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March 12, 2005
Worlds day 3 - 1000m qualifying
Quarter finals: And then there were two (Americans, that is)
The women's quarter final heats were killer. Unfortunately for Allison Baver, she drew the defending world champion (Eun-kyung Choi) and the 6-time world champion (Yang Yang A) in her race and finished 3rd. No shame in that, but it brings what has been a tough weekend to a close for her. Halie Kim also faced a tough field and was eliminated after finishing 3rd behind Sun-yu Jin and Evgenia Radanova. Canada's Amanda Overland is the only North American woman moving on to the semis.
Better results on the men's side, as JP Kepka finished 2nd in his quarter final behind Flou Tremblay. In finishing 1-2, they very helpfully eliminated Korea's Kyung-taek Song, who finished last in the race. Apolo Ohno won his heat, with Charles Hamelin 2nd. Mathieu Turcotte also qualified for the semi finals.
Prelims and heats: Day three dawns with high hopes for Team USA... Smooth sailing for everyone as they all move on successfully through the prelims and heats to the quarter finals! Nothing interesting happened yet, just the way we like it at this stage of the game...
Posted by noelle at 9:50 PM | Comments (9)
Celebrating after the relay semifinal victory
Alex Izykowski, Apolo Ohno, Jordan Malone combined with Shani Davis for the win
'Way to go, Jordan'
'You da man, Apolo!'
Izy: 'Whoa... did we just win?!'
Copyright 2005 Pablo Galvez, capturedmemories.ca
Used by permission of americanshorttrack.com
Posted by noelle at 1:00 PM | Comments (14)
J.P. Kepka wins his 500m quarter final
J.P. finishes ahead of then-overall leader Hyun-soo Ahn (KOR) and Satoru Terao (JPN)
Copyright 2005 Pablo Galvez, capturedmemories.ca
Used by permission of americanshorttrack.com
Posted by noelle at 12:57 PM | Comments (4)
A tight finish for Apolo in his 500m quarter final
Flou Tremblay is first; Apolo edges Korea's Kyung-taek Song for 2nd by .005!
Copyright 2005 Pablo Galvez, capturedmemories.ca
Used by permission of americanshorttrack.com
Posted by noelle at 12:53 PM | Comments (5)
Insiders' view on day 2 in Beijing
Here's what my sources had to say about yesterday:
In Apolo's 500m semi, he was skating behind Charles Hamelin, waiting for a chance to move up. At that point Takafumi Nishitani was leading, followed by Hamelin, Apolo and Hyun-soo Ahn. Apolo found an opening where he attempted to pass Hamelin. It was a little tight, but when the team reviewed the video last night it appeared that Hamelin had perhaps cross-tracked on Apolo. At any rate, there was a bit of contact and Apolo had to back off, causing him to lose considerable speed.
The refs saw it differently from the team video and disqualified Apolo for impeding and advanced Hamelin. This is evidently when Ahn, biding his time at the back, was able to seize the chance to pass Apolo and Hamelin and move into 2nd. It just goes to show how subjective these things can be -- even the angle you view can change how things look.
Apolo is naturally disappointed that things haven't gone his way the past 2 days, but he is not upset with the referees or anything like that. Apolo also knows how these things go -- sometimes your way, other times not. He was able to successfully channel his frustration into an awesome relay performance in the semifinal. His fast split times tell the tale there: lap 27 - 8.3 seconds, lap 33 - 8.7 seconds, 8.9 seconds in the 2nd to last lap.
Anyone who attended the Salt Lake World Cup in 2003 knows how Apolo can turn the momentum around on day 3. Here's hoping he can continue channeling that frustration into strength in his 1000m and the relay final. Good luck Apolo and team USA!
Posted by noelle at 11:03 AM | Comments (11)
Flou and Apolo skate in their 500m quarter final
Here's a nice shot from yesterday (mislabeled as being the semi, it's from Apolo's quarter final).
Canadian skater Francois-Louis Tremblay skates at the semiquarter-final competition of Men 500 meter during the World Short Track Speed Skating Championship on March 12, 2005 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Guang Niu/Getty Images)
Posted by noelle at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)
Sweet! U.S. men win relay semifinal
What a great way to end the day... the U.s. men's relay team of Apolo Ohno, Shani Davis, Jordan Malone and Alex Izykowski beat Korea, Italy and Great Britain to move on to the relay final tomorrow. They'll face Korea, Canada and China.
Did you see that last exchange? Korea had retained the lead for quite a few laps by then, but on his anchor leg Apolo got out in front to win it for the USA. Would love to see them do that again tomorrow! Great work, team USA!
Posted by noelle at 3:16 AM | Comments (10)
500m finals in Beijing
[updated 7:30pm Saturday evening]
Nice article from CBC Sports: Canada's Tremblay wins short-track world title
He'll probably never see this, but I want to publicly thank Charles Hamelin for this particular statement:
"Finishing 1-2 is extraordinary. I had a great start to the race and made a lot of successful passes. At the end I was a lot more defensive in order to not jeopardize our medal chances. It's not something we plan for, it's an individual decision made during the race."
It's almost like he could read my mind saying, 'I don't get it!' I think I get it now.
J.P. 5th in his first final; Chinese women sweep medals
It sure would have been nice to get the stars ands stripes up there on that podium today, but hats off to J.P. Kepka for the strong and consistent skating that brought him all the way to his first final at this level. After 2 days, he's the only American skater to reach a final. You had to know it would be tough going with the 2 Canadians, Nishitani and Ahn -- and J.P. starting in lane 4. So 
congratulations also to Francois-Louis Tremblay and Charles Hamelin on their gold and silver medals.
The dark horse in pre-event polling to win Worlds was Tremblay -- and now it looks like he's the best-positioned of anybody to do it. He moves into the overall lead with 55 points to Hyun-soo Ahn's 47. Meanwhile, on the women's side, we have a 3-way tie at the moment for first among Meng Wang, Yang Yang A and Sun-yu Jin.
It would have been fun to be a spectator in Beijing for the women's final, won by Yang Yang A, followed by Meng 
Wang (silver) and Tianyu Fu (bronze).
MSNBC | Chinese women skaters sweep 500 at short track worlds
"The [Chinese] teammates threw their victory bouquets to a wildly cheering crowd and took an extra victory lap after the awards ceremony, holding their national flag aloft."
images via Sina News - click for more
Posted by noelle at 2:35 AM | Comments (12)
500m semifinals in Beijing
More heartbreak as Apolo bows out; J.P. goes to his first final!
Men: J.P. Kepka is on fire! Pitted against two strong Canadians and a Brit, he had his work cut out for him. The 500m is his distance though and he came out on top, with Francois-Louis Tremblay 2nd. Mathieu Turcotte ran into some trouble and evidently took a spill, finishing last. Good luck, J.P.! This looks to be his first individual final in a World Cup or World Championships.
Alas, J.P. will have no company in the final. Apolo Ohno's semi final turned into a nightmare for those of us 'watching' from afar. It was hard to keep track as the skaters' positions changed from lap to lap. The 1998 Olympic gold medalist at this distance, Takafumi Nishitani, showed he's still got it with his win. Hyun-soo Ahn snuck in for 2nd, leaving Apolo and Charles Hamelin out in the cold. Subsequently the referees reviewed the race and decided to disqualify Apolo and advance Hamelin.
What is it about the Worlds??
Women: Alanna Kraus, the last remaining North American, was eliminated after finishing last in her race. The 2nd semifinal, pitting 2 Chinese and 2 Korean skaters, was interesting. Yang Yang A came out on top in that one, with Eun-kyung Choi 2nd. Sun-yu Jin was subsquently disqualified, and China's Tianyu Fu advanced. This means there will be 3 Chinese skaters in the women's final. The hometown crowd must be delighted!
Posted by noelle at 2:06 AM | Comments (21)
World Championships day 2 - 500m qualifying
quarter finals: It was a good run while it lasted, but the quarter finals were the end of the road for the American women. Halie Kim and Allison Baver both faced tough competition; Halie finished 3rd in her race behind Meng Wang and Alanna Kraus. Allison finished last in her race after falling, apparently on her own, with two laps to go. This is particularly unfortunate as she was in qualifying position when she fell.
Canadians Amanda Overland and Kalyna Roberge were also eliminated. Only Kraus moves on to the semifinals for the Canadian women.
All the guys are through! The Canadian men continue to enjoy smooth sailing as all won their respective heats. Apolo Ohno was assessed a false start in his race. He finished 2nd behind Flou Tremblay to advance to the semis. J.P. Kepka had an awesome quarter final, winning the race to Hyun-soo Ahn's 2nd. J.P. skated the 2nd fastest time today so far (42.195 -- only Mathieu Turcotte was faster).
Bring on the semis!
So far, so good
heats: Apart from a hiccup or two with Live Cyberscoreboard, there has been nothing really to report -- and at this stage, that's a good thing! Four out of four Americans advance to the 500m quarter finals, as do 6 of 6 Canadians. Keep it up, guys...
prelims: Day 2 in Beijing is off to a much better start so far. All the American and Canadian skaters are through to the next round, as expected, with nothing unusual to report from any of their races. Hyo-jung Kim and J.P. Kepka won their races; Allison Baver and Apolo Ohno finished 2nd in theirs. Go USA!
Posted by noelle at 12:10 AM | Comments (8)
March 11, 2005
Reluctant spectator
Well, that guy in the blue bandanna should have been on the other side of the boards, but this makes a great photo opp at least.
Shani Davis, Paul Marchese, Jordan Malone and Apolo Ohno watch the 1500
Copyright 2005 Pablo Galvez, capturedmemories.ca
Used by permission of americanshorttrack.com
Posted by noelle at 1:32 PM | Comments (12)
Photos from Apolo's 1500m semi in Beijing & US Speedskating update
images via SINA News
Also, US Speedskating has a press release and Jerry Search photo up from today's action in Beijing:
U.S. Off to Rocky Start at World Championships
[Derrick] Campbell summed up Friday's run of bad luck with the following: "on the first day, our skaters' physical preparation looked good. However, we made a few critical tactical mistakes. We are looking to move forward and respond with a stronger 500-meters and men's relay performances."
Posted by noelle at 1:19 PM | Comments (7)
Apolo shares a laugh with Derrick Campbell
taken Thursday in Beijing
Copyright 2005 Pablo Galvez, capturedmemories.ca
Used by permission of americanshorttrack.com
Posted by noelle at 1:10 PM | Comments (4)
Worlds Day 1 - 1500m finals
[update #2 10:20am ET]
Here's the inside scoop on what happened today:
Apolo's 1500m semi: Apolo was in the lead with 7 laps to go. Kyung-taek Song took over the lead with 4 to go and was skating very defensively. Then in the last lap, before the corner, Mathieu Turcotte tried to slip inside of Apolo but Apolo didn't let him in. At that point, Turcotte fell, taking Apolo with him. Apolo was DQ'ed and Turcotte advanced to the final. Though the Canadians might disagree, sentiment in the U.S. camp seems to be that the call should have gone the other way.
Men's 1500m final: This sounded wild also. Apparently Turcotte fell, just on his own, and took Charles Hamelin with him this time. Hyun-soo Ahn was skating at the back of the pack and was judged lucky to emerge the winner of this race. Ahn's teammate Song was DQed for cross-tracking. Despite two of the Canadian men's misfortune in this race, they are said to be skating superbly.
The U.S. skaters' preparation and fitness are also excellent. Apolo is said to have skated an 8.3 second lap in practice yesterday. The skaters just had a run of bad luck today but there is no reason they can't bounce back.
[update #1] - Check out the comments for some eyewitness commentary.
With Apolo out of the final and no North Americans at all on the women's side, it was all up to the Canadian guys to salvage the day for us fans. Congratulations to Francois-Louis Tremblay on his silver medal in the 1500m. He finished the race in 3rd, but got a hardware upgrade after Kyung-taek Song was disqualified. One guess who won gold.
Men's 1500m final: 1. Hyun-soo Ahn (KOR), 2. Tremblay (CAN), 3. Seung-hoon Lee (KOR), 4. Jiajun Li (CHN), 5. Charles Hamelin (CAN), 6. Mathieu Turcotte (CAN), Song DQ (KOR)
Women's 1500m final: 1. Sun-yu Jin (KOR, 2. Yun-mi Kang (KOR), 3. Meng Wang (CHN), 4. Eun-kyung Choi (KOR), 5. Yuka Kamino (JPN), 6. Evgenia Radanova (BUL)
Bad luck comes in threes
Isn't that what they say? Let's review:
1. Allison Baver receives a technical DNF after winning her 1500m heat
2. Hyo-jung Kim apparently falls in her semi final and is DNF*
3. Apolo Ohno DQed in his semifinal
actually, there's another:
4. The U.S. women finished 3rd in their relay semi and won't advance to the final.
* Word is that Halie was fine but slow to get up after her fall so they halted the race. The officials did not allow her to continue. Meanies.
The Canadian women were 2nd in their semi and will face Korea, China and Japan in the final on Sunday.
I wish Cyberscoreboard would put the splits up so we could try to make sense of #2 and #3. Most of all, I hope Halie is okay. And if the saying is true, at least maybe the bad stuff is out of the way already. *crosses fingers, toes and eyes*
Posted by noelle at 6:45 AM | Comments (32)
World Championships day 1 - 1500m heats and semis
1500m semis
Evil luck or bewitched ice? Either way, it's not a good day for the USA
Men: Live Cyberscoreboard isn't showing any race details... all we're seeing is the gun go off to signal the race has started, then nothing more till the results flash on the screen. So it was a sickening feeling to see Apolo Ohno and Mathieu Turcotte 5th and 6th respectively in their semifinal. It doesn't seem possible that that field could beat them both so badly. Ultimately we learned the race was under review... at first it seemed that Turcotte would be DQed, but then it turned out that Apolo was disqualified, and Turcotte advanced to the final.
All these 1500m heats and semis are too full of skaters. That isn't helping. *grumble* The women's final will havee three Koreans and no Americans or Canadians. The men's final is a trippy combination of 3 Canadians, 3 Koreans, a token Chinese for good measure -- and no Apolo.
Can I go back to bed now? I think Worlds hasn't started yet and I'm just having nightmares.
Women: Hyo-jung Kim's race had to be stopped and restarted due to a fall due to a fall early on. Then Live CSB showed no activity when they finally got the race underway. Something seems very wacky when Hyo-jung Kim finishes 5th and Alanna Kraus last. Yes, it's a semi and a strong field, but not that strong!
Further info is that Halie did not finish. Liesbeth Mau Asam of the Netherlands was DQ'ed... not sure if there is a connection there, or if Halie was perhaps the skater who fell when they first tried to run this race. Let's hope she's ok... a DNF is not a comforting sign or a reassuring start to the weekend for the USA. Hopefully we'll hear more from the fans on the ground in Beijing!
1500m heats
A disappointing early exit for Allison Baver
Women: Everything seemed to be going so smoothly for the North American women in their 1500m heats until the final race. Allison Baver spent much of the race at the back of the pack before moving to the front with 7 laps to go. She appeared to win the race with ease. Unfortunately, she was marked as DNF with the explanation that Baver 'did not cross the finish line'; technically this means she did not finish the race.
As far as I can tell, the finish line isn't visible in the Finishlynx photo. However, Allison appears to be well to the inside of the other skaters.
How it's possible not to cross the finish line, I can't guess! What a pity.
Hyo-jung Kim and Canada's Alanna Kraus both won their heats. Kalyna Roberge and Amanda Overland, the other two Canadians, finished 2nd in theirs so all four will move on to the semifinals.
Men: I'm a bit heartbroken that J.P. Kepka won't move onto the semis. He skated such a solid race, in 1st and 2nd for the entire time until China's Ye Li beat him for 2nd place at the wire by a minuscule .004 sec! Check out the photo finish. It was a great race by J.P., he should be proud after getting seeded into one of the tougher heats! Canadian Charles Hamelin, skating in the same heat, was at the back for much of the race till taking the lead with 4 to go to win.
Apolo Ohno's heat was one of the crazier ones. The skaters in his heat were all over the place with constant jockeying for position. With all that passing going on, Apolo didn't move up for good until 4 laps to go. He took the lead with 3 to go and won the heat.
Canadians Mathieu Turcotte and Francois-Louis Tremblay easily won their respective eats, so the lucky Canucks are 6 for 6 so far.
Posted by noelle at 3:49 AM | Comments (12)
March 10, 2005
Apolo and Shani in China
Looks like Pablo got a shot of the bicep contest Tiggie mentioned seeing yesterday at the U.S. team practice in Beijing! (Or was that today? Argh. Darn time zones.)
Thanks to Denise for sending this one in for us to see!
Copyright 2005 Pablo Galvez, capturedmemories.ca
Used by permission of americanshorttrack.com
Posted by noelle at 9:37 PM | Comments (8)
Apolo's 500m semifinal in Milwaukee
More photos are in the Milwaukee day 1 gallery.
Joey Lindsey, Apolo Ohno, Jordan Malone and Alex Izykowski
Posted by noelle at 6:48 PM | Comments (3)
After the 500m final
Apolo gets ready for his post-victory interview
Apolo about to get off the ice after winning the 500m final
Posted by noelle at 6:45 PM | Comments (6)
March 9, 2005
World Championships schedule
[updated Thursday morning]
This schedule is based on the one posted on the World Championships web site; I will update if any of the announced times change (the official schedule indicates this may happen).
U.S. times are in parentheses below.
Day 1 - Friday March 11 (overnight Thursday-Friday in the U.S.)
15:25 1500m prelims & heats
(2:25AM ET, 1:25AM CT, 12:25AM MT, 11:25PM PT)
NOTE: Live Cyberscoreboard shows day 1 racing beginning at 4PM China time, which is 3AM ET, 2AM CT, 1AM MT, and 12AM PT. Not sure which schedule is right but I would put my money on Live CSB for now.
18:55 1500m semifinals, finals, ladies' relay semis
(5:55AM ET, 4:55AM CT, 3:55AM MT, 2:55AM PT)
Day 2 - Saturday March 12 (begins Friday night March 11 in USA)
12:05 500m, relay semis
(11:05PM ET, 10:05PM CT, 9:05PM MT, 8:05PM PT)
Day 3 - Sunday, March 13 (takes place Saturday night March 12 in USA)
10:05 1000m, 3000m, relay finals
(9:05PM ET, 8:05PM CT, 7:05PM MT, 6:05PM PT)
Posted by noelle at 8:59 PM | Comments (21)
March 8, 2005
Introducing American Short Track
There is a fantastic new addition to the world of short track web sites. It's called AmericanShortTrack.com and as the name implies, it focuses on the U.S. short track team. You'll find tons of great photos by Pablo Galvez, news, and coverage of the major short track events of the season.
AST.com was created thanks to the vision and hard work of Denise D'Aguanno. Go check out the site!
Apolo in Milwaukee-1500m final
Copyright 2004 Pablo Galvez, capturedmemories.ca
Used by permission of americanshorttrack.com
Posted by noelle at 6:39 PM | Comments (18)
Shots from the 1500m in Milwaukee
Thanks to Sue for these!
Being introduced for the 1500m semifinal
Watching the action
Posted by noelle at 6:31 PM | Comments (4)
March 7, 2005
Article on Hyo-jung Kim
It's about time Halie got some national-level media exposure! Here's an article from the Los Angeles Times:
Hyo Jung Stays on Track for U.S.
To her friends at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, she's Halie Kim. By any name, short-track speedskater Hyo Jung Kim is an impressive talent who's on target to earn international acclaim at the Turin Olympics. Given to shy smiles and giggles, she collects keepsake key chains from her travels and enjoys being treated like a little sister by teammates Allison Baver, Apolo Anton Ohno and Rusty Smith.
"Right now, basketball, baseball and football are the sports in this country," she said. "I hope someday [short track] will grow. It is growing and hopefully I will be a part of that."Full article
Posted by noelle at 10:25 PM | Comments (6)
March 6, 2005
Apolo's 500m quarter final in Milwaukee
Skaters in this race are Apolo, Shani Davis, Mike Kooreman and Jeff Simon from SoCal.
Posted by noelle at 10:59 PM | Comments (11)
Jerry Search photo galleries
Here's another awesome shot from the 1000m A final in Milwaukee, courtesy of Jerry Search.
Jerry's extensive photo galleries from last weekend are nearly complete. You can check them out here: 2005 National Short Track Championships Lots of great stuff!
Posted by noelle at 5:43 PM | Comments (6)
1000m A final in Milwaukee
Sonia found this shot from Milwaukee in the Chinese press of all places!
Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith, Shani Davis, Travis Jayner, Jordan Malone
Posted by noelle at 10:26 AM | Comments (10)
Nick's photos from Nationals
Okay, so Nick didn't take a ton of shots of Apolo, but he got some cool photos!
SoCal's Jeff Simon in the race of his life
Jeff finished 2nd behind Apolo in this 1000m quarter final with Mike Kooreman and J.R. Celski
Elite men's 1500m A final
I didn't see this race, but Apolo must have been safely in the lead by this point when Jordan Malone crashed and brough Alex Izykowski with him.
Posted by noelle at 10:16 AM | Comments (15)
Canadian men win World Team Championships; women take third
[updated] Some nice quotes from Turcotte and Overland in this article: Canadian men take gold at short-track speed skating world team championship
The Canadian men went to World Teams with the stated goal of winning the meet, and they did just that, prevailing over Korea by 43 points to 36 -- and on the home team's ice, no less. China was 3rd and Japan 4th.
Canadian men Charles Hamelin, Mathieu Turcotte, Steve Robillard, Francois Louis-Tremblay and Eric Bedard set the stage by sweeping every heat in their bracket on day 1, earning the team a perfect 58 points.
After finishing 3rd in their bracket on day 1, the Canadian women's team of Amanda Overland, Alanna Kraus, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Tania Vicent and Kalyna Roberge needed a strong performance in the repechage round to make it to the finals on day 2. They won the repechage to move onto today's finals, where they finished in bronze medal position behind Korea and China and ahead of Japan. Full results at Cyberscoreboard.
Congratulations to team Canada -- and bring on Beijing!
Posted by noelle at 9:45 AM | Comments (6)