Ohno Zone

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November 19, 2005

Relays

Both relay teams are in tomorrow's final. The ladies finished 2nd in their semi final and the men won theirs. They slipped into the lead a couple times during the race but were in 2nd behind China for most of the time till Apolo seized the lead on his last 2 laps.

The best part of these results is that we locked up our positions in the relay today for Torino. The U.S. men and women will definitely be skating the relays in Torino!

Quick photos and then till tomorrow because I can't get online at the hotel:

Travis Jayner peeks out during the men's relay

Apolo skates the relay

Alex Izykowski in the relay - great seeing him out there today!

Posted by noelle at 12:35 PM | Comments (2)

500m finals - Bronze medal for J.P. Kepka!

500m medalists: Jiajun Li (silver), Ahn Hyun-soo (gold), J.P. Kepka (bronze)

YAY J.P.! He had such an awesome day today and skated a series of fabulous races to find himself in the final with Li Jiajun and all 3 Koreans. J.P. and Jiajun got off to a great start, with Jiajun Li in the lead and J.P. right behind. They stayed that way for nearly the entire race and it looked certain J.P. would have his first individual World Cup medal -- but which color? Ahn did one of his brilliant come-from-behind moves that we've been seeing a lot of lately to snatch the win at the very end. That put Jiajun in 2nd with silver and J.P. in 3rd with bronze. Way to go J.P, we are so excited for you!!

And bronze for Kalyna Roberge of Canada! It's her 3rd in a row in World Cups this season.

More good news -- all 3 U.S. guys are in well within the top 32, with J.P. 3rd, Apolo 10th and Rusty 13th. A huge, huge improvement on the results from Bormio so I believe this means we're safe for 2 spots for the men in 500m. Not sure for the ladies - best ranking for today was 17th, but all 3 were in the top 32 last week in Bormio, so we may have to sweat that one out. *crosses fingers*

For the Canadians, they have 3 ladies in the 500m in Torino but it looks like only 2 guys. Mathieu Turcotte stripped an edge and fell in his quarter final race earlier today and that could potentially really hurt. I can't figure out how to combine the rankings and there is no official info available right now about Olympic qualifications.

Posted by noelle at 10:57 AM | Comments (11)

500m semifinals - J.P. Kepka advances to final

Amazing job by the Canadian ladies -- all 3 made it to the semis, which I hope assures them of 3 spots in the 500m at Torino in spite of Alanna Kraus' disqualification for taking out Yang Yang A in their semifinal. Anouk Leblanc-Boucher won the same race. In the 2nd women's semi, Kalyna Roberge skated very strong behind Meng Wang for 2nd, so there will be 2 Canadian women in the final!

In the men's semis, Eric Bedard got DQ'ed in the first race. This was a pretty exciting finish. Eric was leading Jiajun Li till the end, when Ho-suk Lee whipped around them on the outside to get his skate 2nd across the line in impressive fashion. Eric was then DQ'ed, moving Li up a notch to the final.

JP of course drew lane 5 in his race, and Francois-Louis Tremblay was 4th. Both Korean skaters had the inside lanes. Flou got an amazing start and seized the lead and J.P. was in back. He managed to pass Assen Pandov (who I believe was skating in his first semi ever) to move into 4th. Meanwhile, Ahn moved up to take the lead, and J.P. somehow pulled himself up to 3rd with a heroic effort. The other Korean, Song, had been in 2nd behind Flou. There was contact between the two. Flou crossed the line in 2nd and Song finished last. Tremblay was disqualified, and Song was advanced. Best of all, the DQ puts J.P. in the 500m final!

It's been a rough day! Great efforts by all the skaters, dealing with outside lane positions, problems with the starter, dirty ice, equipment problems, etc. Tomorrow is another day!

Posted by noelle at 10:23 AM | Comments (1)

Men's quarter finals (It's a mess out there)

Very bad news for us with Apolo and Rusty both out of the running in the 500m now. Thank goodness J.P. is still in there! It stinks that a big part of it is luck of the draw -- ie, Rusty and Apolo reverted to the dreaded lane 4 while Eric Bedard who arguably shouldn't still be skating got lane 1.

Rusty's quarter final

Rusty had lane 4 but despite this he started well enough, spending the first half of the race in 2nd behind Tremblay. Tremblay maintained his lead and I'm sure Rusty sensed Ahn gaining ground and knew a pass attempt was coming. Ahn was moving up on the outside and Rusty seemed to be looking for him when he slipped, making Ahn's pass inevitable.

J.P.' quarter final
Ho-suk Lee was quite amazing in getting around on the outside at the last possible moment for the win, and J.P. got second to be the only American in the semi finals.

Apolo's quarter final
The other thing is that it seems like the starter's gun isn't working properly, which would explain what seems arbitary about races being started and stopped (though I still think Mau Asam's heat described below was favoritism and the Italians jeered it at the time).

Anyway, Apolo's quarter final was a fiasco -- it saw 2 false starts and one restart. The first thing was a false start by either Song or Bedard. Then the race got off ok, but Apolo and Nicola Rodigari bumped and Rodigari went down; the refs recalled the race -- which is probably lucky for Apolo because he did most of the bumping. The Italians jeered again when this moment was replied. In general though the refs are more lenient about bumping at the start of the 500m. When the race was started again, there was a 2nd false start - not sure against whom. And THEN there was ANOTHER false start -- and we think it wasn't the skaters' fault. It's because the starter's gun is malfunctioning.

The dirty ice is bad enough, but what if faulty equipment is also wrecking people's chances?

Posted by noelle at 9:55 AM | Comments (7)

Men's eigth finals

Rusty had an awesome race. For once he and Apolo both drew lane 1 and Rusty took full advantage. He was 2nd off the line and made an outside pass in the last quarter-lap to win the race. He's skating strong today and looking sharp. Rusty is skating on his backup blades. In his prior race, he clicked blades with another skater and got a nick in his blades, necessitating the switch so very good job by him in this race!

Apolo, also in lane, had difficulty getting started as 2 false starts in a row were called on his race. Once they got going things were smooth sailing as Apolo led wire to wire.

J.P. looked brilliant in his quarter final! He drew lane 3 and made an amazing (and somewhat risky) pass that left everyone gasping to slip into first midway through his heat.

There was some controversy with the Canadians' results. Mathieu Turcotte fell on his own - on the replay he hit a block with his knee, but that seemed to be happening as he fell. They've been restarting races all day long for less than that so I wouldn't have complained if they'd done it for him too, but no. This is going to hurt the Canadians a lot. Really tragic!

On the other hand, how Eric Bedard managed to not get DQ'ed in his heat - the same as JP's - I can't imagine. I think most spectators were expecting it after he pretty clearly took out Ye Li on the replay (Li was injured as well). Nevertheless, Bedard continues on to the next round, so that prevents more disaster for Canada anyway.

Posted by noelle at 9:14 AM | Comments (2)

Women's heats interrupted by fire alarm

As the 2nd heat is on the line, a fire alarm sounds and a voice says in Dutch and English to leave the building. The chief referee is talking on a cell phone and everyone is just looking baffled. Has fire ever broken out at a world cup before? The skaters are milling around on the ice but no one is in a hurry to leave although it seems people may be evacuating the press room.

What a bizarre moment!

[update] All clear - false alarm, they say!

Posted by noelle at 8:14 AM | Comments (4)

500m heats

Women's heats

What a shame for Halie Kim. What happened is that she drew lane 4 to start her 500m heat. The first problem is she drew a false start, which required her to start more conservatively the 2nd time around, and as a result she was mired in 4th - a very distant 4th. It was a lot of ground to make up in the best of circumstances. She was attempting to pass the New Zealand skater on the outside and fell. I think Halie rang her bell pretty good there and she was disqualified for cross-tracking. However, she was able to finish her race. I'll see what I can find out about how she's doing.

Allison Baver was equally unfortunate in her lane position -- also on the outside. She was able to pass from 4th to 3rd and was looking for more room to move up but couldn't find any. Great effort!

Allison skates in her 500m heat

Curious officiating: I don't know what kind of weird officiating is going on this weekend, but there have never been so many races restarted -- and it's not happening only when a skater falls before the apex in the 500m. There was at least one 1500m restarted yesterday and loads of them today. There seems to be some partisanship towards the home country skaters as well.

The most egregious case was ladies' heat #8 with Liesbeth Mau Asam. That race was restarted at least twice. First there was a fall when the race was more than halfway over, involving Mau Asam and another skater. Neither appeared to be hurt so it's not clear why it was restarted so late.

When the race was restarted Mau Asam stumbled right at the start, and they halted things again. Mind you, she stumbled all on her own, and I've seen other skaters stumble at the start too and the starter did nothing. So when the race started for the 3rd time, Mau Asam stumbled yet again, exactly like she had a moment earlier. This time, thank goodness, they let the race proceed.

Despite all the chances given to Mau Asam, Yang Yang A was the real beneficiary. In the race's first version she was sitting in 5th and last, far back. By the end, she was the only person who could deal with all the stop and go and stop and start and she won the race.

Men's heats
I was standing right by the first turn for the men's heats. Apolo's race was first and it was unreal to be a few feet away as they thundered past. I think the ground shook! lol. Anyway, Apolo won this one from start to finish.

Apolo out front in his heat

The start of Rusty's heat

J.P. had an awesome race! He jumped right into the lead and stayed there. I didn't even realize Ahn was in his race till after it ended but I don't think Ahn was even in a position to try to pass him.

J.P. en route to a win in his heat

The Canadian men want to be sure they don't lose that third spot in the 500m today. So far they're looking very good

Mathieu Turcotte in the lead of his heat

Eric Bedard had an exciting race. He didn't get the best position at the start. The German skater was in the lead most of the race and Eric was in 3rd. He finally passed to the front in the 3rd lap, but half a lap later, the Korean skater who had been third in turn passed the German and Eric for the lead.

Eric Bedard

Francois-Louis Tremblay

Posted by noelle at 7:53 AM | Comments (3)

500m preliminaries

Caroline Hallisey had a rough heat. About halfway through she was in 2nd place and going into the last couple of laps, Tatiana Borodulina tried to make a move. She and the Japanese skater crashed and Tatiana was hurt. The race was halted and Borodulina was helped off the ice and also disqualified for impeding. It's too bad for Caroline - she was in qualifying position when this happened. She skated well on the re-skate but wasn't able to hold off the Korean skater in the final lap. Hope Tatiana will be ok to carry on later this weekend!

Caroline in the re-skate of her 500m prelim

Allison Baver had a great, uneventful race - as much as I can remember it. Cyberscoreboard is down so can't check anything there but she crossed the line way out in front.

Here's Allison in the lead

Hyo-jung Kim didn't get the best start but she just zoomed past everyone on the outside in the first lap and a half to take the lead.

Halie makes her move to take the lead

Rusty was 3rd off the line in his prelim. He made a beautiful inside past Holland and Australia to take the lead and win his race.

Rusty makes his move to the front

Apolo led his prelim wire to wire.

Apolo comfortably out in front

J.P. Kepka got an excellent start and won his heat by miles.

J.P. way out in front

Posted by noelle at 6:16 AM | Comments (8)

A couple more scenes from Friday

The Dutch schoolkids were great, all decked out in their orange colors and making loads of noise on Friday -- they loved, loved, loved having their photos taken.

U.S. team takes in the action

Team Korea enjoying the races

Posted by noelle at 4:43 AM | Comments (5)

November 18, 2005

Relays

Turns out there are only enough men's teams for the normal relay heats - semis, finals, so there is no extra round tonight for the men. I haven't been hearing skaters complaining about that! Not sure where the extra teams went between last weekend and this.

As the U.S. men took to the ice before their race began, Apolo noticed something and alerted an ice crew to do some repair work. Then he skated over to tell Li Yan that there was 'a rock this big in the ice over there' holding up his fingers in the size of a quarter. He made sure that chief referee Charles Veldhoven knew it was there as well. The rock was on the track, near the blocks in one of the turns.

Apolo escorts the chief referee to see a rock in the ice

Both the men and women skated beautiful races tonight. The women finished behind China and ahead of the Netherlands teams to assure themselves a spot in the semis tomorrow. The race was uneventful, with China maintaining a half-lap lead on the U.S. who in turn were a half-lap ahead of Netherlands for most of the race.

The men were doing great tonight too. Our guys lapped Ukraine and won with ease. Japan, the 2nd-place finisher, was well back by about a quarter lap. Well done!

Rusty and Apolo execute an exchange early in their relay heat

Posted by noelle at 12:20 PM | Comments (9)

1500m semis and finals

The most important result out of today is that we should have 2 women and men ranked in the top 32 for the 1500m after last weekend in Bormio and today. In the men's 1500m classification today, Rusty is in 11th, Apolo is 12th and J.P. 31st. In the ladies', Allison is ranked an awesome 5th, Hyo-jung 9th and Kimberly 18th. Once these results are combined officially with last week's results in Bormio, this means we can send two men and women to skate this distance in Bormio.

As noted in the comments, the Canadian men fared notably worse this week than last, where they had all 3 guys in the top 8. This week no Canadian man finished higher than 16th, so sadly, they're going to lose their 3 men's slot in the 1500m in Torino. It's looking like no country will have three men in the 1500 in the Olympics, which works out well for us.

1500 finals - Asian skaters dominate

Allison really skated strong in her final today, going to the lead early and setting a slow, steady pace in the early laps in a final with 3 Koreans and 2 Chinese skaters. Even after she got passed, Allison maintained her medal position for quite a while and made it difficult for the other skaters to pass her. Eventually they did and Allison finished 5th after a great effort.

Allison out front in her 1500m final

Jin and Wang start to make their move past Allison in the 1500m final

The European men - Italy's Rodigari and France's Chaitaignier - put in an effort too but results reverted to form and they finished out of the medals, with Korean Ahn on top again, his teammate Lee in 2nd and Jiajun Li 3rd.

Update on Apolo: Word around the rink is that Apolo lost his edge early on in the race - which explains a lot about the race's results. He lost a 5-inch segment of his blade this way. As a result, when he tried to pass other skaters he just couldn't. Somehow it's always a relief to hear these explanations, knowing nothing is really wrong. That may be the problem that caused Hamelin's fall in his semifinal as well.

The Koreans stripped edges in practice today apparently also. I'm being told that the dirty ice is the cause of most of these problems. This could set things up for a dangerous day tomorrow in the 500m. Let's hope that will not be the case! Rumor has it too that the Dutch team even decided to train in Germany after the Bormio world cup rather than coming to The Hague.

1500 semifinals - and then there was one

Way to go Allison Baver, making the 1500m final, alone among American skaters today! She had a great race. starting strong. The finish was quite close but Allison hang on to 2nd place behind Chun-sa Byun and ahead of Xiaolei Cheng. She skated a very strong race today.

Halie Kim started strong in her semi but was passed first by Yang Yang A and then by Eun-kyung Choi at which point the race was over. Nice effort! Kimberly Derrick also had a strong start but was outskated by the field this time.

Apolo salutes while being introduced for his 1500m semi

I'm not sure anyone would have predicted the outcome of the men's semi finals today. Sadly, Apolo is out of the action after finished 3rd to Ahn and Jiajun Li in his race. While racing from the back is a bit more understandable in a field like this one, it wasn't exactly like Apolo's quarter final. He started off in good position before getting passed midway through the race and finding himself last again. Apolo made it back to 4th place but couldn't move up. Cees Juffermans, perhaps for the first time in his life, beat Apolo at the line for 3rd. Mathieu Turcotte stumbled badly with less than 2 laps to go -- on his own, as near as I could tell.

1500m semi - Cees Juffermans leads Apolo Ohno

The 2nd semi final had a pretty unusual outcome. Refreshingly unusual it must be said, although I'd have preferred it if Rusty Smith and Jo Guilmette had been able to qualify. They finished 3rd and 6th respectively. Instead, the qualifiers were Italy's Nicola Rodigari and France's Maxime Chataignier. Good job by them -- Rodigari was really strong and impressive in this race.

The 3rd semifinal saw another bad stumble by a Canadian. Charles Hamelin, in qualifying position, fell on his own and wound up finishing last. Don't know but these could be more of those ice issues -- the stumbles didn't occur in the same location however.

Posted by noelle at 9:57 AM | Comments (17)

1500m quarter finals

Five of our six skaters will be moving on to the semis, which is great news! The ladies all skated very strong, largely uneventful races. I have no notes from Allison and Hyo-jung's races, neiher of which gave either skater any difficulty. Kimberly stayed with the leaders the whole race and was in first for a few laps before being passed, but in any case she made sure to stay up front to claim that 3rd qualifying position.

Allison en route to winning her quarter final

Apolo's quarter final was not fun to watch until the final lap! I'm sure all of you on Live Cyberscoreboard were having heart attacks! Apolo had to fight to move himself into a qualifying position in the last two laps of his face. He started last and stayed there lap after lap after lap. With 8 to go, I muttered, 'Time to think about moving up, Apolo.' A lap later: 'Any time now, Apolo.'

Apolo play caboose

No reaction from AAO. Finally, with four to go, he seemed to realize the situation was serious and started looking energetically for some racing room and... couldn't find any. Things were looking desperate! He finally concluded he could only get to the front by passing everyone on the outside. Once he made it to the front, of course, things were fine. Whew! Too much excitement this early in the day.

The Dutch skaters are doing everything they can to please their hometown crowd. There are over a hundred Dutch schoolchildren here today and they are making noise and cheering like crazy. The Dutch skaters are responding to that. In the race right after Apolo's, Robert Kees Boer went out hard from the start in an attempt to lap the pack. He had a good half lap lead or more for a few laps and really put on a show. Unfortunately, he couldn't maintain it. The pack reeled him in and he finished last in the race.

I don't remember much about Rusty's quarter final except that he had Ahn again. It was uneventful (thank goodness) and he finished 2nd behind Ahn.

Fabio Carta is looking sharp today and skating strong. There was a lot of movement in this race, with Carta, Lee of Korea and J.P. Kepka. J.P. wound up fading midway through the race and wasn't able to pass the Austrian skater to move into 3rd and qualfiying position. At the end, Jon Eley slipped and J.P. got tangled up with him a bit but kept his feet. Since J.P. wasn't in qualifying position however this had no impact on the race.

Alex Izy takes in the races

Posted by noelle at 8:44 AM | Comments (6)

Scenes from Apolo's 1500m heat

This was funny. Don't know what it was all about, but Apolo raised his arms - more like a bird flapping wings than a victory salute - twice just after winning his 1500m final. I think it was the benefit of coaches/teammates on the side, but not sure!

[update] Coach Jimmy Jang explained to me that this is Apolo acting out the skating style of the Korean skater in his heat, Ho-jin Seo. Seo flings his arms around to protect his position and no doubt this gets very annoying when you have to skate against him!

Posted by noelle at 7:31 AM | Comments (12)

1500m heats

Everyone made it through to the quarter finals! Nothing too remarkable to report. Lots of falls today, a couple on injuries, including to a Belgian skater but not sure if it can be attributed to the ice or not.

Hyo-jung Kim takes charge of her race

A determined-looking Allison Baver makes a move to take the lead

Kimberly Derrick skated a nice race for 2nd place in her heat

Rusty stayed steady to get the 3rd qualifying spot in his heat

Fabio skated great, winning his heat, and seems to be letting the whiskers grow in again

J.P. Kepka skated from behind for most of his heat before coming forward to qualifying in 2nd

Posted by noelle at 7:30 AM | Comments (3)

More scenes from The Hague

Hyo-jung Kim stretches Friday morning


Apolo at warmups Friday morning

Mathieu Turcotte got off the ice during training to check his blades Thursday

Posted by noelle at 4:49 AM | Comments (5)

November 17, 2005

The Hague update

Serious problem with 'dirty' ice

It turns out that this venue has an outdoor long track as well as the indoor facility where the short track world cup will be held. There is only one zamboni to clear both ice surfaces and the problem is that dirt and debris from outdoors gets brought inside when the long track gets resurfaced, creating a potentially hazardous ice surface. The skaters are very concerned about this as numerous skaters have stripped edges and the greater concern is, of course, the potential for injury. No one wants to see any skater leave their Torino dreams in The Hague.

Overnight last night, the organizers did shave off the top layer of ice to try to remove debris but the skaters are still reporting problems today. Let's hope this can get fixed in time for the start of racing tomorrow!

Team USA starting lineup

Correction - any slight changes to the starting lineup this weekend are very slight indeed because I can't tell any difference so far from last weekend. Never mind! Carry on. Time to hit the hay over here to rest up for tomorrow. Help cheer on all our skaters! Good luck Apolo and Team USA!

Posted by noelle at 11:01 AM | Comments (8)

Team USA in the Hague - Thursday training session

Hi all - I made it here, more dead than alive and after concerns up till the end that work wouldn't let me go. The U.S. team had their World Cup-eve training session a little while ago and here are a few shots (hope the light improves tomorrow!). Enjoy!

Autograph hunters besiege Alex Izy and Travis Jayner

Newest addition to the team - Kimberly Derrick

The ladies get put through their paces

Posted by noelle at 10:46 AM | Comments (11)

November 16, 2005

AAO in the media

Reuters | Ohno still pained by controversy

"In Salt Lake I was really strong in the weight room but I was kind of mindless in terms of my training," [Ohno] said. "I was like an animal -- it didn't matter what it was, just do it. Now, I take a different approach. I try to do things in my programme that make sense to become more efficient."

That can only spell trouble for rivals of the 1.73-metre, 75-kg Ohno, who has finished atop the World Cup rankings in three of the past five years.

Sports Illustrated | Who's Hot, Who's Not

Americans on Ice: Speed skater Chad Hedrick, a Texan, tore through the 5,000 meters in Calgary in a world-record six minutes, 9.68 seconds. And, oh, yes! He's back. Short-track Olympic star Apolo Anton Ohno won the 3,000 meters and 1,500 meters in Italy.

(In the hot category, of course!) Thanks to Sue for the link.

Finally, word on the street is that NBC is already running Olympic promo commercials that feature Apolo, among other athletes. I haven't seen them yet, but keep your eyes peeled!

Posted by noelle at 8:51 AM | Comments (9)

November 15, 2005

The Hague World Cup Race Schedule

World Cup #4 in The Hague, Netherlands

Here's the schedule for those of you that want to watch the results online. As always, times are subject to change! So far they are as follows:

Day 1: 1500m, Relay Prelims
Friday, November 18th, 2005, at 11:00am
Eastern Time: 05:00 AM
Central Time: 04:00 AM
Mountain Time: 03:00 AM
Pacific Time: 02:00 AM

Day 2: 500m, Relay Semifinals
Saturday, November 19th, 2005, at 11:00am
Eastern Time: 05:00 AM
Central Time: 04:00 AM
Mountain Time: 03:00 AM
Pacific Time: 02:00 AM

Day 3: 1000m, Relay Finals, 3000m
Sunday, November 20th, 2005, at 10:00am
Eastern Time: 04:00 AM
Central Time: 03:00 AM
Mountain Time: 02:00 AM
Pacific Time: 01:00 AM

For more information, check out the The Hague World Cup website here.

Send your favorite skater a message! The Hague organizers are offering a very cool service where you can send a message of support to any skater you choose. Submit your message on their site and they'll deliver it for you. Keep it clean, though - they promise to check everything before delivering! ;)

You can check out the live races on Live Cyberscoreboard at these times, or check out the results on Cyberscoreboard.

If you'd like to chat with other fans during the races, you can join the OZ Chat group - You'll need a Yahoo! ID to register. Hope to see some of you there!

World Cup #4 is the second of two World Cups in Europe that serve as Olympic qualifiers to determine which countries will compete in Torino and how many skaters they'll be able to send per distance. For a summary of how things stand after the first of the two world cups is see "Olympic qualifications after 1 World Cup" below.

In addition, WorldShortTrack.com has a detailed analysis available.

Posted by noelle at 5:47 PM | Comments (8)

November 14, 2005

New Apolo photo gallery

The USOC has a new photo gallery of Apolo up with photos taken from the shoot he did at the media summit in October. Check it out here.

You can see additional photos like these from the media summit if you go to Gettyimages.com and Corbis.com and search on "Apolo Ohno." I really love this one!

Posted by noelle at 8:36 PM | Comments (16)

November 13, 2005

Ho hum, just another World Cup!

Thanks to Rutger from the Netherlands for the photo!

Posted by noelle at 9:38 PM | Comments (6)

Press coverage, Bormio day 3

AP | Ohno wins second gold at World Cup meet

CBC Sports | Canada wins silver in short-track relay

The Canadian men posted three top-eight finish in all three individual Olympic distances this weekend. "As a team we certainly reached our objectives," said Mathieu Turcotte. "It certainly puts us in a strong position to get all the possible spots for the Olympics next week."

US Speedskating | Ohno Shines, Kim Sets New U.S. Record

Korea Times | Skater Jin Tops at World Cup

ISU press release/event summary

Bormio Ghiaccio photos from day 3 are here.

Apolo hams it up on the relay medal stand, with Travis Jayner, Rusty Smith and J.P. Kepka

photo by Armando Trabucchi

New Reuters photos from day 3 here.

Olympic champion Apolo Anton Ohno of the U.S. bows his head after took the fifth place at the men's 1000m final Short Track World Cup and Olympic Qualifying Competition in Bormio, northern Italy, November 13, 2005. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Posted by noelle at 3:15 PM | Comments (12)

Olympic qualifications after 1 World Cup

Results from Bormio will be combined with results from next weekend in The Hague to determine the number of skaters each country gets per distance in Torino. A country with 2 skaters in the top 32 gets 2 spots at that distance in Torino. A country with 3 skaters in the top 8 gets 3 spots at that distance in Torino.

Here's where things stand for Team USA after the first World Cup:

U.S. men
- 1500m: Two in top 32 (on track for 2 spots in Torino)
- 500m: One in top 32 (on track for 1 spot in Torino)
- 1000m: Two in top 32 (on track for 2 spots in Torino)
- Top 3 in relay (need to be in top 8 to compete in Torino)

U.S. women
- 1500m: Three in top 32 (on track for 2 spots in Torino)
- 500m: Three in top 32 (on track for 2 spots in Torino)
- 1000m: Three in top 32 (on track for 2 spots in Torino)
- Top 6 in relay (need to be in top 8 to compete in Torino)

How's the competition doing? The Canadian men in particular have a plan in place - to earn the maximum number of spots available for Torino -- and so far they are executing on it very impressively!

- Korean men on track to qualify 3 in 1500m, 2 in 500m, 2 in 1000m
- Canadian men on track to qualify 3 in 1500m, 3 in 500m, 3 in 1000m
- Chinese men on track to qualify 2 in 1500m, 2 in 500m, 1 in 1000m
- Korean ladies on track to qualify 3 in 1500m, 2 in 500m, 2 in 1000m
- Canadian ladies on track to qualify 2 in 1500m, 3 in 500m, 2 in 1000m
- Chinese ladies on track to qualify 3 in 1500m, 2 in 500m, 2 in 1000m

Posted by noelle at 10:51 AM | Comments (2)

U.S. men win relay bronze in Bormio!

Congrats to the relay team of Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith, J.P. Kepka and Travis Jayner on their bronze medal in the relay today, capitalizing on a multi-skater fall by the Canadian team. In their only mistake all weekend, the Canadian men got tangled up in an exchange early on in the race and 3 of their skaters fell together. Korea won gold and China got silver.

At one point the Chinese, skating in 2nd, had a sizable gap on the U.S. team which in a trademark move Apolo worked to close. As described by an eyewitness to the action: "Ohno closed a huge gap between USA and China. They put him on the relay [before his normal turn to close the gap]. He skated 3 laps! He took the handoff twice in a row! I've never seen that."

Posted by noelle at 10:50 AM | Comments (3)

Two Americans reach the 1000m finals and 3000m in Bormio!

Apolo wins 3000m gold and clinches the overall title!

Apolo Ohno continued his impressive display of consistency, making it through to the 1000m final. Though he finished last (5th) and therefore didn't earn a medal, the consistency he's displaying is much more important right now, in the hunt to secure those spots in Torino.

Apolo is the only skater, male or female, to qualify for all three finals this weekend. Fortunately, J.P. Kepka also finished in the top 32 today, so we aren't in the hole going into the 1000m next weekend in The Hague as we are in the 500m where only Apolo is ranked in the top 32.

1000m final results: 1. Ho-suk Lee, 2. Suk-woo Song, 3. Ye Li, 4. Mathieu Turcotte, 5. Apolo Ohno

Icing on the cake - Apolo prevailed in the 3000m super final to take gold and with it the overall title for the weekend, continuing his strong performances all season. Congratulations, Apolo!

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New American record for Halie Kim!

On the women's side, it was great to see Hyo-jung Kim skate to her potential in reaching the 1000m final today. Although she didn't medal, she skated strong and consistently today and has a lot to be proud of -- including a new American record! Halie bested her existing record of 1:33.593 by nearly three seconds in skating to a 1:30.808 in the final.

Congratulations in particular to Jin, who on her way to winning gold also set a new 1000m world record of 1:30.037, and to Tatiana Borodulina, a very talented skater who had a tough day yesterday in the 500m. She earned a bronze medal behind Jin and Yang Yang A (silver).

Halie also skated a strong 3000m but faded towards the end, finishing 6th of seven skaters. She finished 7th overall this weekend. Allison Baver was 8th overall. Congratulations, Halie and Allison!

Posted by noelle at 9:37 AM | Comments (7)

World Cup Bormio Day 3 - 1000m qualifying

Another day of mixed results for team USA in the 1000m. Today's competition saw more disqualifications and advancements than the first 2 days in Bormio.

Apolo Ohno, who enjoyed smooth sailing in his initial rounds, has faced Hyun-soo Ahn many times this weekend in qualifying rounds. They encountered one another again in their quarter final, which Ahn won. This was a bit of a nail-biter for fans watching as Apolo had to move from last place to 2nd in the final two laps to qualify for the semi!

The two rivals were together yet again in a crowded semifinal which also included Ho-suk Lee and Mathieu Turcotte. This was a nerve-racking race as well with tons of jockeying for the two qualifying positions. In the end, Apolo came from mid-pack to win the race ahead of the two Koreans. Ahn was disqualified for impeding on Turcotte, who was advanced (his 2nd time today!) to the final.

Rusty Smith continues to struggle this weekend. He got off to a strong start in his opening prelim but crossed the line 3rd in his heat behind Ho-suk Lee and Fabio Carta, and was subsequently disqualified for impeding.

J.P. Kepka was disqualified in his quarter final for impeding. He seemed to skate a strong race but there was lots of movement in a 6-man field that also included Suk-woo Song and Turcotte. Looked like a mad dash at the end. Turcotte was advanced.

Hyo-jung 'Halie' Kim had a brilliant day, sailing through her qualifying rounds. She won all of them up till her loaded semifinal where she faced Sun-yu Jin, Meng Wang and Amanda Overland. Halie stayed at or near the front for most of the race, although she was in third heading into the final lap. Some of the strongest competition was eliminated before the final, with Wang finishing 3rd in the semi and Eun-kyung Choi eliminated in her quarter final.

Hyo-jung Kim leads Chun-sa Byun in their 1000m heat

photo by Armando Trabucchi

It was also great to see Tatiana Borodulina finish 2nd in her semi final, barely edging out Evgenia Radanova and Chun-sa Byun to make her first final of the weekend. [photo finish]

Kristen Biondo was the first to bow out. She skated a strong 1000m prelim only to be eliminated in the next round in a tough heat that included Choi and Alanna Kraus.

Allison Baver made it through to the quarter finals, where she had a strong chance to move on. Unfortunately, she got stuck for much of the race behind Borodulina and Byun and was unable to move into qualifying position.

Posted by noelle at 8:36 AM | Comments (0)