Ohno Zone: October 29, 2006 - November 4, 2006 Archives

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November 4, 2006

Video clip: Apolo skating in China (2005)

Sonia found this clip on YouTube from last year's World Cup #1 in China. It's from Apolo's 500m heat. Enjoy!

Posted by noelle at 8:46 AM | Comments (19)

Public service announcement

US Speedskating has completed their move from Ohio to Salt Lake City. New contact info for them in Utah is now posted on their web site .

Posted by noelle at 8:42 AM | Comments (1)

November 2, 2006

Race video from Jeonju City/World Cup #2

Thanks to Kiseop for making video from Jeonju City available on YouTube! I haven't had a chance to look through too much yet, but seems like everything is there...

Click the image for Kiseop's videos:

Posted by noelle at 10:59 AM | Comments (11)

November 1, 2006

State of the Korean Skating Union

Korea Times | Korean Skating Glides Into Worldâ€™s Top

Korea is enjoying overwhelming international success in short track speed skating. Getting there hasnâ€™t been easy. .... The national team has struggled with longstanding disputes over coaches for the individual stars and the training methods they use.

The problems grew to such an extent that earlier this year the father of skating star Ahn Hyun-soo physically attacked a member of the official organization, causing embarrassing headlines for the sport.

Now it appears a solution is in sight. Ahn told the press the situation was so depressing he was considering giving up the sport. To settle the problem, the Korea Skating Union introduced two systems, which provided individual coaches and foreign judges.

But how did Korea literally come out of nowhere to dominate the relatively obscure domain of short track?

Kim Ki-hoon: 'It is a combination of advantageous body types and unique training methods. It is well known that short track is favorable to Asians because it is a race requiring not only speed, but an ability to corner smoothly and quickly. Thatâ€™s also the reason that Koreans do not have good outcomes in [long track]. As a result, short track does not depend on physical condition too much. Rather, skaters whose bodies are smaller and thus far better in positioning and turning will have better results. Also, we have hard training. That is why we, Koreans are better than other Asian countries like China and Japan. Women even train 10 hours or so in summer.'

Jin Sun-yu: 'Korean short trackers have the advantage of physical stamina, which have helped them earn good results in tightly scheduled events such as the World Cup.'

Read the whole thing (including details on some of Ki-hoon's credentials which explain his idol status within the sport to this day).

Posted by noelle at 2:33 PM | Comments (4)

October 31, 2006

Canada still feeling aftershocks from depature of Laurent Daignault

Bernard Brault, La Presse

More fascinating coverage from the Canadian newspaper La Presse: Un autre entraÃ®neur canadien migre aux Ã‰tats-Unis. Here's a summary:

The exodus of Canadian short track coaches continues... Laurent Daignault is following his friend Guy Thibault to the U.S., where he'll assist Korea's Kim Ki-hoon, the American team's new short track coach who was both 'a rival and an idol' of Daignault's when he was skating.
Daignault: 'It's not a decision I made lightly. I've always been tempted by adventure. To keep growing I had to try something new.'

Daignault, it would appear, is a (the?) secret to the Canadians' seeming lack of pesky equipment problems:

His immense expertise in adjusting tricky skate blades made him a precious ally of Canada's short track skaters.

In that regard, he's heaven-sent for the Americans who seem to struggle perennially with pesky equipment problems.

Daignault's decision was precipitated by the dismissals of Thibault and [former coach Janos] Englert, to whom he was close. 'That was the last straw,' said Daignault, who also felt that his advice wasn't having the same impact on the skaters as in previous years. 'The plan that [Speed Skating Canada's] directors put in place was Guy's plan. The person who develops a plan is often the best one to implement it.'

That didn't sit too well with Daignault:

'It's their decision, and you try to be there to support the athletes. But in the end, when a situation doesn't feel right, you have to ask why. They cleaned house, and so did I.'
Daignault's joining the American program could be perceived as 'petty thievery' on Thibault's part. Both men swear it's not.

Thibault: 'I've known for 3 months that Laurent wasn't happy in his role, but I asked him to settle things first with Speed Skating Canada before I offered him anything [with USS]. So when I found out he was going to quit, I said we couldn't afford to lose out on hiring him. The [American] athletes are thrilled that he's coming.'

And for those who suspect Daignault sold himself to the highest bidder, Thibault says that money is not a factor as USS is paying him the same salary SSC did.

Yves Hamelin, father of Charles and Francois and SSC's short track director: 'Personally, I was surprised and disappointed to lose one of the pioneers of the short track program. That kind of experience and technical expertise are hard to find. He won't be easy to replace.'
Veteran skaters like Mathieu Turcotte and Jonathan Guilmette helped console the younger skaters, for whom Daignault had been responsible. Guilmette: 'We're not just losing a coach, we're losing a good friend. It's never pleasant, but you have to move on. We still have 3 coaches in place including Jae Su Chun, who worked well with us while the rest of the team were at the World Cups. So there's nothing to be alarmed about.'

Daignault celebrated his 38th birthday yesterday. Bon anniversaire!

Posted by noelle at 6:27 PM | Comments (11)

October 30, 2006

Banquet photos from Jeonju City

Starangel sent photos from the banquet. My mistake - these photos are from Chun-sa Byun, which Starangel is sharing with us. Thanks again!

Apparently Hyun-kon Kim had a birthday and he got a pie in the face to celebrate. It's always great to see Suk-woo Song's happy face messing around with Hyun-soo Ahn.

There are quite a few shots of various American and Canadian team members getting awards and just hanging out: World Cup photos Enjoy!

Chun-sa Byun and Travis Jayner

Posted by noelle at 2:10 PM | Comments (27)

Video clips from Jeonju City

Brief race highlights from yesterday's action in Korea.

The clip re-buffers a bit, but it goes quick all the same. Love the balloon animal props or whatever it is the skaters are holding on the podium at the end...!

Thanks again to Starangel for the link!

Posted by noelle at 12:38 PM | Comments (3)

October 29, 2006

'I'm skating very well right now'

Well if this isn't a sight for sore eyes, I don't know what is! Korean TV news has a clip on the short track World Cup, including a brief interview with Apolo.

To watch it, click here, then select either 300k or 56k, depending on your connection speed.

Travis Jayner, Paul Marchese, Apolo Ohno & Halie Kim take in the races

Thanks very much to Starangel for the link!

Posted by noelle at 10:43 AM | Comments (34)

Day 3 in Jeonju City - men's 500m, 1000m#2 & relay results

[update below in red]

Flou repeats and Canada's relay team comes up golden! Way to go.

500m: It's been a while since we've seen a podium finish by a Japanese skater.

Men 500m Final A
1 TREMBLAY , Francois-Louis (CAN) 42.992
2 FUJIMOTO , Takahiro (JPN) 43.167
3 SONG , Kyung-Taek (KOR) 43.182
DQ KIM , Byeong-Jun (KOR) DQ

Canadians: Olivier Jean was eliminated in the quarter finals.
Americans: Jeff Simon and Anthony Lobello were both eliminated in the quarter finals.

1000m: Marc-Andre Monette becomes the latest Canadian World Cup rookie to medal. Hats off to him for that in a race where the Koreans no doubt expected to go 1-2-3. Hyun-soo Ahn didn't manage better than bronze and poor Ho-suk Lee got the DQ. I wonder if those fierce rivals got in each other's way. It would be very interesting to see the video of this race!

[update] The Korea Times reports that Lee was disqualified for bumping Ahn while attempting to pass him in the race's final lap.

Ahn Hyun-soo, right, and Lee Ho-suk bump Sunday in menâ€™s 1,000-meter race of World Cup Short Track Series at Chonju. Lee slipped on the ice and was disqualified for interference. /Yonhap

1000m #2: Marc-Andre Monette (CAN-silver), Hyun-kon Kim (KOR-gold), Hyun-soo Ahn (KOR-bronze)

photo courtesy Starangel - see more of her World Cup photos here

Men 1000m Final A - #2
1 KIM , Hyun-Kon KOR 1:30.933
2 MONETTE , Marc-Andre CAN 1:31.138
3 AHN , Hyun-Soo KOR 1:33.157
DQ LEE , Ho-Suk KOR DQ

Canadians: Mathieu Giroux qualified for the quarter finals after finishing 2nd in the repechage A final. He and Steve Robillard went on to finish 2nd and 4th respectively in the B final.
Americans: Ryan Bedford and Travis Jayner were both eliminated in the quarter finals. Ryan was 3rd in his heat and Travis DQ'ed.

Men's relay finals

Canada's Olivier Jean and Steve Robillard make the exchange as China's Liu Xiaoliang and Sui Baoku do the same in the men's 5000m Relay final in Jeonju, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

Canada wins gold!!! Not the result I was necessarily expecting to see today but I'll take it. Please someone come up with video for us...

1. Canada 6:52.025
2. China 6:52.480
3. Korea 6:57.552
4. Italy 6:58.006

Team USA finished 3rd in the B final behind Germany and Japan.

complete results at cyberscoreboard

Next stop, Saguenay!!

Posted by noelle at 9:40 AM | Comments (16)

Day 3 in Jeonju City - ladies' 500m, 1000m#2 & relay results

Meng Wang seems unbeatable right now at 500-meters. It's great to see la Radanova back on the podium! With Yang Yang A now retired, the Bulgarian has got to be the senior member on the ladies' circuit these days (if not the whole sport).

Ladies 500m Final A
1 WANG , Meng (CHN) 44.647
2 FU , Tianyu (CHN) 44.693
3 RADANOVA , Evgenia (BUL) 44.851
4 KIM , Min-Jung (KOR) 44.933

Americans: Lana Gehring won the repechage A final, qualifying her to move on to the quarter finals, where she was eliminated. Tina Koenig was 3rd in the repechage A final. Cherise Wilkins was 2nd in the repechage B final.
Canadians: Anouk Leblanc-Boucher finished 3rd in the B final while Kalyna Roberge was disqualified in her semi final. Anne Maltais was eliminated in the quarter finals.

Ladies 1000m Final A - #2
1 JUNG , Eun-Ju (KOR) 1:32.389
2 JIN , Sun-Yu (KOR) 1:32.450
3 ZHU , Mile (CHN) 1:32.634
4 LIU , Xiaoying (CHN) 1:34.780

Americans: Katherine Reutter and Alyson Dudek finished 2nd and 4th, respectively in the repechage A final. This result qualified Katherine to move on to the quarter finals, where she was eliminated after finishing 3rd in her heat. Kimberly Derrick was likewise eliminated in the quarter finals. Good to see American skaters capitalizing on these repechage opportunities!
Canadians: Amanda Overland finished 4th in the B final. Nita Avrith was dq'ed in her quarter final; Raphaele Lemieux finished 4th in her quarter final.

Women's 3000m relay
A bit of a surprise with these results - or maybe not, considering how strong the Chinese ladies have been skating!
1. China 4:18.524
2. Korea 4:18.548
3. Japan 4:25.068
4. Germany 4:25.100

Team USA finished 2nd behind Italy in the B final.