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February 15, 2007
Newest member of Team USA?
Check out the skinsuit Olivier Jean was rockin' last weekend in Bootyfest, I mean Budapest.
I'd love to know the story behind this one!
Posted by noelle at 4:45 PM | Comments (77)
February 13, 2007
Busted!
Posted yesterday on the blog EatFeats, a blog devoted to competitive eating:
Apolo Anton Ohno fans flood ESPN.com poll
An ESPN.com poll for the 5 members of the 2006 All-Sports team (which is still open) is the subject of a thread on a forum for fans of speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno. Some commenters helped put their hero in the #1 position in that poll and knock Kobayashi out of his early lead:
Whoa! You definitely CAN vote more than once, with rapid-fire! Just ‘refresh’ the voting results page and click ‘Retry’ when you get the message. I was able to vote again with just 2 clicks - about once per second. Within about 5 minutes I think I single-handedly brought David Eckstein from 1.3% to 1.4%! (Of course I voted for Apolo, too). (I know, I’m a techno-idiot, so if you already know this you can call me stupid - go ahead, I can take it…)
(A commenter on the thread thinks that Sonya Thomas should have been in the poll also)
You can go to the blog to see the comments posted in response to this post.
Posted by noelle at 8:56 PM | Comments (47)
February 12, 2007
VIP Package for 2007 US National Championships
The organizing committee for the 2007 U.S. National Championships in Cleveland has put together a VIP Package, similar to what was done last time it was in Cleveland. This form outlines the various levels of the VIP Package, which include prime seating, autographed event posters, a sweatshirt and access to VIP hospitality and food. Hopefully it isn’t too late for some people to decide to go “first class†at this event!
The word is Apolo will be coming, along with Allison Baver and Halie Kim. Based on the entries now and the way the athletes have been skating, it should be an exciting event! The LOC is working hard to make it a top quality event, similar to 2004.
Remember to visit the event web site for additional details.
Posted by noelle at 10:09 AM | Comments (58)
February 11, 2007
Budapest World Cup day 3 - relay finals
Relay bronze for Team USA
Men's 5000m relay - A final
1. CHINA 6:54.719
2. KOREA 6:55.516
3. UNITED STATES 7:02.292
DQ CANADA
See photos from all 3 days of competition
Here's a description of the race from the ISU:
Canada took the lead 17 laps before the finish, China and Korea skating for the second place. A few laps to go and Korea came close to Canada, while it seemed that China would have to make do with the bronze. In the very last lap the Canadian and the Korean skater crashed into each other which allowed the Chinese to outskate both and take the gold. Korea came in as second and, with Canada disqualified, the USA received the bronze.
Women's 3000m relay - A final
1. CHINA 4:15.379
2. KOREA 4:15.679
3. ITALY 4:19.291
4. CANADA 4:21.536
The USA women skated in the relay B final, finishing 3rd behind Hungary and Germany.
Posted by noelle at 5:13 PM | Comments (11)
Budapest World Cup day 3 - 1000m results
1000m bronze for Jordan Malone, silver for Charles Hamelin!
Men's 1000m - A final
1. LEE, Ho-Suk KOR 1:28.623
2. HAMELIN, Charles CAN 1:28.666
3. MALONE, Jordan USA 1:28.732
4. BELLOTTI, Denis ITA 1:29.068
5. KNOCH, Viktor HUN 1:29.312
Women's 1000m - A final
1. JUNG, Eun-Ju KOR 1:34.536
2. BYUN, Chun-Sa KOR 1:34.711
3. ZHOU, Yang CHN 1:34.716
DQ ZHU, Mi Lei CHN
Man, some of these quarter final races seemed more like semis or finals. Alex Izykowski faced both Ho-suk Lee and Jeff Monette in his race and finished 3rd in his 1000m quarter final. Travis Jayner finished 4th behind Hyun-kon Kim, Latvia's Heralds Silovs who's had a very strong season, and hometown favorite Viktor Knoch. I pulled up the live scoreboard right at the start of Jordan's semi, featuring Tremblay, Maxime Chataignier and Nicola Rodigari. It looked pretty exciting with lots of passing. Jordan edged Flou at the line for the win.
In her quarter final, Kimberly Derrick had Mi Lei Zhu, Chun-sa Byun and Canadian newcomer Marianne St-Gelais. Kimberly and Marianne finished 3-4 and won't move on to the semis.
The semis got even crazier. Jordan again had Flou, along with Jeff Monette and major threat Lee. Jordan pulled from start to almost finish, but you could just sense Lee lurking in 3rd, waiting to unleash one of his patented come-from-behind outside passes. Can't know for sure, but he seems to have done just that, taking the lead in the final lap to win the race, with Jordan 2nd. Both Lee and Malone moved on to the A final with the two Canadians skating by themselves in the B final.
Anne Maltais, having qualified for the quarter finals on the strength of her win in the repechage A final, finished 3rd in her semi final and was eligible to skate in the 1000m B final but did not start the race.
Posted by noelle at 11:17 AM | Comments (11)
Budapest World Cup day 3 - 500m #2 results
Olivier Jean adds 500m gold to the bronze he earned in yesterday's 1500m. Jean has had an incredible breakout season. This is his 2nd trip to the top of the podium - he also won 500m gold at World Cup 4 in Montreal in December.
Men's 500m #2 - A final
1. JEAN, Olivier CAN 42.104
2. SERRA, Roberto ITA 42.259
3. HEUNG, Tyson GER 42.259
4. GYSEL, Pieter BEL 42.533
5. LI, Ye CHN 42.757
They finished in the order they started!
Women's 500m #2 - A final
1. WANG, Meng CHN 43.858
2. FU, Tian Yu CHN 44.059
3. JEON, Ji-Soo KOR 44.175
4. RADANOVA, Evgenia BUL 44.862
Cherise Wilkins was the lone American woman to skate in the medal rounds of 500m #2... she skated in the final quarter final, skating from lane 4. She finished 4th and didn't move on.
Kalyna Roberge faced a tough battle in her semi and did not qualify for the A final. She went on to win the B final of 500m #2. Jessica Gregg and Nita Avrith were eliminated earlier on in the quarter finals.
Charles Ryan Leveille was the only American man in the medal rounds and also finished 4th in his quarter final. Much more a distance skater, he lacks the explosive start the 500m requires and he was starting from lane 4.
Olivier Jean won his quarter and semi final races and became the last Canadian man standing as Marc-Andre Monette was disqualified in the quarters.
Posted by noelle at 9:59 AM | Comments (4)
Budapest World Cup day 3 - repechage results
1000m ladies: Sarah Lang made it through to the repechage A final, where she finished 3rd. This race was won by Anne Maltais, allowing her to advance to the 1000m medal rounds.
500m #2 ladies: Tina Koenig skated her way into the repechage A final, for 3rd place. Jessica Gregg and Nita Avrith finished 1-2 to move on to the medal rounds. Lezleigh Jaworski was 4th in the rep B final.
500m #2 men: Ryan Bedford skated through the repechage rounds to the A final, where he finished 4th and does not move on.
Posted by noelle at 9:47 AM | Comments (0)