 skaters and next 8 fastest third place finishers among women move on to the next round.
500 heats: Halie Kim is the only American woman moving onto the quarter finals. Allison Baver was in a tough heat and I believe may not have had the best start, finishing third behind Amanda Overland and Korean Sun-yu Jin. Amanda had an awesome race, leading from start to finish. Bridie Farrell got off to a bad start in spite of her inside lane starting position.
The coolest heat was with Yang Yang A, Eun-kyung Choi, a Latvian and a German. Yang -- who didn't really seem to be trying in the 1500m final yesterday -- went for it from the start, the Latvian followed and Choi was 3rd. Choi never really got into the race. In the last lap she tried to pass into 2nd but the German girl squeezed in instead. She was really happy at the end -- it was just too bad the Latvian girl wasn't able to hold on! Sometimes it seems like the Koreans have a mental block that foils them in the 500.
Quarter finals: Whew! Apolo's quarter final was a nail biter. He drew 4th on the line (typical!) against a tough field of Mathieu Turcotte, Jiajun Li and Nicola Franceschina. Getting a good start was imperative! Apolo drew a false start to begin with (every quarter final had a false start) and then started last on the 2nd try. He kept swinging wide in the corners, looking to slingshot around the field but not finding any openings. It was getting down to the last lap when Franceschia passed Li into 2nd, causing Li to swing wide. A little later Apolo made an outside pass around Franceschina and got him in the last straight. When he came around after his 2nd place finish he just looked at the coach and shook his head. Tough race!
Rusty had a very tough time in his race as well and he moves onto the semis because of a heartbreaker of an accident that befell Wim de Deyne. Charles Hamelin had taken over the lead from de Deyne, who remained in 2nd, with Rusty 3rd and Hyun-soo Ahn last.
Wim was clearly going to finish second when perhaps 3 or 4 meters from the finish line he caught his blade on the ice somehow, spun around and hit the boards. Rusty cruised in for 2nd. Poor Wim was pretty devastated. He's been skating great today till this freak accident. The silver lining is that Rusty will be able to skate in the semis. And thanks to all of them for shutting out Ahn!
By the way, Fabio Carta stopped me this morning before racing began and said, 'Apolo is going to win today.' Stay tuned!
Posted by noelle at 8:44 AM | Comments (13)
February 4, 2005
Men's 1500m medalists in Budapest
Photos from tonight's medal ceremony: Apolo Anton Ohno (silver), Hyun-soo Ahn (gold), Charles Hamelin (bronze)
Apolo receives his flowers from the chief referee (remember Charles Veldhoven from Marquette?!) and Ahn gives my camera the hairy eyeball
The silver and bronze medalists congratulate each other
Wish these had turned out better, but they wouldn't let me go to the front to take photos!
Posted by noelle at 1:08 PM | Comments (7)
1500m finals
As usual, I'm still shaking with excitement! I can never remember details of the women's final by the time the men's is over. Allison faced a very tough field, not that i need to tell you that. She hung in there but there wasn't much passing in this race and she just wasn't able to move up. Same with Amanda Overland who may have spent the entire race (most of it anyway) in 4th place.
The men's final was full of thrills. Apolo had my heart pounding with his next-to-last place through much of the race. With I think 3 Koreans and maybe 1 Chinese ahead of him, Charles Hamelin made a powerful move on the outside to pass at least 2 skaters. Through my lens, I saw an arm flail out and impede Hamelin, while at the same time a voice nearby said, 'Ack! He did it again!!' I later learned out the flailing arm belong to Suk-woo Song and the 'he' being referred to was also Song... I haven't clarified the remark yet, but Song was DQ'ed moving Hamelin into 3rd, so you can draw your own conclusions.
Apolo made a great move as well to get himself into 2nd after Hamelin moved up. He passed everyone except Uzak (who was behind him) and Ahn (who won) in order to move into 2nd place. Awesome job! I saw the American skaters/coaches and Canadians too in huddles after the race... the usual debriefing I suppose, though it looked pretty intense!
Very nice ending to this race was that Apolo immediately reached out to Ahn and congratulated him. As he skated around the rink and caught up to Song, Song extended his arm to Apolo to do the same. I'm sorry that I missed this photo opportunity. I just stood there and watched (and cheered)!
Apolo makes his move, passing into 2nd ahead of Hamelin and Song
Posted by noelle at 12:35 PM | Comments (6)
1500 semis reveal a new American star
Where have they been hiding Jordan Malone? This kid ROCKS! The World Cup rookie made it all the way to the 1500m semifinals and skated an awesome race. Watching him in the 1500m heat, quarter and semi, it's clear that Jordan possesses what the horse world refers to as 'tractable' speed. He can turn it on on a dime, whenever he wants to and without any apparent effort. He just pushes some magic button and he goes.
In addition, Jordan was very sweet at the introductions for his semi. As each of the other skaters was announced, he took time out to clap for them. I have never seen one skater take the time to applaud the other skaters while standing on the start line!
Of course he had tough competition in his semi and in the last few laps found himself in 6th behind 5 short track veterans, all decorated skaters with long resumes. He still managed to pick off Nicola Franceschina and Jiajun Li to take 3rd. Jordan won't be going to the final - yet. But holy cow! Remember, this is a guy with ZERO national team experience, but the stamina of an inline skater makes the 1500m just a warmup exercise for him.
1500m semi: Jordan Malone prepares to go out and kick some short track booty
And here he is, in the process of kicking it. Some of it anyway!
Rusty Smith's last semifinal I missed most of (I didn't realize there were 4 semis). That was incredible though -- Slovak Matus Uzak succeeded in lapping the pack to win the race and advance to the final. This is a skater who rarely makes it out of heats. Slovakia is the country next door. It used to be a part of Hungary. The Budapest crowd really brought him home.
For a while it looked as though Rusty might hold onto his 2nd place lead to make it to the finals, but it wasn't to be as the others overtook him with a few laps to go. So Allison Baver and Apolo Ohno advance to the finals. The Koreans may be back, and they're both right there with them... and will face all 3 Korean men in the final!
Posted by noelle at 12:01 PM | Comments (8)
Apolo stops to tie his shoe in the first lap of his 1500m heat...
...and still wins his heat with ease
Posted by noelle at 9:25 AM | Comments (21)
Here's a look at the Budapest arena
And Fabio Carta says hi!
Posted by noelle at 8:12 AM | Comments (5)
February 3, 2005
Budapest Day -1
Apolo Ohno, followed by Rusty Smith, Jordan Malone and Kyle Carr
This should be an exciting and interesting world Cup. Not that they aren't all exciting and interesting, of course, but this one is remarkably diverse. Korea is back, for one thing (whether they are better than ever is still to be seen!). For another thing, a huge number of countries will take part in competition -- 29 at last count.
Among them are a one-man team from India and the Brazilian team of Felipe de Souza, fresh from his World Cup debut in Saguenay. Even the rarely-seen Mongolian team is here with a man and a woman. Getting through all the heats on Saturday and Sunday will take some time! In the meantime, during lulls in the action, we can amuse ourselves by playing 'guess that flag' since all the participating countries' flags are on display.
I had to come to Budapest to find out who will actually represent the USA and Canada at this World Cup and the next. Rumors had several U.S. men considering declining their spots, but in the end only J.P. Kepka stayed home in favor of training for Milwaukee and world team trials.
U.S. women: Allison Baver, Hyo-jung Kim, Brigid Farrell, Kristen Biondo, Kira Fling
U.S. men: Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith, Jordan Malone, Mike Kooreman, Kyle Carr
Apolo tells a whopper to new kids on the block Jordan Malone and Kyle Carr
Canadian women: Amanda Overland, Alanna Kraus, Chantale Sevigny, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Anne Maltais
Canadian men: Charles Hamelin, Mathieu Turcotte, Francois-Louis Tremblay, Steve Robillard, Eric Bedard
The ice rink here, part of the Hungarian National Sport Complex, is a nice venue but the smallest one I've ever seen host a World Cup. Imagine stuffing all the national teams, personnel and equipment into an arena the size of Bay City's, which was already filled to bursting with the U.S. Championships! I don't know whether this World Cup will be televised anywhere, but it's hard to see where they would find room for the necessary equipment.
On the plus side, the venue is quite bright, featuring a novelty (as far as ice rinks go) called natural light, and it seems to be newly renovated. The ice is said to be good and hard. The seating is along one side of the rink only and elevated above the ice in 2 tiers and holds maybe 700 people. I would be shocked if those seats are full, however!
The Communist era ended over 15 years ago, but vestiges of socialist-realism can still be found. The outdoor running track at the Hungarian National Sport Complex is ringed with more than a dozen such statues, depicting athletes as well as the working class training heroically.
Apolo Ohno and Mike Kooreman, skating heroically
Somewhat less heroically, Apolo grabs Allison's ponytail and yanks. Okay, I'm lying. It's an optical illusion. But it sure looks like it, doesn't it?!
Posted by noelle at 11:05 AM | Comments (10)
Budapest World Cup schedule
Here's the schedule for this weekend's World Cup #5 in Hungary (sorry to say, it seems to get an hour earlier with each successive day!):
Friday Feb. 4
8AM ET
7AM CT
6AM MT
5AM PT
Saturday Feb. 5
7AM ET
6AM CT
5AM MT
4AM MT
Sunday Feb. 6
6AM ET
5AM CT
4AM MT
3AM PT
As always, watch along in real time with Live cyberscoreboard. If you sleep through the live action, you can check results after the fact on Cyberscoreboard.
Posted by noelle at 10:24 AM | Comments (6)
January 31, 2005
Scenes from Apolo's 500m final in Saguenay
More photos in Saguenay Gallery #2!
Posted by noelle at 8:29 PM | Comments (10)
Posted by noelle at 8:29 PM | Comments (3)
Mathieu Turcotte, Pieter Gysel, Apolo Ohno, Jiajun Li
Posted by noelle at 8:27 PM | Comments (2)
Posted by noelle at 8:26 PM | Comments (1)
500m podium in Saguenay
Apolo Ohno (silver), Mathieu Turcotte (gold), Jiajun Li (bronze)
Posted by noelle at 8:12 PM | Comments (1)
January 30, 2005
Charles Hamelin & Amanda Overland crowned Canadian champions
Radio-Canada reports that Charles Hamelin and Amanda Overland won national titles at the Canadian Championships this weekend in Montreal.
Hamelin dominated the men's competition by winning 3 out of 4 distances. Overland came back from 6th place in the 1500m and 7th in the 500m to win both the 1000m and 3000m today.
This competition was also part of the Canadian trials system deciding teams for World Cups 5 and 6 as well as the World Championships and World Team Championships.
Provisional team members are as follows:
Men: Hamelin, Francois-Louis Tremblay, Mathieu Turcotte, Steve Robillard, Eric Bedard, Jonathan Guilmette
Women: Overland, Alanna Kraus, Kalyna Roberge, Chantale Sevigny, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Annik Plamondon
Congratulations to Amanda, Charles the rest of the Canadian team!
More info and results are now available from Speed Skating Canada.
Posted by noelle at 9:49 PM | Comments (19)