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December 2, 2006
Saguenay photo update
More of Simon's amazing photos are up - check out his Day 2 gallery!
Also, I've updated several of the posts below with more text and photos from today.
Posted by noelle at 11:20 PM | Comments (1)
500m medalists
Kalyna Roberge (silver), Meng Wang (gold), Jessica Gregg (bronze)
Olivier Jean (silver), Francois-Louis Tremblay (gold), Ho-suk Lee (bronze)
Posted by noelle at 6:20 PM | Comments (10)
1500m medalists
Charles Hamelin (silver), Hyun-kon Kim (gold), Ye Li (bronze)
Eun-ju Jung (silver), Sun-yu Jin (gold), Chun-sa Byun (bronze)
Posted by noelle at 6:17 PM | Comments (5)
Men's relay semis
Wild stuff! Canada was way ahead with China 2nd and U.S. 3rd, till the closing laps. The lead narrowed - speculation that Scholten had stripped an edge - and China got the lead for about half a second when their skater, possibly Ye Li, fell right in front of M-A Monette, who half-jumped over him... not long after that, the U.S. muffed their exchange (our incoming skater apparently lined up for a push from Monette!) and there was no time to recover after that.
In the meantime, Canada recovered the lead with Hamelin coming in for the finish but Charles slid onto his butt a few yards from the line. He got up and crossed in first for Canada, but unfortunately Canada was DQ'ed for impeding. Big pity for the home crowd - but good news for the USA?
Posted by noelle at 5:35 PM | Comments (8)
1500m finals
[this post updated with photos below the jump]
ladies A final
1 50 JIN, Sun-Yu KOR 2:25.389
2 51 JUNG, Eun-Ju KOR 2:25.714
3 48 BYUN, Chun-Sa KOR 2:25.765
4 12 BLONDIN, Ivanie CAN 2:27.427
5 20 LIU, Xiaoying CHN 2:30.581
6 24 ZHOU, Yang CHN 3:33.827
B final
1 4 RADANOVA, Evgenia BUL 2:29.776
2 17 FU, Tianyu CHN 2:30.020
3 45 KAMINO, Yuka JPN 2:30.387
4 27 BOUVIER, Stephanie FRA 2:30.629
5 38 ZINI, Katia ITA 2:30.729
6 71 MILAN, Sonia USA 2:32.886
men A final
1 KIM, Hyun-Kon KOR 2:15.296
2 HAMELIN,Charles CAN 2:15.413
3 LI, Ye CHN 2:15.562
4 AHN, Hyun-Soo KOR 2:15.805
5 SONG, Kyung-Taek KOR 2:15.926
6 LEVEILLE, Charles Ryan USA 2:16.128
7 WANG, Hongyang CHN 2:16.564
Clearly, Ahn is way off his game.
men B final
1 MALONE, Jordan USA 2:24.159
2 SUI, Baoku CHN 2:24.304
3 BEDFORD, Ryan USA 2:24.552
4 MERRIMAN, Alexander AUS 2:24.570
5 PRAUS, Sebastien GER 2:24.726
6 RODIGARI, Nicola ITA 2:24.732
Charles Hamelin, with Jordan Malone breathing down his neck
Click below for more...
Our three guys skated spectacular races today in all 3 semifinals. Jordan Malone had a fantastic race in the first semi, coming from the back of the pack in Apolo-esque fashion to overtake all but the lead skater, Charles Hamelin. He looked ready to spoil the home crowd's fun, too, as he had the juice to get by Hamelin but instead, Kyung-taek Song came along and moved into 2nd ahead of Jordan. These two kept things super exciting, as with each lap, one would pass the other only to be passed again in the following lap.
Jordan just ran out of room to pass again, and missed out on qualifying for the A final. I have to say, the adrenaline rush had me shaking for about half an hour afterwards ... there just is no more exciting skater to watch than Jordan Malone!
Outta Jordan's way, dude!! 1500m semi #1: Charles Hamelin, Kyung-taek Song, Jordan Malone
Charles Ryan Leveille seems to have recovered nicely from his jetlag because he had a very impressive outing in his semi, moving up from far back in the pack to finish 2nd behind Hyun-kon Kim and thereby becoming our only skater to make it to an A final today. It was a great race and he looked pretty thrilled afterwards with the results. Way to go!
1500m semi #2: Hyun-kon Kim, Sebastian Praus, Fabio Carta, Charles Ryan Leveille
Ryan Bedford was in the 3rd semi and he also skated an excellent race. He made his move to the front of the pack with about 5 laps to go and I can't see that he did anything wrong. In the end Hyun-soo Ahn and Ye Li moved from far back to overtake Ryan and earn the two remaining qualifying positions in the A final.
1500m semi-Pieter Gysel, Nicola Rodigari, Ryan Bedford
Jordan and Ryan Bedford both skated in the B final, which Jordan won; Ryan was 3rd. Ryan Leveille was 6th in the A final. Congrats to all of them on some incredible performances!
Posted by noelle at 4:48 PM | Comments (9)
500m finals
500m A final - men
1. Tremblay (CAN) 41.957
2. Jean (CAN) 42.047
3. Lee (KOR) 42.052
4. Hu (CHN) 42.281
Congratulations to Flou getting his big win in front of the home crowd! He's now swept gold in all 3 500m finals so far this year. Teammate Olivier Jean just edged out Ho-suk Lee for the silver in a photo finish. There is joy in Saguenay today - they're about to blow the roof off this joint!
Francois-Louis Tremblay and Olivier Jean congratulate each other after finishing 1-2 in the men's 500m final
On the women's side, it has to be said the real race was for silver because no one seems capable of touching Meng Wang in this distance. She also skated away with her 3rd 500m gold this season. Here again though, the Canucks kicked ass, Kalyna Roberge took silver and teenager Jessica Gregg got bronze. Pretty sweet way to make your world cup debut!
Posted by noelle at 4:34 PM | Comments (4)
World Cup #3 - Saguenay - Day 2 - 500m
Flou prepares to decimate to the competition - again
Man, it has to be said that the Canucks are all such freaking STUDS in the 500m. And every short track fan needs to come to Saguenay sometime to see speed skating in its milieu. Even the thousands of fans at the Torino Olympics can't compare to the 'partisans' of the Center Georges-Vezina screaming their fool heads off as one of their skaters unleashes a can of Canuck whup-ass in a crazy-exciting race like the 500m. It gives me the chills and totally reminds me why I love short track so much! And we just saw it 6 times in a row in the men's and women's 500m quarter finals. LOVE it!
[update]
Ladies' 500m semi #2 (Kalyna Roberge & Annik Plamondon of Canada, Arianna Fontana of Italy and Xiaolei Cheng of China) -- This was crazy in that special crazy way that you only see in 500s. First try, false start. Second try, another false start. Third try, Annik and Arianna crashed in the first turn, the race was halted and restarted. FOURTH try, every skater but Kalyna fell at the apex. Race halted and restarted. Xiaolei Cheng disqualified and made to leave the ice. On the fifth try, they actually raced. Poor Annik was done by then and didn't have anything left.
'You are cordially invited to leave the race' - China's Xiaolei Cheng looks with dismay to her coach as she's DQ'ed from the race
Posted by noelle at 2:54 PM | Comments (10)
How do you say 'winter wonderland' in French?
Now I know I'm really in Chicoutimi...
Friday night, outside Hotel Le Montagnais
Just while we were out for dinner (poutine!) almost 2 inches accumulated.
This morning in front of the arena...
It's not going to stop snowing again till April.
Posted by noelle at 12:14 PM | Comments (25)
World Cup #3 - Saguenay - Team USA results catchup
Complete results from day 1 are now posted on Cyberscoreboard. Skater by skater, here's how Team USA fared during Friday's qualifying races in Saguenay and updates from this morning's repechage rounds:
Ryan Bedford - Skated well in 1500m qualifying to move on to today's World Cup medal round in that distance. In addition he'll skate in the 1000m repechage rounds after not making it out of his 1000m heat on Friday.
Ryan Bedford is all business in the men's relay heat Friday
Kimberly Derrick - She finished 2nd in her 1500m heat to move on today's World Cup medal round. She'll also skate in the repechage rounds of the 1000m on Sunday.
Alex Izykowski - Izy will skate in the 500m repechage round today. His
performance in 1000m qualifying yesterday means he'll also skate the World Cup medal rounds of that distance on Sunday. So far today Izy won his 500m repechage heat. [update:] Alex led from start to finish in winning the 500m repechage B final today.
Travis Jayner - Travis took a risk in his 500m prelim yesterday trying to move up in a tight space in the inside and was disqualified, which eliminates him from 500m competition. However, like Izy, he had strong races in 1000m qualifying and will join him in competing in the World Cup medal rounds on Sunday.
Lezleigh Jaworski - SoCal's Lezleigh skated in both sets of 500m qualifying yesterday. In set one she didn't make it out of her semi and will skate the 500m #1 repechage which takes place today. She did qualify in her 500m #2 heat to move on to the medal rounds of that event on Sunday. [update:] Lezleigh went on to the 500m repechage B final where she finished 2nd behind teammate Sarah Lang.
J.P. Kepka - Friday was a dream scenario for 500m specialist J.P. Kepka. He got to race both sets of 500m and looks really strong in spite of his layoff from short track earlier this year due to injury. J.P. qualified to move on to the World Cup medal rounds of both 500m races being contested this weekend.
Tina Koenig - I missed Tina's 1500m heat on Friday, but she was advanced to the medal round quarter finals which take place today. Tina also competed in 500m #2 yesterday, a heat which was notale for havin 3 of 4 skaters disqualified for impeding and/or cross-tracking. Tina was one of those 3 and was therefore eliminated from the 500m.
Sarah Lang - She'll skate in the 500m and 1000m repechage rounds today. Sarah had a great skate in her 1000m qualifying yesterday, just edging a French skater for 2nd place at the line (photo at right). A veteran at 29, Sarah trains in Calgary - this meet marks her return to World Cup competition after an absence several years. [update:] Sarah skated in the 500m repechage B final where she edged her teammate Lezleigh Jaworski for the win.
Charles Ryan Leveille - Hand it to this guy - he apparently just arrived this week jet-lagged from Moscow where he was competing in long track. He skated in the 1500m, didn't qualify automatically for the World Cup medal rounds, but today he won his repechage quarter and semi finals and finished 2nd in the repechage A final, which qualifies him to move on to this afternoon's medal round. He skated so strong in the A final that I saw, making an outside pass from last all the way to the front. A German skater passed him on the final lap.
Jordan Malone - Jordan easily won his 1500m heat on Friday but finished 3rd in his 500m (set #2) prelim. He'll skate in the World Cup medal round of the 1500m later today and in the 500m #2 repechage on Sunday.
Sonia Milan - Sonia (a college freshman in her 3rd season training in Marquette) competed in the 1500m yesterday and qualified to move on to today's medal round semifinals. She'll also competed in the repechage rounds of the 1000m on Sunday.
Sonia Milan waits to be introduced for her 1500m semi on Saturday
Cherise Wilkins - Cherise competed in bothg sets of 500m races yesterday. In 500m #1 she had strong performances qualifying her to move on today's World Cup medal rounds. She will also compete in the repechage rounds on Sunday for 500m #2.
Posted by noelle at 10:15 AM | Comments (5)
More photos from Saguenay
Simon P, the official event photographer, has a bunch of photos up from yesterday on his web album. Check them out here!
Posted by noelle at 8:44 AM | Comments (2)
December 1, 2006
Visual highlights from day 1 in Saguenay
Travis 'Borat' Jayner out in front
The much-maligned Canadian skinsuits actually look pretty cool in person. They're more grey from the back and more yellow in front.
Annik Plamondon leading Valeriya Potemkina (RUS)
Kimberly Derrick leads the pack
1000m prelim - Hyun-soo Ahn (KOR), Alex Izykowski (USA), Yuri Confortola (ITA)
Sarah Lang (USA) leads Amanda Overland (CAN)
A lot of people were surprised to see Satoru Terao back. Word around the short track world was that he was going to retire after last year's worlds, and he had also fractured his back competing there. I know he has some staunch fans among OZers... Good to see him back and he's seems good as ever!
Satoru Terao (JPN) and Paul Stanley (GBR)
Posted by noelle at 9:12 PM | Comments (9)
World Cup #3 - Saguenay - Day 1 results continued
Jordan Malone leads Italy's Nicola Rodigari during the men's relay heat
I'll update with more details and photos later. Till I get a grip on complete results, I don't want to try to recreate them from memory. I do know J.P. kicked butt in both sets of his 500m and Travis Jayner had an awesome outing in his 1000m prelim and heats. The guys had a great relay heat to move on to tomorrow's semis. The U.S. team led the whole way until about 7 laps to go when Italy passed us. By then the U.S. and Italy had lapped Ukraine and the Ukrainian skater didn't get out of the way which caused our guys to fall behind Italy by quite a bit. No worries though as all we needed was to finish 2nd to move on.
The ladies relays begin tomorrow with the semi finals.
More later! It's poutine time...
Posted by noelle at 5:11 PM | Comments (11)
World Cup #3 - Saguenay - Day 1 results
Yes, I'm here, but it's a little tough to keep up as we aren't receiving start and result lists and Cyberscoreboard is not updating. It's extremely frustrating to have no results to refer to in trying to let people know what's happening! Hours into day 1, I can't believe Cyberscoreboard has nothing up yet...
Memo to ISU: NOT ACCEPTABLE You're setting short track back years by letting this lack of internet coverage drag on...
Here's what I can tell you so far, unofficially:
Men's 1500m heats
USA: Jordan Malone won his heat in convincing fashion and qualifies for the quarter finals. Charles Ryan Leveille finished 3rd in his heat and will go into tomorrow's 1500m repechage. Ryan Bedford led his heat until he was passed with two laps to go, but hung on for second to join Jordan in the quarters.
CAN: Newcomer Michael Gilday was disqualified in his 1500m heat.
Men's 500m #1 prelims and heats
USA: J.P. Kepka won his preliminary race easily to move on to the heats, where he finished 2nd behind Jeff Scholten. J.P. was alone among the U.S. men to qualify automatically for tomorrow's 500m quarter finals.
Travis Jayner was disqualified for impeding in his prelim, so he's eliminated from this event. Alex Izy seemed to get a good start from the outside lane in his prelim, but he had a slip going into the first turn and was unable to recover but can try again in the 500m repechage rounds.
Possibly the moment that led to Travis Jayner's DQ for impeding, as he attempts an inside pass in his 500m prelim
CAN: All 3 Canadian men skating the 500m #1 (Francois-Louis Tremblay, Scholten and Olivier Jean) made it out of both sets of qualification rounds to move onto the quarter finals tomorrow. They're just super strong in this distance! Scholten didn't get the best start in his prelim but was making his way forward when the 2 skaters in front (a Japanese and Wim de Deyne of Belgium) crashed out. The Japanese was DQ'ed and Wim advanced to the heats.
Sakashita and de Deyne crash out of their 500m prelim as Scholten and Bellotti glide by
Women's 500m #1 prelims & heats
USA: Cherise Wilkins won her preliminary but then finished 3rd in her heat. Her time was among the fastest 3rd-place finishers, enabling her to move on to the quarter finals tomorrow. I believe Sarah Lang had a fall in her prelim.
CAN: All 3 Canadians made it out of their preliminaries. Kalyna Roberge ran into some kind of difficulty in her subsequent heat (I didn't see what happened) and finished last but will have another chance in the repechage tomorrow. World Cup newcomer Jessica Gregg (daughter of former NHL player Randy Gregg) is clearly another powerhouse in this distance, with great starts and opening up a ton of daylight between her and the field.
Newcomer Jessica Gregg skates far out in front in her 500m prelim
Men's 500m #2 prelims and heats
Jordan Malone unfortunately crashed pretty hard toward the end of his 500m prelim. He was not in qualifying position at the time. J.P. Kepka skated a second 500m and won it easily with Michael Gilday of Canada in 2nd.
The Canadian men all qualified handily for the 500m quarterfinals tomorrow. Jeff Scholten will skate both sets and is joined by Gilday (who seems totally unfazed in making his World Cup debut) and Charles Hamelin. Only Kepka on the men's side will move on. Charles Ryan Leveille finished out of qualifying position in his heat and will join Jordan in the repechage rounds.
Women's 500m #2 heats
With fewer women in the field for the 2nd set of 500m racing, they have just one round of qualifying races. It wasn't the best outing for the American ladies. All were assigned to the outside lane in their races.
Tina Koenig crashed out of her heat but is ok. Tina celebrates her 21 birthday today, by the way. Happy birthday, Tina!
Posted by noelle at 11:47 AM | Comments (18)
World Cup #3 - Saguenay
Official web site for the World Cup
Cyberscoreboard official results
Explanation of new World Cup format
Hopefully this makes some sense...
This is the 3rd of 6 World Cups this season. In keeping with the new World Cup format, skaters will compete in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m as well as team relays (the 3000m superfinal has been eliminated). The 500m will be raced twice.
Why is the 500m being contested twice? In order to determine overall rankings, each distance is raced 8 times over the course of the season -- but there are only 6 World Cups, so one distance must be raced twice at each World Cup in order to fit it all in. This weekend, then, skaters compete in 2 separate 500m events. Similarly, the 1500m was contested twice at World Cup #1 and the 1000m twice at World Cup #2.
Friday's (today's) events are purely for qualifying purposes only. The preliminaries are being run in each distance, to decide which skaters qualify to compete in the medal-round quarter finals or semi finals of the respective distances. Those medal rounds take place Saturday and Sunday.
What's the deal with the 'repechage'? Skaters who don't qualify based on their results in the prelims then skate in repechage rounds on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This format is similar to the World Team Championships. These repechage 'consolation' rounds give skaters additional opportunities to skate at the international level. In addition, they serve as a final chance for skaters to qualify for the medal rounds of the respective distances, as the top 2-3 finishers in the repechage finals move on to the medal round quarter finals or semis.
Note: If disqualified, a skater is automatically eliminated and does not continue in either repechage or medal rounds of a race.
Posted by noelle at 10:28 AM | Comments (1)
Pregnancy puts an end to Anouk Leblanc-Boucher's season
Speed Skating Canada sent out a press release last night with the news! Anouk is about 6 weeks along now and due to the risks inherent in short track, she will necessarily end her competitive season now, though she intends to keep training with the team and resume her competitive career after the birth.
Anne Maltais will take Anouk's place on the Canadian team for next week's World Cup event in Montreal.
Congratulations and best wishes to Anouk! Complete text of the press release is below the jump...
Pregnant, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher Puts an End to her Season
She is still planning to vie for a spot on the 2010 Olympic Team
After being told by Anouk Leblanc-Boucher that she was six weeks pregnant, Speed Skating Canada (SSC) is announcing that for obvious medical reasons she will not participate in competition with the national short track speed skating team for the rest of the season.
“I’m very happy. Of course, this unexpected news puts an end to my season, but I’m planning to keep skating,†declared Anouk Leblanc-Boucher. “A post-olympic year is good to take time for myself. I am planning to stay in as good a shape as possible in order to get back on the ice for the 2007-08 season, and to prepare for the 2010 Olympic games. Given the personal nature of this event, I would rather not comment more in order to live it with my partner and my family. I am convinced that members of the media will respect this decision and I thank them in advance for their understanding.â€
Following the happy news, the medical group of the national team got together in order to help Anouk both on the medical side and in establishing an adapted training program that she can follow during her pregnancy. For the time being, the skater is still a member of the National Team.
“Anouk obviously can’t compete anymore because of the risks associated to short track speed skating, but as long as her pregnancy progresses normally, she will train with the rest of the team until the end of the seasonâ€, explained the medical team. “We will just need to adjust her training program in order to avoid all risks.â€
At Speed Skating Canada, the news were well received. “From our stand point, we want to congratulate Anouk and to wish her the best of luck,†said Jean R. Dupré, Director General of SSC. “It’s an important part of our feminine team that will be away from competition, but this will allow our young developing skaters to get more international experience while we skate towards 2010.â€
The postpartum training will be evaluated by the skater’s doctor along with the national short track speed skating medical team. “With those measures, we will ensure that Anouk’s pregnancy goes well while minimizing the impacts of this inactivity period on her speed skating carreer,†ended the medical team.
Anouk Leblanc-Boucher will therefore not skate in the World Cup that will be held in Montreal from December 8 to 10 because of the risks. She will be replaced by Anne Maltais, who is already skating in the Saguenay stop of the World Cup from December 1 to 3.
Posted by noelle at 8:38 AM | Comments (6)
November 30, 2006
T. Rowe Price commercial - can anyone record?
Greetings from Chicoutimi! Where it's only raining and 50 degrees, and not snowing and 20 below, like it was this time 2 years ago...
I know a fair number of OZ readers have seen the T. Rowe Price commercial running on TV featuring 4 Canadian short trackers. It's been seen on NBC, Fox and ESPN so far. I ran into Canada World Cup team member Jeff Scholten here this evening. Jeff is the lead skater in the ad, and he says that none of the skaters have been able to see the commercial because it's not running on Canadian television, and for some reason T. Rowe Price won't make the clip available to them.
Kinda stinks, eh? So this is an appeal to ask if some kind, video-savvy OZer can find a way to record the spot. It would be really cool to be able to post it here, but more especially to let the skaters see their commercial. Thanks for any help out there!!
Posted by noelle at 6:27 PM | Comments (6)
November 28, 2006
American Cup 2 photos
Trisha got some great shots from the men's 3000m B final in Midland a few weeks back - I've included them, along with her captions below each photo:
Jeff Simon (helmet # 100) leads this group. I don't know what Simon Cho (helmet #114) and Joey Lindsey (far left) found funny, but this was an interesting race. Early on, Kyle Carr went out hard as if he were trying to lap the pack. After a number of laps, Trevor Marsicano decided that was old news and took off to reel Kyle in. Eventually, both Trevor and the pack caught Kyle. That's Levi Kirkpatrick at the back, and I think Barry Winslow is the skater hidden behind Jeff Simon.
Joey Lindsey is still amused about something. The skater in the back is Levi Kirkpatrick and the other in-focus skater (#81) is Al Johnson from West Allis I believe.
Kyle Carr leads a section of the pack followed by Trevor Marsicano (helmet #78). Barry Winslow is the next to last skater in the line (he's much taller than what most of his fans remember him I'm sure)
Joey Lindsey leads a group. In the final laps of this race, the pack had dispersed and the skaters were scattered all over the track. There may have been a fall or two; I'm not sure.
***
Thanks to Trisha for sharing these with us!
Posted by noelle at 9:34 PM | Comments (12)
November 26, 2006
Kalyna Roberge in Flare magazine
It seems like the Canadian guys get all the attention (here and in general) but Kalyna Roberge shows they have no lock on either looks or talent up in the frozen northland.
Fresh off her sweep of the Canadian team trials in Calgary, Kalyna was recently featured in Canadian fashion magazine Flare (photo below). Kalyna is indeed tiny, as the caption states, but she looks like a superhero out there on the ice and has a brilliant career ahead of her. For those going to Montreal World Cup, she's one of the most exciting skaters you'll see out there!
Click photo to enlarge:
Doesn't she look gorgeous? Thanks to Amanda Overland for sending this to us!
Posted by noelle at 3:38 PM | Comments (23)
Albany Times Union | Skating shrine's plans on ice
The National Speedskating Museum and Hall of Fame abandoned plans to build a $10 million museum in the Spa City [Saratoga Springs, NY] and is seeking a new home.With just $20,000 in the bank, the museum's board of directors decided to seek bids from others who might want the collection and who could properly display the memorabilia, which now sits in a warehouse.
Among those interested in the museum's collection is a Wisconsin facility. The Pettit National Ice Center outside Milwaukee is the only organization to submit a bid so far.
Posted by noelle at 9:10 AM | Comments (0)