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April 1, 2006
Canada comes up big!
Francois-Louis Tremblay successfully defended his 500m World Championship title from last year in Beijing with a big win tonight. He skated a fantastic race and looked super-strong in holding Ahn, Lee and Li at bay. Tremblay looked really happy about this victory! Kalyna Roberge bounced back from her scary crash on day 1 to get bronze behind the near-unbeatable Meng Wang and her teammate Fu. Way to go, Canada!!
A gold-medal smile from Flou for the Ohno Zone
Kalyna Roberge is about to receive her bronze medal
In more continuation of the great sportsmanship we've all been enjoying since Torino in particular, Ahn right away came to congratulate Tremblay on his win.
500m men: Gold - F-L Tremblay, silver - Haonan Li, bronze - Ho-suk Lee
500m women: gold - Meng Wang, silver - Tianyu Fu, bronze - Kalyna Roberge
Congratulations to all the medalists!
[update] After 2 days of competition, there is by my reckoning a three-way tie among Hyun-soo Ahn, Lee and Tremblay for the overall lead. Each skater has 34 points to his name. I'm not sure who will get to wear the overall leader's red helmet cover tomorrow! On the ladies' side, Wang is the leader with 55 points to her credit.
***
The U.S. men did an awesome job in their relay semifinal. They all looked really strong out there. Jordan Malone turned on the jets each time he took the ice, it just seemed like everything sped up when he was out there. Adjusting for Apolo's absence, J.P. Kepka started for the U.S. and Rusty Smith was the anchor. Alex Izykowski rounded out the squad and I hear the team was pretty pleased with their performance. There's a palpable excitement that we'll have a chance to see the guys on the podium tomorrow night! They take on Korea, Canada and China in the final.
Apologies for the lack of updates tonight. I have 5 family members plus assorted friends here tonight, all seeing short track for the first time. I've enjoyed hanging with them in the stands and explaining the action to them -- as well as seeing my nieces and nephew screaming for the USA and Canada and second-guessing the refs' calls like seasoned fans!
***
Additional notes:
- Whenever Charles Hamelin skates, the announcers credit him with being the 500m world record holder, and that his WR time is 41 seconds flat. I know he skated a de facto WR at the Canadian trials... did he set an official one since then?
- Attendance improved noticeably this evening. The arena was far from full, but there were lots more spectators than on Friday or this morning.
- Today they had a proper flag-raising during the medal ceremonies which was a big improvement!
Posted by noelle at 10:54 PM | Comments (38)
Worlds on TV, attendance, new World Cup format
Worlds to be shown on TV
By the way, Worlds is being shown live on TV in Korea (and perhaps somewhere in Europe or China also). I ran into one of the producers Friday morning in the breakfast buffet and he also mentioned that Comcast will show a two-hour program from Worlds in about two weeks or so.
I assume this means you need to be a Comcast Cable subscriber (I am! Whee!) but not really sure at all. The producer suggested calling Comcast to find out when Worlds will be shown. If I find out anything more specific, I'll share it on OZ.
Attendance
A lot of people have asked about the ambiance and the crowds. All those empty seats you see in the background of photos are unfortunately not an illusion. The arena is large and beautiful, but so far mostly empty. Fridays are often poorly attended, and this morning was just the qualifying rounds, so with luck we'll see better attendance tonight and tomorrow.d supportive fashion!
New World Cup format
The ISU is planning to debut a new competition format for the World Cup series starting as soon as next season. The plan was unveiled in a meeting here yesterday during the break between morning and evening race sessions. It's pretty complicated but the general idea is to make World Cups more attractive to spectators, media/TV and participating countries. They would stage all qualifying rounds on Friday to pick an A group of the top 16 skaters. There would be two separate rounds of each distance on Saturday and Sunday, and no more 3000m superfinal or overall rankings.
The days would be shorter than they are now, and a separate B-round of competition would take place to provide countries who don't make the A round more racing opportunities. As it stands now, a lot of skaters skate a preliminary round and then they're done. There's a lot more to it than this but I really can't remember all the details. It's also not finalized - a number of team leaders and coaches raised questions and concerns to tweak the format that was proposed.
Posted by noelle at 6:39 PM | Comments (18)
500m prelims & heats
Allison Baver leads Celine Lecompere and Ikue Teshigawara
Women's heats: Allison Baver looked very strong skating in her 500m heat. She took the lead from the start, got passed, then with 2 laps to go seized it back and stayed in front for the win.
Kimberly Derrick was less fortunate. She was in a field of five skaters and was 5th on the line, putting her behind from the get-go. She just had too much ground to make up and not enough time to do it. Better luck tomorrow!!
Men's prelims: The men skated first this morning since they have an extra round of 500m qualifying. All three of our guys as well as all three Canadians qualified easily.
Alex Izykowski was awesome! The 500m definitely isn't his event and he was 4th off the line but he started like a rocket and had the lead for the first few laps. He was smart in getting it off to quick start as the 8 fastet 3rd-place finishers also move on to the next round. Alex was one of those 8 fastest thirds.
Charles Hamelin got off to a slow start in his race and was stuck in 4th but still effortlessly surged to the front to win. Anthony Lobello got 2nd in the same heat.
Ho-suk Lee pulled off his special brand of magic, moving up from last to win his heat as well, similar to Hamelin, though Lee also capitalized on the mistake of the Bulgarian skater in the next-to-last lap.
Eric Cheng of Chinese Taipei had a bad fall, in the same spot as Kalyna Roberge's last night. He also lay on the ice for at least as long as Roberge did and also had to make his way off the ice, supported by officials. What is up with that?
Eric Cheng hobbles off the ice assisted by refs
Posted by noelle at 12:55 PM | Comments (20)
Worlds news roundup
Minneapolis Star-Tribune | Skater faces next great challenge 'a step at a time'
After finding success in inline and short-track racing, Allison Baver is considering a move to long track. This summer, she will go to Utah to live with and learn from long-track Olympians Jennifer Rodriguez and KC Boutiette.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune | Sharpen up on a sport full of speed, spills
AP | So. Koreans Dominate Short Track's 1st Day
Posted by noelle at 11:02 AM | Comments (19)
A few candids from Friday in Minneapolis
Mathieu Turcotte with new OZer Rosh!
It's great to see new fans and long-timers here too!
Suk-woo Song entertains himself by playing with the Japanese skaters' hair
I think I love Suk-woo Song a little more every day. Please don't retire, Suk-woo! Short track needs more like you...
Anouk was really getting into the 2nd women's relay semi!
Amanda Overland and Anouk Leblanc-Boucher
Some of the American crew takes in the action:
CW from top: J.P. Kepka, Mike Kooreman, Tina Koenig, Jordan Malone, Peggy Aitken, Levi Kirkpatrick, Ryan Bedford
Posted by noelle at 8:53 AM | Comments (25)
Scenes from the 1500m semifinals
It looked like a bit of a free-for-all in this shot!
Meng Wang, Chun-sa Byun, Amanda Overland, Allison Baver, Celine Lecompere
Oh finally gets by Rusty...
But no way is he gonna let Li do the same!
The last few meters of Rusty's 1500m semi final were thisclose
Posted by noelle at 1:08 AM | Comments (36)
Men's 1500m medal ceremony
Rusty gave it everything he had in the men's 1500m final and skated his heart out. Still, the Korean men managed to sweep the medals.
There was a pretty funny moment during the medal ceremony. First bronze medalist Se-jong Oh was called out and he took what he thought was his place in front of the podium. I said to my brother, 'wait a sec, he's standing in the silver medalist's spot!' But by then they'd called Ho-suk Lee up and he took his place in front of the bronze medal step. Suddenly Lee got confused and glanced at Oh. In this photo you can see that Oh's mistake had dawned on him. They got a good laugh over it and swapped spots.
Then Ahn arrived and the officials joined them to hand out the medals. But then the officials were totally confused about who was supposed to be in what spot.
They're in the right spots now, but chief referee Jim Hewish isn't sure who's on first
The 'flag-raising' portion of the medal ceremony is a little unorthodox...
Posted by noelle at 12:54 AM | Comments (20)
March 31, 2006
1500m semifinals
It's a pretty good night for the USA. Allison Baver kicked ass in her semifinal to qualify for the 1500m final tonight. Rusty Smith did likewise in his semi, with a real strong skate that he led most of the way till Oh of Korea passed him. He hung on the last 1/4-lap for the 2nd qualifying position. Way to go!
It's a tough night for Canada without a single male or female skater advancing to tonight's final. Kalyna Roberge had a very scary crash. She along with Marta Capurso and Xiaolei Cheng crashed together. Kalyna slid headfirst into the boards and lay stunned on the ice for several long moments. It seemed like it took ages for medical attention to reach her. Thank goodness she was ok - it seriously looked like it could have been much worse.
Kalyna was at the far end of the rink from the exit point and had to limp all the way down while a member of the Canadian team's support staff escorted her. Seems like they should have had her carried off. It just didn't look right to us spectators. Later I saw her on the sidelines talking and watching the men race, so she seems to be ok, which is a relief!
Kalyna Roberge is escorted off the ice
After a tough night it was good to see Kalyna was ok, sitting in the stands watching the races, and being kept company by these two guys!
Rusty Smith, Kalyna Roberge, Jonathan Guilmette
Posted by noelle at 9:21 PM | Comments (32)
Worlds day 1 - 1500m qualifying
Technical difficulties! For the first time in 4 years I forgot to pack a power adapter for my laptop. For now a kind soul has lent me his but sooner or later he'll need it back...
For now, the ladies 1500m heats are going well. Kimberly and Allison both came through strongly. Allison took the lead with an outside pass with 5 laps to go and never looked back. She crossed the line miles ahead of everybody else.
Whew! Done with men's heats. Bummer about Alex Izy not making it out of his heat. He skated a pretty good race and was in qualifying position most of the time and just got passed in the final lap. It was a pretty exciting race, as was Anthony Lobello's. Anthony and Rusty will both move on to the semis along with Allison and Kimberly.
Update: All the Canadians skated well enough to move on to the semifinals tonight as well.
Allison's mom told me her ankle injury stems from a fall in her very first race at the Olympics. It affected her tendon, which separated from the bone, not giving her sufficient ankle and foot support when she pushes. She's able to skate but tendon injuries heal more slowly than bones so she needs a few months off to rest up -- which she'll fortunately have once this weekend is finished!
I don't know if I'll have laptop power tonight or not at the arena. I can't post any pics (I have some pretty good shots!) till I find an adapter to use.
I got to see Mathieu Turcotte mold Nick and Cassie's feet this afternoon for their new Apex boots. It was pretty fun to see how it works. I'll post some pics on how all that works after I get back home.
Posted by noelle at 1:14 PM | Comments (34)
March 30, 2006
World Championships Schedule & News Roundup
[note:] Race times for all 3 days have been updated below based on Live CSB's posted start times...
Detailed results of every race will be available on Cyberscoreboard. Cyberscoreboard has start lists posted now, although these will be revised after this evening's draw, sometime after 7PM CT, at which time you can check which heat your favorite skater(s) are slated to compete in.
Skating individually for the USA:
Women: Allison Baver, Kimberly Derrick
Men: Alex Izykowski, Anthony Lobello, Rusty Smith
To 'watch' the races in real time, visit Live Cyberscoreboard.
Ad from a Minneapolis newspaper (courtesy Amy L)
Schedule
Friday, March 31
1500m heats and quarter finals
11:15AM - 1:50PM ET
10:15AM - 12:50PM CT
9:15AM - 11:50AM MT
8:15AM - 10:50AM PT
1500m semis, finals and ladies' relay semis
7:30 - 9:15PM ET
6:30 - 8:15PM CT
5:30 - 7;15PM MT
4:30 - 6:15PM PT
Saturday, April 1
500m preliminaries and heats
11:30AM - 1:25PM ET
10:30AM - 12:25PM CT
9:30AM - 11:25AM MT
8:30AM - 10:25AM PT
500m quarters, semis, finals and men's relay semis
7:30 - 9:25PM ET
6:30 - 8:25PM CT
5:30 - 7:25PM MT
4:30 - 6:25PM PT
Sunday, April 2*
1000m, 3000m, relay finals
11AM - 4:05PM EDT
10AM - 3:05PM CDT
9AM - 2:05PM MDT
8AM - 1:05PM PDT
* reminder to move your clocks forward one hour!
***
Katy Kepka and Caroline Hallisey will be selling pens at the Worlds for support of J.P. Kepka.
The pens are handcrafted and in various types of wood some with bands that say 2006 for the Olympic Year and some where the wood is red, white and blue. They have been handcrafted by his father, John.
***
News links
St Paul Pioneer Press | Minnesota native Amy Peterson
Bay City Times | Izy races on for post-Olympic glory
I heard a lot of the Olympians are struggling to feel motivated for Worlds, which is understandable. I'm sure I would just want my season to be over, already.
Some sad news: Are the Worlds cursed? I've heard a report that Japanese skater Satoru Terao had a hard crash in training this week and broke his back. I have no details of his condition beyond that.
Not sure if there is any connection, but other skaters who crashed reported that the pads are hard -- too hard. Why do we see these problems over and over and over again?
Be safe, skaters and get well soon, Satoru!!
Posted by noelle at 3:12 PM | Comments (48)
AAO update!
Here's an update on some things Apolo will be doing in the coming days, from David C:
Apolo will be presenting an award at the Kid’s Choice Awards this Saturday. He will then be going to Indianapolis for the NCAA Final Four for the National Championship game, courtesy of Coke. As far as we know right now, he is not scheduled to do any formal appearances or promotions in Indianapolis for Coke.
There are a couple of other appearances in the works right now, but nothing official yet. Stay tuned!
Kids Choice Awards - Sat. April 1 on NICK live at 8PM ET
Clarification: Apolo's Indianapolis appearance in conjunction with the NCAA championship is a formal internal appearance for Coke, which means he won't be available for photographs autograph signings. He will be meeting with the Coke people at the game in their hospitality suite.
Posted by noelle at 9:30 AM | Comments (68)
March 29, 2006
Apolo in the Dominican Republic, 2002
Many thanks to David Creswell for sharing his photos of Apolo enjoying the beach during his 2002 visit to the Dominican Republic.
Click images for larger views:
Apolo leaves a trail in the sand during dryland exercises
Posted by noelle at 2:15 PM | Comments (87)
March 28, 2006
New photos from World Teams
Many thanks to Simon of Montreal for sharing his awesome photos from the World Team Championships! There's a wide variety of American, Canadian and other skaters shown here. View Simon's gallery.
Amanda Overland and Alanna Kraus
Alex Izykowski
And my personal favorite:
Korean men make a statement with flowers. Suk-woo Song is now a bespectacled brunet
Photos by Simon P (puissance007@hotmail.com)
Posted by noelle at 5:21 PM | Comments (52)
New photos from nationals
I have loads of new photos to post over the next few days! Nick sent a bunch of great shots from nationals (but none of him!) that I added to the existing nationals gallery. Check them out here.
Lezleigh Jaworski, who went on to make the World team, skates at nationals
Later today: Awesome new photos from World Teams in Montreal.
Tomorrow: A special treat - a couple of previously unseen Apolo Ohno photos!
Posted by noelle at 10:16 AM | Comments (21)
March 27, 2006
Seattle Times | Apolo Ohno on LandRoller skates: Big wheel loves his big wheels
Radical. Innovative. Revolutionary. An apt description of local Olympian Apolo Ohno, but also of his new favorite mode of transportation off the ice: LandRoller skates.
Photos and video of Apolo using Landrollers are on the Landroller web site.
Posted by noelle at 11:40 AM | Comments (79)
March 26, 2006
Flou shot
You gotta love the dime-size medals they give out at the Worlds! Congrats to Flou and all the other Canucks. Go for it in Minneapolis!!
See more of Junko's World Team photos. The one of Daryl Rasmussen and Olivier Jean is also great!
Francois-Louis Tremblay sports his World Teams medal
Thanks to Junko for the photo!
Posted by noelle at 9:15 PM | Comments (43)
World Team Championships day 2 (finals)
The Koreans dominated the day, taking both team titles in Montreal. They last pulled off the double in 2004. Last year Canada won the men's title on Korean ice. This year the Koreans took it back on Canadian ice. Canada did however exact a measure of revenge for Torino by winning the men's relay today.
We have a firsthand report on today's action, courtesy of Stephen Gough:
Women's relay: The Canadian women had a bad exchange early on when Tania Vicent tried to pass on the outside from 3rd the turn before the exchange. Anouk Leblanc-Boucher couldn't get out wide enough to complete the exchange.
They wound up chasing for most of the racing, only catching up with 3 or 4 laps to go. Korea sat in 3rd most of the race and only tried to move up on the outside during the last two laps. The Italians were in 2nd until the last 2 laps.
Men's relay: The men's race was very close with Canada and Korea having pulled away from the other two teams. Near the end of the race the Koreans were leading when they fell during an exchange. It would have been a close race the whole way in. The Canadians did not use any new tactics.
Men's 3000m: Ho-Suk Lee and Hyun-soo Ahn were pretty amazing in the 3000m, although credit must be given to Jo Guilmette for a job well done. Both Koreans tried to lap the pack and Jo went with them, essentially preventing them from taking a lap. Eventually the 3 came back to the pack.
Charles Hamelin was pretty strong and took off fast in the closing laps. Lee went after him hard and caught him at the end, only to fall at the 6th block on the final turn. I believe it was a little late, but the gap that he closed (all by the outside of course) was pretty impressive, especially considering the sprinting he had done at the start. Ahn did the same, getting around the pack on the last corner but a ways behind Hamelin and Lee.500m: Hamelin had a great 500m. So did Lee - check out his splits!
A salute to veteran Canadian team member Eric Bedard, who says he may have skated his last competition on Canadian ice: South Koreans edge Canada for short-track title
Overall Results - women:
1. KOR - 40
2. CHN - 38
3. CAN - 26
4. ITA - 14
Overall Results - men:
1. KOR - 39
2. CAN - 36
3. CHN - 27
4. ITA - 16
Full results at Cyberscoreboard. Next stop, Minneapolis!
Posted by noelle at 8:00 PM | Comments (26)