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February 12, 2005
USA men win relay gold in upset over Korea and Canada!
What a massive thrill to end the World Cup season -- the American men's relay team of Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith, Mike Kooreman and Jordan Malone came from behind to win the men's relay gold, besting the Koreans by .159 seconds! Skating lap after sub-9 second lap for the first 2/3 of the race, Korea and Canada spent most of the race 1-2 and the only question seemed to be which team would emerge the victor. Canada faltered and wound up pulling bronze from Italy in the race's final laps.
Congratulations, USA!! These guys really earned this win after a tough relay season. Bring on da Worlds! Well-deserved kudos also to Kyle Carr, who contributed to this effort by skating the heat on Day 1.
More good news: The U.S. women's relay team is ranked 8th, so they should just eke out a spot to compete at Worlds next month in Beijing! The U.S. men finish 3rd overall on the season behind Canada and Korea.
Men's relay: gold-USA; silver-Korea; bronze-Canada
Women's relay: gold-China; silver-Canada; bronze-Korea
2004-05 overall world ranking - men
1. OHNO, Apolo Anton (USA) 200 pts
2. TURCOTTE, Mathieu (CAN) 194 pts
3. AHN, Hyun-Soo (KOR) 193 pts
4. LI, Jiajun (CHN) 188 pts
5. HAMELIN, Charles (CAN) 184 pts
6. SMITH, Rusty (USA) 170 pts
16. DAVIS, Shani (USA) 125 pts
2004-05 overall world ranking - women
1. WANG, Meng (CHN) 196 pts
2. JIN, Sun-Yu (KOR) 196 pts
3. YANG, Yang A (CHN) 189 pts
4. CHOI, Eun-kyung (KOR) 188 pts
5. RADANOVA, Evgenia (BUL) 185 pts
6. BAVER, Allison (USA) 184 pts
7. KIM, Hyo-Jung (USA) 181 pts
Three Americans in the top 10, four in the top 20. Congratulations, team USA on your awesome performances!
Posted by noelle at 11:01 AM | Comments (28)
Apolo wins silver in the 3000m; Robillard 3rd
Congratulations, Apolo -- With his silver in this race, he also secured the overall World Cup title for the weekend, on top of locking up the #1 ranking in the world last weekend in Hungary!
A photo finish between Ahn and Ohno!
Women: Unfortunately, in today's outing, lone USA skater Halie Kim ran into difficulty and finished last after falling very early on at 25 or so laps to go. Canada's Anouk Leblanc-Boucher was in medal contention for the last 3rd of the race before fading to 7th in the final 2 laps.
3000m role reversal in Slovakia
Things have gotten so much more interesting this season on the women's side of the sport -- and the men's too, though you wouldn't necessarily know it from the 4-man lineup in today's men's 3k. It's been such a thrill to see the American women take their skating to the next level, reaching the podium on several occasions this season, and many more semis and finals than ever before.
Overall, it's refreshing to be seeing eight women skating in the 3000m more often than not, with a mix of Asians, North Americans and even Europeans (other than Radanova). Thinking back to previous seasons, most of the time there weren't eight women who qualified to skate in the women's 3k and it was a rather dull affair as a result.
With deeper competition among the men, their 3000 typically sees eight skaters per race. Not so today, as only four qualified for the race this time! This was partly the result of DQ's and some strong skaters not skating all distances this weekend. It made for an odd men's 3000. The race was between Apolo Ohno and Steve Robillard for the overall title... if Steve could win the 3000, he would also take the overall World Cup title for the weekend. In the end, Hyun-soo Ahn beat both skaters, edging out Apolo by .012 at the line. Robillard was 3rd.
World Cup #6 overall rankings - men
1. OHNO, Apolo Anton (USA) 89 pts
2. ROBILLARD, Steve (CAN) 68 pts
3. AHN, Hyun-Soo (KOR) 55 pts
7. SMITH, Rusty (USA) (207)
22. KOOREMAN, Mike (USA) (73)
World Cup #6 overall rankings - women
1. JIN, Sun-Yu (KOR) 89 pts
2. YEO, Soo-Yeon (KOR) 76 pts
3. RADANOVA, Evgenia (BUL) 42 pts
8. KIM, Hyo-Jung (USA) 9 pts
15. BAVER, Allison (USA) (128)
19. BIONDO, Kristen (USA) (39)
Posted by noelle at 10:19 AM | Comments (4)
Apolo takes 1000m gold; Robillard 3rd
The men's 1000m final looked wild and woolly; Apolo Ohno led early on while Steve Robillard was in front in the middle laps. Hyun-soo Ahn brought up the rear for much of the race. Ohno and Mathieu Turcotte traded positions quite a bit. Ahn moved up to take over the lead from Ohno with 2 laps to go but Apolo managed to get in front again and win the race, despite a lot of bumping around in the last 2 laps!
I'm really not too sure what happened exactly. Towards the end Ahn came from behind to take the lead and then Turcotte moved to the front also. Something funny happened there and it appears that Turcotte impeded on Apolo and also took out Robillard as well as himself.
Ahn (who had the lead) seemed unaffected, but Apolo had a remarkably slow next to last lap. I'm not sure how he managed to win the race at that point! Turcotte also apparently took out both Robillard and himself -- they both had very slow final laps. Turcotte was subsequently disqualified.
Congratulations to Apolo on not only the 1000m gold medal, but also on wrapping up the overall 1000m season title, with 198 points!!
1000m men results
1. OHNO, Apolo Anton (USA) 1:32.362 34 pts
2. AHN, Hyun-Soo (KOR) 1:32.901 21 pts
3. ROBILLARD , Steve (CAN) 1:43.919 13 pts
DQ TURCOTTE, Mathieu (CAN)
1000m women results
1. JIN, Sun-Yu (KOR) 1:30.714 34 pts
2. YEO, Soo-Yeon (KOR) 1:30.812 21 pts
3. YANG (A), Yang (CHN) 1:30.874 13 pts
4. RADANOVA, Evgenia (BUL) 1:31.245 8 pts
[1000m semifinals]
This is where things really started to get nerve-racking! Steve Robillard, who seems to be getting seeded into all the toughest heats today, survived a busy semi final with lots of passing to finished 2nd behind Hyun-soo Ahn. Si-bak Sun, the other Korean in the race, was disqualified.
Mathieu Turcotte and Apolo Ohno finished 1st and 2nd in their semi to move onto the final. For an anxious moment, Apolo dropped back to 4th with 3 laps to go but quickly bounced back into qualifying position.
In a ratio that's the opposite of what we saw earlier in the season, the final will have 3 North Americans and just 1 Korean.
Posted by noelle at 9:10 AM | Comments (11)
World Cup Slovakia day 3 - 1000m qualifying
Quarter finals: And then there was 1.
U.S. skaters: Allison Baver, Mike Kooreman and Rusty Smith all finished out of qualifying position after encountering your basic nightmare in their respective quarter finals (i.e., various combination of Korean, Chinese and Canadian opponents!).
Kooreman had a strong race, skating in qualifying position for most of the race before Mathieu Turcotte and Hyun-soo Ahn passed him with 3 laps to go in the fastest time posted yet today (1:27.240).
Apolo Ohno had no problem winning his quarter final heat to become the only American skater moving on to the semi finals. Oops... take a look at the photo finish. Not the most elegant way of finishing your race, Nishitani-san! ;)
Canadian skaters: The Canadians are down to no women and 2 men in the semi finals. Alanna Kraus, skating in the same quarter final as Allison Baver, finished 4th. After finishing her race 2nd, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher was disqualified for impeding on a German skater.
Eric Bedard, skating in the same heat as Rusty, also finished out of the money behind Si-bak Sung and Jiajun Li. Steve Robillard won the last quarter final to move on to the semis along with Turcotte.
Prelims and heats: The day got off to a strong start for the Americans, with 5 of 6 skaters moving onto round 2, and 4 of 6 to round 3.
U.S. women: Kristen Biondo had by far the hardest preliminary heat, finishing 3rd. Halie Kim subsequently received an uncharacteristic DQ in her 1000m heat, leading to her early exit from competition. Hate to say it, but this likely puts an end to her hopes for a top 6 overall finish on the season.
Allison Baver came from way behind in her heat to win the race and is the only American woman moving on to the quarter finals.
U.S. men: All three guys enjoyed smooth sailing through the prelims and heats to move onto the quarter finals. Apolo punished us by skating from behind in his heat (one which included Korean Si-bak Sung). Whatever the Ukrainian skater Gryhhoryev did to get DQed may have a played a role. In any case, Apolo still won seemingly effortlessly!
Mike Kooreman also won his heat; Rusty came 2nd in his behind Jiajun Li.
Canadians: Amanda overland, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher and Alanna Kraus all successfully navigated the first two rounds to move onto the quarter finals. I admit I'm a bit disappointed that Charles 'Rocketman' Hamelin isn't skating today. His teammates Steve Robillard, Mathieu Turcotte and Eric Bedard all made it to the quarterfinals.
Posted by noelle at 7:22 AM | Comments (3)
Budapest and Slovakia World Cup wallpapers
Theresa created 2 gorgeous new wallpapers in honor of Apolo's performances in the last 2 World Cups this season. You can download them by clicking each image below.
Posted by noelle at 5:47 AM | Comments (6)
February 11, 2005
Reversal of (mis)fortune
The day is saved... not sure how it happened or why, but the U.S. men's earlier disqualification in their relay semifinal has been overturned. Either they successfully protested the DQ, or our friends at Cyberscoreboard goofed. Whatever the story, this means our guys will skate in the final tomorrow against Korea, Canada and Italy.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
More on day 2 in Slovakia:
US Speedskating | Men's Relay Team Rally to Strong Finish
Friday wasn’t the best day for the U.S. Short Track Speedskating team but it wasn’t the worst. After a rocky start in the 500-meters, the U.S. men were able to pull themselves up by the skate-straps and finish the day with an impressive relay performance at the World Cup 6. read more
Speed Skating Canada | Gold, silver, bronze for Canada at short track speed skating World Cup
Charles Hamelin and Steve Robillard neared world record times as they finished 1-2 respectively in the men’s 500-metres Friday... read more
Posted by noelle at 1:12 PM | Comments (2)
500m finals: Hamelin and Robillard finish 1-2; Leblanc-Boucher 3rd
Wow! The Canadian men continue their strong showing, winning gold and silver in the men's 500m final. Charles Hamelin, having a spectacular breakout season, won his 3rd career World Cup gold medal today. Steve Robillard took his second silver in a row after finishing 2nd in the 1500m yesterday.
Right now Robillard, leading the overall classification with 42 points, is in a strong position to win his first World Cup title. Apolo Ohno is currently 2nd overall with 34 points. (Hamelin, not skating all 3 distances, is unranked.) This sets us up for an exciting final day tomorrow. Apolo may have the season title locked up, but the competitive fire won't have left him.
Halie Kim, the lone U.S. representative in today's finals, was passed in the 2nd lap and never regained a qualifying position. She finished 4th. Currently ranked 3rd overall, Halie will most likely be surpassed by the Korean women, but she remains in contention for a top 5 overall season finish. Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, the 2004 world junior champion at 500m, was Canada's lone representive on the women's side and took bronze behind Meng Wang and Evgenia Radanova.
Congratulations to team Canada!
[update 1 - Apolo ranked #2 on the season at 500m]
Apolo and Mathieu Turcotte both finish the season with 197 points at 500m. Mathieu wins the 500m title, apparently because he has 3 golds and 1 bronze to Apolo's 3 silvers and 1 gold. Hamelin is #3 overall. Congratulations to them all!
500m men results
1. HAMELIN, Charles (CAN) 41.640 34 pts
2. ROBILLARD, Steve (CAN) 41.710 21 pts
3. TERAO, Satoru (JPN) 41.814 13 pts
4. LI, Haonan (CHN) 43.142 8 pts
500m women results
1. WANG, Meng (CHN) 44.585 34pts
2. RADANOVA, Evgenia (BUL) 44.636 21 pts
3. LEBLANC-BOUCHER, Anouk (CAN) 44.721 13 pts
4. KIM, Hyo-Jung (USA) 44.796 8 pts
[update 2 - Double DQs for U.S. relay teams]
U.S. women: Frustrating outing for the American women, who skated a solid 2nd in their relay semifinal, only to be disqualified for apparently impeding on the Netherlands team. This could be particularly harmful as it may jeopardize the women's chances to qualify to skate the relay at Worlds next month in Beijing. (Math whizzes, please crunch some numbers for us!)
U.S. men:More frustration for the men, who had to skate twice today, first in quarter finals, then semis, only to be disqualified. In the final 12 laps or so, Korea and the U.S. repeatedly traded the lead, with Korea winning the race and the U.S. in 2nd. Whatever went wrong probably took place in these final laps. One of the lap timers couldn't take the excitement of the semifinal and attributed an impossibly fast 6.5 second lap to the Americans.
Going into this world cup, the men were ranked 3rd so I expect and hope they'll still qualify to skate at Worlds.
[update] The U.S. men's DQ has evidently been overturned. They will advance to tomorrow's relay final.
Posted by noelle at 10:22 AM | Comments (12)
Difficult day for U.S. skaters in 500m qualifying
The day got off to a rough start for the Americans with the early elimination of 2/3 of the skaters. In preliminaries, Allison Baver was disqualified in her race for reasons that aren't entirely clear (I wasn't watching the live races at that point). Kristen Biondo also made an early exit after finishing 3rd in her prelim. Among the women, only Halie Kim moved on to the heats.
On the men's side, Mike Kooreman finished first in his prelim but knocked over French skater Jean-Charles Mattei in the process, resulting in disqualification for Kooreman. Apolo Ohno and Rusty Smith finished 1st and 2nd in their races to move onto the heats, where heartbreak struck for Ohno (and his fans!).
Skating in the first heat, Apolo spent most of the race in 3rd behind two strong 500m skaters, Japan's Satoru Terao and Belgian Wim de Deyne. Nevertheless, it was a shock when Apolo finished the race out of qualifying position by .032 seconds. Apolo had moved into 2nd with 1 lap to go but de Deyne edged Apolo at the finish. When is the last time Apolo made such an early exit at any distance? Bummer... Luckily Rusty keeps U.S. men's hopes alive by moving on to the quarter finals after a 2nd place finish in his heat.
Canadian skaters: All three Canadian men and women reach the 500m quarter finals. Alanna Kraus had to reskate her 500m heat for unknown reasons. Alanna was eliminated after finishing 3rd in her semifinal. Chantale Sevigny was eliminated in her quarter final.
Charles Hamelin, Eric Bedard and Steve Robillard all made it to the semis. Hyun-soo Ahn, skating in RObillard's quarterfinal, was disqualified for impeding, his 2nd consecutive DQ.
Posted by noelle at 9:07 AM | Comments (16)
Pure joy!
Apolo wins the 1500m final at Spisska Nova Ves, SVK
(c) Pavel Rycl & Frantisek Styblo
Posted by noelle at 8:43 AM | Comments (6)
(c) Pavel Rycl & Frantisek Styblo
Posted by noelle at 8:42 AM | Comments (14)
Scenes from the U.S. men's relay heat in Slovakia
click images to enlarge
images (c) Pavel Rycl & Frantisek Styblo
The complete day 1 photo gallery is available on the Slovakia World Cup web site. There are photos of all the U.S. skaters who raced yesterday and I believe all the Canadians are there as well.
Posted by noelle at 8:40 AM | Comments (2)
February 10, 2005
World Cup Slovakia day 1 press releases
US Speedskating | Another Gold for Golden Ohno at World Cup 6
Speed Skating Canada | 3 medals for Canada at short track speed skating World Cup
[Amanda] Overland crossed the finish line in fourth but China’s Meng Wang was disqualified for shoving Overland at the midway point of the race. "I was totally shocked when Wang pushed me like that. It was a good call by the officials and it’s about time they start calling stuff like that. I felt really good today and I was really on so it’s very pleasing to get the medal."
Go Amanda!
Posted by noelle at 10:47 PM | Comments (4)
Apolo wins 1500m final in Slovakia in a North American medal sweep!
Steve Robillard and Francois-Louis Tremblay 2nd and 3rd; Amanda Overland wins bronze for Canada!
Congratulations to Apolo on winning the 1500m today! With this victory he clinches the #1 season ranking at this distance with a perfect 200 points. It was an exciting race, with all three Korean men in the final (they are apparently none the weaker for the absence of Seung-jae Lee and Suk-woo Song) and two Canadians. For a while it looked as though Apolo might get stuck when he found himself behind 2 Koreans followed by 2 Canadians with 5 laps to go but he quickly moved forward.
The disqualification of Hyun-soo Ahn allowed Robillard to upgrade his hardware from bronze to silver, and moved Tremblay into third. Korean Si-bak Sung fell and did not finish the race. Hoping he's ok!
Amanda skated a strong race against an equally tough field including 2 Chinese and 2 Koreans, along with Czech Katerina Novotna, who skated in her first career World Cup final today. Though Amanda finished the race in 4th, China's Meng Wang was subsequently disqualified, moving Amanda up to bronze for her second individual World Cup medal.
Congrats to all the North American medalists! It's almost killing me to miss the medal ceremony.
1500m men results
1. OHNO, Apolo Anton (USA) 2:15.353 34 pts
2. ROBILLARD, Steve (CAN) 2:15.740 21 pts
3. TREMBLAY, Francois-Louis (CAN) 2:15.855 13 pts
4. YEO , Jun-Hyung (KOR) 2:15.883 8 pts
DNF SUNG , Si-Bak KOR DNF
DQ AHN , Hyun-Soo KOR DQ
1500m women results
1. JIN, Sun-Yu (KOR) 2:24.225 34 pts
2. YEO, Soo-Yeon (KOR) 2:24.306 21 pts
3. OVERLAND, Amanda (CAN) 2:25.063 13 pts
4. NOVOTNA, Katerina (CZE) 2:32.882 8 pts
5. YANG (A), Yang (CHN) 2:42.999 5 pts
DQ WANG , Meng CHN DQ
Other U.S. skaters: Kristen Biondo was eliminated in heats. Allison Baver and Halie Kim were eliminated in their respective (difficult!) semifinals. Mike Kooreman made it to the quarterfinals, where he finished 5th in his heat. Rusty Smith finished 4th in his semi.
Other Canadian skaters: Anouk Leblanc-Boucher and Chantale Sevigny were eliminated in the heats. Eric Bedard was disqualified in his quarter final heat.
[relay heats]
The U.S. men's team of Ohno, Smith, Jordan Malone and Kyle Carr easily won their heat against Russia and the Netherlands. They took the lead for good with 25 laps to go. They'll face Belgium, the Netherlands and Korea in tomorrow's quarter final. The U.S. women, skating in the final heat of the day against China and Korea, finished 3rd, qualifying easily for tomorrow's semifinals by skating the fastest 3rd-place time of the day.
The Canadian men led from start to finish, winning their heat in the only sub-7 minute time posted today. They must have more than lapped the Ukrainian and Romanian teams, with a winning margin of 15+ seconds. They face Germany, Japan and Russia tomorrow. The Canadian women won their heat, also posting the fastest time of the day and will skate against Korea, Germany and Italy tomorrow in the semifinals.
Complete results are available at Cyberscoreboard.
image (c) Pavel Rycl & Frantisek Styblo
Posted by noelle at 10:51 AM | Comments (24)
Torino Games press preview
There's suddenly a bevy of press previews of U.S. medal prospects at the Torino Games, which get underway a year from now.
San Jose Mercury News | Faces to watch: Winter Olympics 2006
APOLO OHNO: Every Olympics has a sex symbol. At Salt Lake, Ohno was It. He left the teenage girls swooning and opponents fuming while winning gold and silver medals in the chaotic sport of short-track speed skating. Full article
San Jose Mercury News | Turin prepares for Winter Olympics show
Interview with the president of the Turin Organizing Committee:
Q: What do think of short-track speed skater Apolo Ohno? A: They are from another planet. It is unbelievable what they are able to do. Our Fabio Carta is a strong one!
Heh heh. He has no clue who Apolo is. Yet. Read full article
LA Times | Seeking to Treat Turin Like Home
On the ice, Jennifer Rodriguez of Miami won the long-track speedskating sprint world title last month and short-track skater Apolo Anton Ohno of Seattle won a 3,000-meter race in Hungary last weekend to move atop the World Cup standings.
Finally, a lengthy and frank article about the US Speedskating/Shani Davis trials and tribulations, by the Post's winter sports specialist Amy Shipley:
Washington Post | Davis Is Keeping Speedskating on Edge
Posted by noelle at 10:15 AM | Comments (19)
February 9, 2005
World Cup #6 begins Thursday in Slovakia
Just a heads up that get the final World Cup gets underway Thursday, not Friday, and will conclude Saturday. Live Cyberscoreboard has the following schedule:
Thursday, Feb. 10 and Friday, Feb. 11
7am ET/6am CT/5am MT/4am PT
Saturday, Feb. 12
5am ET/4am CT/3am MT/2am PT
Skating individual distances for the U.S. women are Allison Baver, Hyo-jung Kim and Kristen Biondo. Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith and Mike Kooreman will skate for the men. Once again the men must skate relay quarters and semis on day 2.
Posted by noelle at 9:55 PM | Comments (11)
Training photos from last Wed. and Thurs. in Budapest
Posted by noelle at 9:13 PM | Comments (18)
Apolo Ohno and Kyle Carr
Posted by noelle at 9:12 PM | Comments (5)
The U.S. men's team trains in Budapest
Posted by noelle at 9:12 PM | Comments (1)
Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith and Jordan Malone
Posted by noelle at 9:11 PM | Comments (1)
Apolo Ohno, Allison Baver and Mike Kooreman
Posted by noelle at 9:10 PM | Comments (3)
February 8, 2005
New Korean women's short track coach
SusanG has already reported a bit on Korea's new women's team coach. I don't know his Korean name, I just know him as Kevin.
Kevin (on left in photo) was my short track coach two and half years ago when he and new Marquette coach Jimmy Jang were coaching in Maryland. Kyle Carr, who came from this same regional short track association, has worked with Kevin as well.
In the wake of the abuse scandal that rocked Korean short track last fall, Kevin was asked to come back to Korea and take over coaching responsibilities for the women's team. The results so far certainly seem to speak for themselves.
I think a new lightheartedness among the Korean women was evident in Budapest. They seemed to be all smiles and even having fun! Sixteen year old Yun-mi Kang (2004 World Jr. Champion and 3rd overall in Budapest) was enchanted with little Riley, the daughter of Corin and Torrie from World Short Track. 
Yun-mi took great pleasure in giving Riley her bouquets from the medal ceremonies. The photo at right shows Yun-mi and teammate holding Riley.
As Susan mentioned, Kevin had the idea of getting the U.S. and Korean teams together for a goodwill photo op on Sunday at the banquet. With Suk-woo Song hospitalized, it didn't happen, but hopefully it will take place at a future event.
Korean short track couldn't ask for a better ambassador than Kevin!
Posted by noelle at 7:43 PM | Comments (7)
Short track scuttlebutt
With next season being the Olympic year, there will be only 4 World Cups, and none in North America. The first two are set for Asia the last weekend of September and the 1st weekend of October. The next two are scheduled for Europe during the 2nd and 3rd weekends in November. The European World Cups will double as the Olympic qualifiers, determining which countries qualify to compete in Torino and how many skaters per country compete in each distance.
Though host cities haven't been announced yet, Torino seems certain to be one of them, giving all skaters the opportunity to test out the ice and venue there. Some people said the other World Cup would be held in the Netherlands, while one person was sure both will take place in Torino.
Lots of talk about the ice conditions at the Palavela. The European Short Track Championships last month served as the official test event for the venue and many skaters who competed there have been complaining about the bad, soft ice there and hoping it will be fixed for the Games. The great news about the Palavela is that it uses a Calgary-style system of moveable padding.
Additional press reports on the Budapest World Cup:
Denton (TX) Record-Chronicle | Denton’s Malone has successful debut
Denton’s Jordan Malone made his World Cup debut with the U.S. men’s short-track speedskating team this past weekend at World Cup 5. Malone’s performance in the 1,500 had Ohnozone.net, the official fan site of Olympic gold medalist and top American short track speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, asking the question, "where have they been hiding this kid?"
Hee hee.
ISU Press release (they disclose the yellow cards in the writeup)
USA Today winter sports roundup:
Apolo Anton Ohno continued his steady march toward his third World Cup championship in five years, taking overall honors over the weekend in Budapest, Hungary. Ohno reached every final except the relay, winning the 3,000 meters after placing second at 1,500 meters and fourth at 500 and 1,000.
Rusty Smith placed ninth on the weekend to move up to ninth overall. Jordan Malone, competing in his first World Cup meet, reached one semifinal to finish 14th.
Allison Baver led the women's team, finishing eighth on the weekend after reaching the finals of the 1,500 and 3,000. Hyo-Jung Kim placed ninth. Baver and Kim are second and third in the season standings but may be surpassed by the Korean team, which skipped the two North American meets, in the final weekend of the season.
By the way, Jordan Malone says he's been skating on ice for only 6 months!
Posted by noelle at 6:21 PM | Comments (11)
February 7, 2005
Update on Song
Good news... Suk-woo Song walked out of the hotel here in Budapest on his own Monday evening, accompanied by Seung-jae Lee. He's limping noticeably, sort of hobbling, but it's impossible that he wouldn't be.
Seems like a great sign that he could walk unaided though. What a relief!
Posted by noelle at 12:44 PM | Comments (12)
Short track in the news
One of my favorite headlines ever: US Speedskating | Ohno's Still the King
Plus: Denver Post | USOC touts Turin's medal
Turin's ice may render a raft of speed skating medals as well with short-track's funky poster boy, Apolo Anton Ohno, expected to again jostle with the Koreans at every turn.
This may not be short track exactly, but if you want to read more about Shani Davis' exceptional weekend, check this out:
Chicago Tribune | Chicago skater wins a breakthrough world title
The Calgary Oval's Winterfest competition also took place this weekend and American skaters were there. Speed Skating Canada reports that Alex Izykowski was 2nd in the 1000m and won the 3000m by playing 'a brilliant strategy' (alas, no details on what that strategy was!). More on U.S. skaters' results here.
The U.S. skaters here in Budapest mentioned that Caroline Hallisey was also going to compete in Calgary.
Posted by noelle at 11:01 AM | Comments (7)
February 6, 2005
Scenes from the banquet in Budapest
Tremblay and Ohno with their prize money
Top 6 men: Suk-woo Song (missing), Hyun-soo Ahn (KOR), Charles Hamelin (CAN), Mathieu Turcotte (CAN), Francois-Louis Tremblay (CAN), Apolo Anton Ohno (USA)
Top 6 women: Meng Wang (CHN), Evgenia Radanova (BUL), Yang Yang A (CHN), Yun-mi Kang (KOR), Eun-kyung Choi (KOR), Sun-yu Jin (KOR)
Bridie Farrell, Mike Kooreman and Kyle Carr
Posted by noelle at 6:14 PM | Comments (17)
Relay final
Korea didn't start in the relay tonight so it was between Canada, China and Korea. It really became a race when Canada fell with perhaps 16 or 17 laps to go. They had a little trouble tagging and then there was a whole new race between China and Italy. China had the lead but Italy got in front on the next-to-last exchange, lost it and then got it back again in the final exchange. It was at this point i believe that the bump with China happened. By this time, the Canadians had lost all their rhythm along with the lead, but with China's disqualification, Canada gets relay silver.
More much later!
Posted by noelle at 1:28 PM | Comments (1)
Apolo wins the 3k reskate and the overall title
Apolo celebrates his 3000m victory
Congratulations to Apolo on winning the 3000m reskate. They reskated all 27 laps after a long, long wait for another ambulance to arrive. This was a calmly-skated race and Apolo, the Canadians and Ahn exchanged the lead a few times.
Ahn looked as though he wanted to win the race for Song but I think he knew with the Canadians and Apolo there it wasn't going to happen. When Apolo took the lead again with a few laps to go, he quickly accelerated and nobody was even close to catching him.
Turcotte had a rather bizarre fall after he finished and again smacked into the boards right in front of where I was standing. He knocked his head but seemed more annoyed than anything as he took off his helmet and threw it over to Christian to catch. He did take his time getting up, though!
So Apolo wins the overall title this weekend with 71 points. Flou Tremblay is next with 55 points, and Turcotte is 3rd with 47 points. I believe this also means that Apolo has locked up the overall title for the season (please correct me if I'm wrong). I don't see how anyone can take it away now.
Congratulations, Apolo -- no. 1 in the world again!
Posted by noelle at 12:55 PM | Comments (13)
Accident in the 3000
Apolo is ok but Suk-woo Song and Charles Hamelin crashed. Song was knocked unconscious and taken off the ice on a stretcher. Hamelin is ok but was very shaken up and spent a lot of time standing in the arms of Christian, the Canadian team doctor. They're waiting for an ambulance before restarting the race and Apolo got off the ice in the meantime.
A distressed Charles Hamelin receives comfort and medical attention
Hamelin was DQed and given a yellow card so it looks like he caused the accident looking for room to pass. I guess this is why he was so distressed immediately afterwards although this was prior to the call.
All the skaters left except Apolo are just sitting on the mats waiting for the race to begin again. Don't know where Apolo is, but the Italian ref had been talking to him before he got off the ice.
Say your prayers for Suk-woo!
[update]
Sentiment in the Canadian camp is that Hamelin should have received only a DQ but the yellow card was given because of the previous situation involving another Korean and another Canadian.
It seems that Hamelin may have a concussion. He's been checked over and it's not definite but he wouldn't be able to skate in the relay tonight regardless of the yellow card.
Hyun-soo Ahn, Matus Uzak and Jiajun Li wait for their reskate to begin
Posted by noelle at 12:23 PM | Comments (20)
1000m medalists in Budapest
Especially for our Canadian viewers! This is great (only thing that would make it better would be to see some red white and blue up there too!).
Suk-woo Song (silver), Charles Hamelin (gold), Francois-Louis Tremblay (bronze)
Posted by noelle at 11:46 AM | Comments (3)
Men's 1000m final in Budapest
Argh. That's the best way to sum up the 1000m final, along with the sentiment that I'm glad a Canadian won since it wasn't Apolo.
Apolo didn't get a great start and quickly found himself in last place. He simply cannot afford to hang out in the back in a race like this! I don't know if he needs to work on his start specifically or what the issue is but once he got back there he really had nowhere to go at all. Then Charles once again went way out in front and nobody could even think of catching him till the very end. Suk-woo Song came very close, and just missed out by 7 one-thousandths. Francois-Louis Tremblay won bronze.
Hamelin is really on top of his game right now and has found something that is hard to defend against, especially when the Koreans don't have help from teammates to go out with him. He keeps unleashing these moves and while they don't always work, they've been his ace today.
Congrats to the Canadians -- they have had an unbelievably weekend! And congrats to Apolo and the rest of the U.S. team too, who've skated very strong and have another chance to show what they've got next weekend in Slovakia.
In the meantime, we'll see Apolo and Allison up next in the 3000 which should be a couple of amazing races... three Koreans in the ladies' race and 3 Canadians in the men's.
Posted by noelle at 11:29 AM | Comments (11)
1000m semifinals in Budapest
Charles Hamelin way out front, Apolo in 2nd, Jiajun Li, Hyun-soo Ahn
The men's semis were thrilling -- especially the first! Apolo wasted no time in getting into a good position near the front, and Charles Hamelin wasted no time in unleashing one of his trademark accelerations way out in front of the pack. Apolo was safely in second with Jiajun Li 3rd and Hyun-soo Ahn last. On the last lap, heading into the final turn, Ahn made a desperate move on the inside to pass into second. In doing so he just knocked Apolo out of the race. Apolo didn't crash, but he was forced wide and slowed way down out of contention. The video replay left no doubt that Ahn would get a DQ.
Chief ref reviewed on video after the race and made the call to DQ Ahn and advance Ohno to the final. Nice to see the system working so well!
In the 2nd heat, Turcotte and Tremblay were in 2nd and 3rd (or maybe 3rd and 4th) after about 3 laps when Turcotte just slipped on his own and slid into the boards, right where I was standing. I didn't notice at the time but he evidently chose not to finish the race -- I guess saving himself for the relay? It's tough having 2 falls like that in a row. Song and Tremblay move onto the final with Hamelin, Jiajun Li and Apolo.
Posted by noelle at 10:59 AM | Comments (10)
1000m quarterfinals - Seung-jae Lee gets the yellow card again
The men's quarterfinals were pretty crazy. But Apolo's was downright dangerous. He spent the first few laps hanging out in back -- not a good place to be against a field like Lee, Mathieu Turcotte and Ye Li. After a couple of attempts, he moved up to the front ahead of Turcotte and Lee with a couple of outside passes. This is a very good thing. Apolo won his heat. Lee came around the last turn trying to pass Turcotte on the inside but he was forcing himself into a hole that didn't exist. Lee skidding sideways on his blades, straight into Turcotte, and they both went into the boards.
No one seems to be hurt but it was a nasty fall and Lee was immediately DQ'ed. Bridie spotted one of the refs giving Lee the yellow card, so he's out of the competition. Thank goodness Apolo was in front and out of harm's way, but how many more Canadians have to take the brunt of Lee's risky maneuvers?
Rusty had a very tough draw in his quarterfinal and got stuck in the back. With Ahn and Tremblay leading it would have been tough to get into a qualifying position, but he was never able to pass Pieter Gysel to try it.
Jordan Malone ran out of luck in his quarter final as well. The aggressive passing we've heard about came into play as he went for it at every opportunity and bumped Fabio and other skaters, making it hard to know precisely which occurrence led to his DQ. Another problem is that Jordan tends to slip a lot in the corners and this also led to some bumping. He is a star of the future though, no doubt about it!
Allison had a very tough draw in her quarterfinal as well and wasn't able to get to the front. Halie Kim didn't make it either - no way was Amanda Overland going to be passed today! Evgenia Radanova busted her trademark powerful outside pass in her quarterfinal.
Posted by noelle at 10:22 AM | Comments (6)
1000m qualifying heats in Budapest
Apolo takes an early lead in his 1000m heat
All 6 U.S. skaters qualified to skate in the heats. Unfortunately, Bridie Farrell was out after slipping and falling in her race. It happened with just a couple laps to go and she had been in qualifying position at the time, so this is really a pity!
Someone remarked that Apolo has been slipping a lot in his races. I hadn't really noticed this myself. Overall the ice seems to be pretty good though because there really haven't been a lot of falls at all so far this weekend.
Allison Baver made a magnificent outside pass from last place to 1st to win her heat. Halie Kim got boxed in a bit in her heat and made but gradually way to the front.
Allison Baver making her field-swallowing outside pass
Jordan Malone was fabulous once again in his preliminary race, making loads passes fearlessly. At lunch a skater from another country sounded really impressed with Jordan and remarked that he was pretty glad he didn't have to skate against him at all.
Rusty and Apolo's preliminaries were walks in the park for them. So long ago that I can no longer recall details!
Men's 1000m heats: All three guys rocked. Jordan's heat was first, against Tremblay, Nachbar (German who nearly won Europeans last month) and the Swiss Grossenbacher. He found himself at the back but got around everybody except Tremblay, I think. At any rate, he's going to the quarterfinals. The kid is a fearless passer who never gets tired!
Jordan Malone follows Tremblay - 1000m heat
Rusty did fine in his heat though at the end there was a big dustup when Ukrainian Gryhoryev tried too hard to pass Baoku Sui to get 2nd. Luckily Rusty was in the front and well out of harm's way. gryhoryev was DQed and I can't confirm it but Sui must have been advanced as well.
Apolo was in the final heat against Serra of Italy, Kersthold of the Netherlands and Praus of Germany. Apolo took an early lead then got passed till he was in last place. He gradually worked his way to the front and won his heat. At least, I think he did! My photos are horrible. I am very distressed about this! (I've posted the three good ones for you!)
Posted by noelle at 8:46 AM | Comments (16)