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January 13, 2007

Results from Junior Worlds, day 2 - 500m silver for Jeff Simon!

Yay, Cyberscoreboard! Today they've got not only results and split times -- the latter first appeared yesterday -- but photo finishes are up for the first time this season now, too. Great progress! Can the live scoreboard be far behind?! Crossing fingers...

Relay semis: On the men's side, Team USA finished 2nd in their semi to join the teams from Canada, Korea and France in Sunday's final. The U.S. ladies won't move on to the final - but they put up a strong fight, finishing a close third behind Korea and China. The teams from Canada, Korea, China and Hungary will face off in the women's final.

Men's 500m: Way to go Jeff Simon, who earned the first North American medal of the meet with his 2nd place finish in the men's 500m final - starting from lane 4, no less! Photo finish - they were all over the place in a close fight for silver and bronze!

Men's 500m final
1. WEI, Jiguang CHN 42.589
2. SIMON, Jeff USA 42.953
3. SHIN, Woo-Chul KOR 42.978
DQ GAO, Ming CHN DQ

Other North Americans:
- Trevor Marsicano was eliminated in the second-round heats
- Simon Cho was going strong till his 500m semi. The posted time indicates he fell (probably on his own) with 2 or so laps to go
- Somewhat surprising to see no Canadians make it as far as the semis today. Nic Bean was eliminated in the quarter finals
- Andre Vicent and Maxime Fortin were both eliminated in second-round heats (Fortin DQ'ed)

Women's 500m:

Women's 500m final
1. SHIN, Sae-Bom KOR 45.416
2. ZHAO, Nannan CHN 45.533
3. BELOVA, Ekaterina RUS 46.518
4. YANG, Shin-Young KOR 1:05.543

North American skaters:
- Alyson Dudek was eliminated the quarter finals
- Mary Grace was disqualified in her second-round heat
- Katherine Reutter didn't advance out of her prelim race
- Canadians: Valerie Lambert made it as far as the 500m semis, where she finished 4th in her race; Ivanie Blondin was eliminated in the quarter finals while Valerie Maltais did not advance out of her heat

Complete results from Cyberscoreboard

Posted by noelle at 4:49 PM | Comments (28)

January 12, 2007

Results from Junior Worlds, day 1

Cyberscoreboard has partial results from the first day of competition in Mlada Boleslav. Today skaters competed in the 1500m and, seemingly, qualifying heats in the 2000m relay but results from today's finals and the relays are not officially available. (Naturally, it's the information people most want to know that's missing!)

Men's 1500m results: On the U.S. side, Simon Cho was disqualified in his 1500m heat, while Trevor Marsicano and Jeff Simon made it as far as the semis. They finished 5th and 6th in their respective races.

Among the North American men, only Canada's Nic Bean made it to the 1500m final - way to go! His teammates ran into DQ trouble in earlier rounds, with Vincent Andre dq'ed in his quarter final and Maxime Fortin in his semi.

Based on distance classification results, I *think* this is the order of finish for the men's final - but if so, the posted times don't make a whole lot of sense, do they?

Men's 1500m final
1. LEE , Jung-Su KOR 2:24.300
2. SHIN , Woo-Chul KOR 2:20.914
3. KNOCH , Viktor HUN 2:19.181
4. BEAN , Nicholas CAN 2:21.096
5. CHATAIGNIER , Maxime FRA 2:25.594
6. YE , Liming CHN 2:20.087
7. BERTOLDI , Marco ITA 2:19.810

Women's 1500m results: Canada's Valerie Maltais became the sole N. American skater in the women's final after she was advanced from her semi final (she and a Dutch skater appear to have tangled). Ivanie Blondin made it to the semis of her favorite distance with seeming ease, where she finished an uncharacteristic last. From the times it appears she may have slipped and/or fallen. Valerie Lambert was eliminated in the quarter finals.

On the U.S. side, Katherine Reutter and Mary Grace both put in strong performances to skate their way to the semis. Katherine's 3rd place finish left her a spot shy of qualifying for the final; Mary finished 4th in her semi final. Alyson Dudek was eliminated in the quarter finals.

Again based on Cyberscoreboard's 1500m distance classification, here are results from the ladies' 1500m final - at least these times make sense:

Women's 1500m final
1. YANG , Shin-Young KOR 2:19.186
2. SHIN , Sae-Bom KOR 2:19.234
3. PARK , Seung-Hi KOR 2:19.990
4. KONG , Xue CHN 2:20.953
5. ZHAO , Nannan CHN 2:21.675
6. MALTAIS , Valerie CAN 2:22.610
7. WANG , Shuang CHN 2:28.692

[update] Congratulations to the Katherine Reutter on her 8th-place ranking in the 1500m due to her fast 3rd-place finish in her semifinal. In addition, it appears that both the U.S. and Canadian men and women's relay teams advanced to the semi finals taking place Saturday.

One encouraging sign - for the first time since Cyberscoreboard switched hands this season, they are posting split times with the results from each heat! official results here

Posted by noelle at 5:25 PM | Comments (14)

Apolo update

Thanks to Kaylene for posting this link, because I had totally missed it!

Northwest Asian Weekly | Surprise visit by Apolo Ohno

For 2007, his goal is simple: to come up with a plan, including fitness and mental regimens, that will get him to the next Winter Olympics. It’s especially important to him that he gets a spot on the 2010 team, as the Games will take place close to home, in Vancouver, B.C., and it might be his last appearance in the Olympics.


photo by Carol N. Vu / Northwest Asian Weekly

Posted by noelle at 3:56 PM | Comments (175)

January 11, 2007

Good luck to Team USA, competing this weekend at the World Junior Short Track Championships in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic! Here's an article on team member Trevor Marsicano, from his hometown paper:

The Saratogian | Taking on the world

Marsicano is mentored by popular coach and skate-maker Paul Marchese, who said he has come across few athletes with more poise than Marsicano. "He's one of the more focused, determined, goal-oriented athletes I've encountered," Marchese said. "And that includes athletes from many other countries at an elite level."

Marchese said he spoke by phone with Marsicano daily during the two-week training period, discussing training details and mental preparation. Marchese said he thinks the U.S. team has a good chance to challenge China, Korea and Canada, usually among the most seasoned teams.

Posted by noelle at 2:36 PM | Comments (5)