« November 12, 2006 - November 18, 2006 | Main | November 26, 2006 - December 2, 2006 »
November 24, 2006
Mathieu Turcotte going on sabbatical
A report out of Canada says that feeling he lacked 'competitive fire', Mathieu Turcotte informed his coaches on Tuesday that he has decided to take the rest of the year off. In doing so, he declined the invitation to compete in World Cup 4 in Montreal.
After a long and decorated career (including 3 Olympic medals over the course of 2 Olympic Games) it's easy to see how 29-year old Turcotte would feel the need for some time away. I guess you can't underestimate the lure of a home-soil Olympics, as Turcotte states that his goal is to continue training at low intensity this year, and gradually build up towards his dream of winning an individual medal at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
Otherwise, Turcotte will devote his time to his boot company Apex Racing Skates. In addition, he'll attend the Saguenay World Cup in the role of athlete representative to the ISU's short track technical committee in order to gather more information on how the new World Cup format is working out.
Also, Speed Skating Canada has now announced the full lineup for World Cups 3 and 4.
Women:
Jessica Gregg
Annik Plamondon
Anne Maltais (World Cup 3 only)
Anouk Leblanc-Boucher (World Cup 4 only)
Kalyna Roberge, Amanda Overland and Ivanie Blondin had already been named to the team based on their performance at last week's trials.
Men:
Marc-Andre Monette
Michael Gilday
Jeff Scholten
Charles Hamelin, Francois-Louis Tremblay and Olivier Jean had already been named to the team based on their performance at last week's trials.
Congratulations to all!
Posted by noelle at 10:10 AM | Comments (56)
November 22, 2006
AAO at LandRoller.com
Sonia sent a link to a video/photo gallery featuring Apolo that's up at LandRoller now.
The Apolo Anton Ohno Limited Edition skates are also now available (they look sharp!) and you can watch a clip of Apolo demonstrating skating on them and one where he talks about what makes LandRoller's skate technology superior.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Posted by noelle at 2:30 PM | Comments (23)
November 20, 2006
More on those penguins
Looks like the guys had a lot of fun getting their penguins back home from American Cup 2 in Michigan! Check out these funny clips supplied by Jordan Malone:
Riding the moving walkway in Detroit
Riding the baggage carousel in Colorado
Too funny!
Posted by noelle at 7:43 PM | Comments (24)
AAO.com mini-posters
Hey everyone - I just wanted to help spread the word that the AAO.com store is now selling Torino promo mini-posters of Apolo. More info here!
Posted by noelle at 9:31 AM | Comments (8)
November 19, 2006
Canadian trials - day 3 results
Women's 1000m A final
1. Kalyna Roberge
2. Amanda Overland
3. Annik Plamondon
4. Ivanie Blondin
Top 10 Women Overall
1. Kalyna Roberge
2. Amanda Overland
3. Ivanie Blondin
4. Jessica Gregg
5. Annik Plamondon
6. Anouk Leblanc-Boucher
7. Anne Maltais
8. Raphaele Lemieux
9. Andrea Do-Duc
10. Melanie Gagnon
Impressive sweep of all three distances this weekend by Kalyna! You don't see that kind of dominance at the Canadian trials very often. Based on these results, Kalyna, Amanda and Ivanie should get automatic berths on Canada's World Cup team, with the remaining 3 women's spots TBA.
Also: Kalyna Roberge sweeps Canadian short-track speedskating trials
Speedskater Roberge bounces back from illness to dominate short-track trials
Kalyna Roberge completes golden sweep at short track speed skating team trials at the Olympic Oval
Men's 1000m A final
1. Olivier Jean
2. Francois-Louis Tremblay
3. Jean-Francois Monette
4. Charles Hamelin
Top 18 Men Overall
1. Charles Hamelin
2. Francois-Louis Tremblay
3. Olivier Jean
4. Marc-Andre Monette
5. Jeff Scholten
6. Michael Gilday
7. Mathieu Turcotte
8. Jean-Francois Monette
9. Jonathan Guilmette
10. Richard Shoebridge
11. Guillaume Blais-Dufour
12. Liam McFarlane
13. Alex Boisvert-Lacroix
14. Michael Friesen
15. Steve Robillard
16. Nicolas Bean
17. Francois Hamelin
18. Guillaume Bastille
Based on these results, Charles, Flou and Olivier should get automatic berths on Canada's World Cup team, with the remaining 3 men's spots TBA. Additional results from today's 1000m races below the jump...
Additional women's 1000m results:
Women's 1000m B final
1. Raphaele Lemieux
2. Jessica Gregg
3. Jessica Hewitt
4. Melanie Gagnon
Women's 1000m C final
1. Anouk Leblanc-Boucher
2. Valerie Lambert
3. Andrea Do-Duc
4. Valerie Maltais
Additional Men's 1000m results:
Men's 1000m B final
1. Michael Gilday
2. Richard Shoebridge
3. Mathieu Turcotte
4. Michael Friesen
Men's 1000m C final
1. Steve Robillard
2. Jeff Scholten
3. Guillaume Blais-Dufour
4. Marc-Andre Monette
5. Vincent Nadeau-Benoit
photo credit: CP/Jeff McIntosh
Posted by noelle at 5:26 PM | Comments (21)