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October 21, 2006
Something else that's new this season...
There's a new rule this year that assigns start positions in a race based on skaters' times in the previous round. Obviously this has a huge impact on the 500m, where the start is so critical. Previously skaters' lane assignments were drawn at random. Now athletes who skate fast times in previous rounds are rewarded with the best lane assignments.
Francois-Louis Tremblay was the beneficiary of the new rule today in the 500m. After skating the fastest qualifying heats, he was rewarded with the inside lane assignment for the 500m final and went on to win that race. In fact, the skaters' order of finish matched their lane assignments.
Tremblay: "The important thing for me today was to skate fast in each round of the 500m (quarters, semis and final). That way I was guaranteed to get the best position on the start line. I raced the final the same way as the qualifying rounds, by taking the lead from the start." (via rds.ca)
His teammate Olivier Jean also had an outstanding World Cup debut in winning 500m silver today.
Posted by noelle at 11:09 AM | Comments (16)
Day 2 in Chang Chun - Two Americans qualify for finals!
Jeff Simon's family has passed along some exciting news. Today both Jeff and Travis Jayner made it to the A finals - Jeff to the 500m A final and Travis to the 1500m A final.
The skaters in the 500m final were Jeff, Kim Byeong Jung (KOR) and Canadians Francois-Louis Tremblay and Olivier Jean. In Jeff's words:
Made the 500m A final. Went to pass the Korean on the outside. I got by him then he clicked my left skate. Put my left skate down and just fell. Injured my back again. I got up and got 4th, missed out on a medal. Kinda upset, but happy. Everybody is proud of me and said I skated out of my mind.
We're proud of you too, Jeff. What a great way to make your World Cup debut! Hope your back is ok.
Men 500m Final A - Heat 1
1 TREMBLAY , Francois-Louis CAN 42.139
2 JEAN , Olivier CAN 42.271
3 KIM , Byeong-Jun KOR 43.863
4 SIMON , Jeff USA 56.417
Congratulations also to Travis for his 6th place finish in the men's 1500m A final. This was also Travis's first individual World Cup final. Great job, guys!
Men 1500m (1) Final A - Heat 1
1 AHN , Hyun-Soo KOR 2:20.432
2 LEE , Ho-Suk KOR 2:20.685
3 LI , Ye CHN 2:20.977
4 MONETTE , Marc-Andre CAN 2:21.107
5 GIROUX , Mathieu CAN 2:21.112
6 JAYNER , Travis USA 2:21.662
Unfortunately, the guys did not qualify for the relay final. We're also sad to report that Jordan Malone spent day 2 laid up in his hotel room with a virus and was unable to race. Get well soon, Jordan!
Posted by noelle at 9:04 AM | Comments (12)
Complete results from Day 2 in Chang Chun
AP | South Korea's Ahn, Jin take 1500, China's Wang the 500 at short track World Cup
Navigating the results is confusing. As best I can tell, here's how North Americans fared in their races today:
Women's 1500m
Nita Avrith 3rd and Katherine Reutter 5th in the B final
Women's 500m
Kalyna Roberge 2nd in the B final; Anne Maltais and Anouk Leblanc-Boucher eliminated in quarter finals
Cherise Wilkins 1st in the repechage B final
3000m relay
The Canadian ladies won their semifinal. USA finished 4th in the same semi and won't advance to the final.
Men's 500m
Anthony Lobello eliminted in quarter finals; Charles Hamelin DQ'ed in semi
5000m relay
Canada finished 2nd in their semi to move on to the final. Multiple falls led to a last-place finish for Team USA in their semi.
Posted by noelle at 9:02 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2006
Women's results from day 1 in Chang Chun
Women's results are now posted on the Cyberscoreboard-esque new results site.
1500m
So far we know that all six American ladies competed in the 1500m. Cherise Wilkins, Lana Gehring and Tina Koenig all qualified to move on to the semi finals. Unfortunately, Kimberly Derrick was disqualified, and neither Alyson Dudek nor Katherine Reutter qualified for the finals. They will skate in the repechage round of the 1500m.
Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Anne Maltais, Raphaele Lemieux and Nita Avrith qualified in the 1500m for Canada; Amanda Overland was disqualified. In fact, Nita skated both rounds of the 1500m. Not sure what that means. I'm confused with this new format!
1000m
Kimberly, Alyson and Katherine all skated for the U.S. in the 1000 but they didn't make it out of the heats and will skate in the repechage quarter finals.
Among Canadian ladies, Raphaele and Amanda move on to the semi finals; Kalyna Roberge wil lskate in the repechage quarter finals.
Posted by noelle at 12:52 PM | Comments (6)
Men's results from Day 1 in Chang Chun
Looks like a great debut for our guys yesterday during Day 1 in China. Remember that with the new World Cup format, they skate qualifying rounds of every distance on Friday. Here's how it went:
At this World Cup, they are skating 2 1500m races, 1 1000m and 1 500m. So, everyone skated a 1500, 3 skated the 500 and the other 3 skated the 1000. They did all the prelims and heats today. Shani Davis, Travis Jayner, Jeff Simon and Jordan Malone all qualified in the 1500. Jordan, Jeff and Anthony Lobello qualified in the 500. Shani was eliminated in his 1000m heat. Travis and Ryan Bedford were dq'd in the 1000 - but not sure if it was in the prelim or the heat.
Most important of all, we made it out of the heat in the relay and beat Canada to do it. They ran Travis, Jordan, Anthony & Shani. With 2 laps to go we were right there with Canada. Charles Hamelin pushed Francois-Louis Tremblay really hard to try to give him an edge but fell doing so. That gave Jordan the opportunity to zip by Tremblay. Tremblay tried to catch him but Jordan held him off for the win. I know it was just a heat but they were really excited!
How I would have liked to see that relay. Congratulations, team USA! Hopefully we'll get girls' results soon!
Also: CBC Sports | Good 1st day for Canada at short track World Cup
"It's very different to compete under this format," said Canadian national team coach Martin Gagne."It's a long process. It requires a lot of focus for the skaters. I like the addition of the repechage, because sometimes you get knocked out of [the] race due to some bad luck. But tomorrow [Saturday], Anouk could potentially race six times in one day."
Posted by noelle at 8:57 AM | Comments (9)
October 19, 2006
Race schedule for World Cup #1
ISU Short Track World-Cup #1 - Changchun, China Oct. 20th - 22nd
Program (Five Loop Palaestra Ice Rink):
Friday, Oct. 20/06
9:30am Prelims and heats
in USA, this is Thursday Oct. 19:
9:30PM ET
8:30PM CT
7:30PM MT
6:30PM PT
Saturday, Oct. 21/06
8:20am - Repechage (500m & 1500m)
World Cup races (500m & 1500m)
in USA, this is Friday Oct. 20:
8:20PM ET
7:20PM CT
6:20PM MT
5:20PM PT
Sunday, Oct. 22/06
8:20am - Repechage (1000m & 1500m)
World Cup races (1000m & 1500m)
in USA, this is Saturday Oct. 21:
8:20PM ET
7:20PM CT
6:20PM MT
5:20PM PT
The ISU notes that live results will be posted here. I guess we'll find out soon!
Posted by noelle at 5:55 PM | Comments (8)
Report from Chang Chun
Travis Jayner writes:
Changchun, China October 19, 2006This part of China is beautiful. Of course, Hangzhou, where I was last year was beautiful too except for the humidity. Wow, that was awesome. Well, all that to say that it is a little cooler here. 0 to 15 degrees for you guys in Canada and in the 40's for you Yankees. I think it is a little cleaner here too.
The city is interesting. It looks pretty spread out and yet it has some dense areas too.
Racing starts Friday morning, which to me means tomorrow but tomorrow is not really relative to you guys in the west..... The Relay team has a pretty good heat too. We have Canada, Ukraine and Russia. All in all it should be an interestng day. There is a new format to the competition and a lot of new skaters. It should be fun.
Good luck Travis and Team USA!!!
Posted by noelle at 4:58 PM | Comments (11)
'Shock therapy' for Team Canada
Jae Su Chun, the Korean coach now working with the Canadians, has really been shaking things up. Anouk Leblanc-Boucher recently revealed on the TV program 'Au dessus de la melee' that Chun said they all skate poorly and has introduced a new and heavier volume of technical training. He also struck a nerve when he told Francois-Louis Tremblay that he skated a lot better 4 years ago than he does now.
This piece from La presse features frank talk from several Canadian skaters: 'Shock therapy for short track'
Excerpts:
Jae Su Chun has a master's degree in speed skating (!) from the University of Seoul, where he specialized in lactic acid tolerance. This expertise is 'exactly what we need in this sport,' according to Jonathan Guilmette.'I didn't necessarily agree with the decision to let Guy Thibault go,' Flou remarked, 'but I did want there to be radical changes [to the program]. Everyone knew it was necessary. The Koreans opened a lot of people's eyes in Torino. We can win at some distances, like the 500m and the relay, but we come up short in the longer distances.'
The return of Derrick Campbell to coach in Canada was particularly well received. 'Derrick has traveled, he coached Apolo Ohno, he's seen what goes on elsewhere,' said Tremblay. 'His expertise isn't just specific to Canada -- we can't always stay centered around ourselves.'
Guilmette lived through some intense experiences with Thibault -- such as when he broke his back at the 2004 World Championships in Sweden. Thibault stayed by his side in the hospital for 10 days.
'He didn't have to do it,' said Jo. 'He had his family back in Canada after all, and my then-girlfriend had stayed with me in Sweden. I think Guy would have fit into the new team structure, but the federation made their decision.'
The Koreans feared Tremblay 4 years ago. The studied his technique, hoping to learn his secrets. But in Chun's eyes, Tremblay's fluid, apparently effortless strokes have slowly withered away.
'What do you mean, I don't skate well!' was Tremblay's reaction when Chun confronted him. 'I did much better last year than 4 years ago. But he was saying my technique was no good. I don't know why. You change your coach, you concentrate less on technique. It's not something that happens consciously.'
After trial and error that was at times 'demoralizing' the 25 year old skater has begun enjoying the fruits of his labors for the past month. 'He'll never turn us into Korean skaters. We need to play to our strengths. Canadians' strengths have always been pure speed, explosiveness, and the relays. The idea is to look at what other countries do best and make it work for us.'
Plus: Globe and Mail | Canadian short-track team long on experience
Posted by noelle at 1:47 PM | Comments (27)