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March 17, 2007
Results from Hungary - World Team Championships day 1
Italy (1) and USA (2) men's teams advanced through the repechage to join Korea and Canada in Sunday's A Finals. In the B are Hungary, Australia, Germany, Ukraine.
Canada (1) and USA (2) ladies teams advanced through the repechage to join Korea and China in the A Finals. In the B are Italy, Japan, Russia and Hungary.
Travis Jayner reported earlier today between Bracket #2 races and the Repechage: "The relay was good, we did just enough work to beat the third place team. Now it is time for some rest and food, then we get to do it again tonight. Us, the Italians, Germans and the home team. I know we can make it to the A final....... Jordan [Malone] hurt himself when he fell in the 1000m."
No other details about Jordan, except that he didn't skate in the repechage races. Hope he's doing okay!
Posted by noelle at 5:06 PM | Comments (19)
Pacific Citizen | From Blades to the Ballroom
Don't worry, Apolo has some rhythm and moves. He has experience dancing and a lot of discipline, but a little free styling in a nightclub is different from ballroom dancing, he said. "There are so many rules! You have to keep your back stiff ... in speed skating I'm used to having my back nicely rounded!"Is another Olympics in his future? Yes, he will be at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, but he's still debating the role he's going to play. "I'm leaning towards competing again," said Apolo, who is moving from Colorado Springs to Salt Lake City to train.
The world will have to wait to see if dancing will be his next sport of choice. Apolo and his father Yuki Ohno, a hairstylist, are already discussing a different look for the usually coifed athlete.
Thanks to Susie for the link!
Posted by noelle at 1:34 PM | Comments (59)
March 16, 2007
'Everything I do in speedskating is what you don't do in ballroom'
More DWTS watch!
[updates]
San Francisco Chronicle: "Skates to slippers: Considering the grace he brings to his sport, it seems natural that Olympic short track speed skater Apolo Ohno will give the reality show "Dancing with the Stars'' a go. He'll partner with pro dancer Juliane Hough, 18, when the series returns March 18."
Sports Illustrated: "Apollo Anton Ohno: Seems his 15 minutes passed a while ago, doesn't it? But if I have to pick an athlete, it's Ohno over Laila Ali and Clyde Drexler. The ladies tell me he's quite the looker, which is, like, good for ratings and all."
Apolo: 'People like Julieanne make it seem really easy - and it's not'
Julieanne: 'Apolo's doing so good, let me just say that right now.'
Click image to watch their interview:
More contestant interviews via AOL TV.
Sue spotted another piece, this one from People magazine:
MSNBC | Sizing up this season's ‘Dancing With the Stars’ participants
Apolo Anton Ohno, who was a hot ticket a few years ago as an Olympian, seems like he should be a good bet. Speed skating would appear to involve lightness and balance. But will his athletic ability translate into dancing? It's hard to say. Not the typical giant, bulky athlete the show has favored in the past, Ohno is the compact, wiry sort of athlete, and if nothing else, we can all just watch that soul patch.
And ignoring the jab at speedskating, I love this column just for its intro:
Orlando Weekly | i♥television™
"Dancing with the Stars is returning for another season this week—and this time it's going to be a bona fide marijuana freakout!"
Posted by noelle at 10:17 AM | Comments (72)
World Team Championships this weekend
[update] A downloadable/printable scorecard to help you keep track during World Teams... in Word format.
Final short track competition of the season takes place Saturday and Sunday in Budapest. I have too much going on this weekend to be able to real-time updates but will certainly post results and photos (if available) when I can. In the meantime, here are links and info for your reference:
Official World Team Championships web site
Cyberscoreboard for real-time and detailed results
Racing both days begins at 10am Hungarian time (5AM ET / 2AM PT) - detailed schedule here.
World Teams is MUCH different from anything else in ST. WorldShortTrack.com has a helpful primer on how it works - it's a quick read: World Team Championships
Posted by noelle at 10:08 AM | Comments (4)
March 15, 2007
Photos from Worlds
Denizzy, this is for you!
Men's relay podium
U.S. men on podium
Women's relay podium
Men's 1000m podium
Men's 1500m medalists congatulate one another
Loads and loads more pictures available on the official Worlds web site.
Posted by noelle at 9:47 PM | Comments (26)
March 14, 2007
DWTS watch
'If speedskating champion Apolo Ohno's prosthetic leg falls off during the competition, should he be penalized?'
Mo Rocca conducts hilarious pre-DWTS man-on-the-street interviews:
Thank you, Heather Mills!
"Ohno has some of the strongest legs on the planet"
Sue scanned this from a recent TV Guide issue: click to enlarge
Also:
Apolo's DWTS bio | Julieanne''s DWTS bio
VOTE for Apolo in AOL TV's Dancing With the Stars poll. It's easily influenced at the moment. Not that this has any impact on show results.
Btw, I've added a category (in the sidebar area) where all 'Dancing'-related posts can be found.
Posted by noelle at 5:07 PM | Comments (41)
March 12, 2007
Results from Canadian Trials #3
This got overlooked with the frenzy of Worlds, but last weekend Canada held its 3rd and final set of national team trials for the season. Here are overall classifications - detailed results are available from Speed Skating Canada.
Overall classification below the jump...
trials #3 overall - women
1. MALTAIS, Valérie
2. GREGG, Jessica
3. LAMBERT, Valérie
4. BLONDIN, Ivanie
5. DO-DUC, Andréa
6. HEWITT, Jessica
7. ST-GELAIS, Marianne
8. MENDES-CAMPEAU, Marie-Andrée
9. GAUTHIER, Valérie
10. GAGNON, Mélanie
Trials #3 overall - men
1. ROBILLARD, Steve
2. BEAULIEU, Remi
3. HAMELIN, François
4. BASTILLE, Guillaume
5. GUILMETTE, Jonathan
6. BEAN, Nicolas
7. BOISVERT-LACROIX, Alex
8. GILDAY, Michael
9. FORTIN, Maxime
10. ANDRÉ, Vincent
Posted by noelle at 11:57 PM | Comments (22)
Video clips: 2007 Worlds
[update] High-quality clips of several races are available to download as well. It takes a very long time to get them, so my recommendation is to do it in the background while you're working on something else and go back to it later. Once it's all downloaded, you can watch the entire clip without difficulty.
Loads of clips from the first 2 days in Milan are available on YouTube, so if you missed the SBS feed or just want to relive some moments, check it out. Thanks to Starangel for posting the link!
Posted by noelle at 4:44 PM | Comments (20)
Worlds news roundup
Globe and Mail | Hamelin fulfills own prophecy
Months ago, short-track speed skater Charles Hamelin announced, "This is my year."Yesterday in Milan, Italy, he proved it, by finishing the world championships No. 2 behind superstar Ahn Hyun-Soo of South Korea. His goal several months ago had been to finish among the top three in the world in Milan. By Saturday, when he was tied with Ahn, he started aiming for No. 1.
This is the 2nd Canadian press report that mistakenly reports that Charles was tied for 1st overall with Ahn. In fact, he was tied with Ohno. This was probably based on the initial one. Also, this continues what began last year, when the Canadian media first misreported that Apolo announced his retirement last season when he did no such thing. This writer also thinks Apolo already competed in Dancing With the Stars.
Korea Times | Korea Sweeps Title at Short Track Worlds
``I want to win the World Championships next year for the sixth straight title,'' Ahn was quoted as saying after Sunday's competition. Ahn said his long-term goal is a replay of the glory of the Turin Olympics at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Posted by noelle at 10:06 AM | Comments (365)
March 11, 2007
World Championships overall results
Korea's Hyun-Soo Ahn, Canada's Charles Hamelin and Apolo Anton Ohno of US smile on the podium after the men's 3000 M superfinal of the World Short Track Speed Skating Championship 2007 in Milan, 11 March 2007. Ahn won the overall championship ahead of Canada's Charles Hamelin and Apolo Anton Ohno of US who came thrid. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE (Photo credit should read FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)
Top 8 overall in Milan:
Men
World Champion - Hyun-soo Ahn - becomes the sport's 1st male 5-time world champ
Silver overall - Charles Hamelin - moves up from 4th overall in 2006
Bronze overall - Apolo Ohno - won overall silver in 2001 and 2005
4.Kyung-taek Song
5. Francois-Louis Tremblay - bronze overall in 2005 & 2006
6. Nicola Rodigari - 7th overall in 2006
7. Jordan Malone - no previous individual ranking at Worlds
8. Yuri Confortola - no previous individual ranking at Worlds
Women
World Champion - Sun-yu Jin - threepeats - now halfway to Yang Yang A's record
silver overall - Eun-ju Jung - 2006 World Junior Champion
bronze overall Kalyna Roberge - 2nd year in a row as bronze overall
4. Yang Zhou
5. Arianna Fontana
6. Tianyu Fu - 4th overall in 2006
7. Chun-sa Byun - 2003 world junior champ
8. Allison Baver - was 5th overall in 2006
Korea's Sun-Yu Jin countryfellow Eun-JU Jung and Kalyna Roberge of Canada stand on the podium of the World Short Track Speed Skating Championship 2007 in Milan, 11 March 2007. Jin won the overall championship ahead of Jung and Roberge who came thrid AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE (Photo credit should read FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)
Congratulations to Apolo, Allison and Jordan on their extremely strong performances. We're so proud of you! Pretty damn amazing for 2 skaters who hadn't competed all season, and another who never competed individually at Worlds! Way to go to all Team USA skaters for your outstanding performances this weekend! Can't wait to see what next season brings...
Posted by noelle at 12:30 PM | Comments (84)
Relays!
Our guys get on the podium! They earned bronze in the relay final. Skating today were Apolo, Jordan, Ryan and Travis. Anthony skated in yesterday's semifinal. Congrats, guys!
Men's relay
1. KOR
2. CAN
3. USA
4. ITA
Women's relay
1. KOR
2. CHN
3. CAN
4. ITA
Posted by noelle at 12:28 PM | Comments (4)
Live-blogging Worlds day 3 - 3000m finals
Both world champions will be determined by the outcome of the superfinal, in which the top 8 skaters overall (with final points) compete. Essentially, the winner of each superfinal will be world champion, barring bizarre permutations that could see the ultimate champion not win this race, but it seems like an unlikely scenario.
For the women, it will be Eun-ju Jung or 2-time World Champion Sun-yu Jin. Kalyna Roberge has a mathematical chance but not a realistic one. You have to wonder what the scenario would have been if Meng Wang were here. Perhaps not all that different.
For the men, Ahn, Hamelin or Ohno.
Men's superfinal: Again, start of races catches me off guard. Argh! Song and Malone look like they're up there setting th epace. It's not super slow. Apolo is mid-pack, Ahn behind him, Hamelin just off the pace behind the frontrunners. Man, Song is really pulling them along although he seems to be slowing down, actually. Apolo has moved up a bit now. Is Song lapping, or attempting to? looks like he is. Ahn is in 2nd now - Apolo, why are you at the back? You have time, but not THAT much. Charles is ruight up there with Ahn. Ohno and Malone still bringin up the rear. Ahn has dropped back too. Geez you guys. Ahn is back again. Ohno challenging. My heart is pounding! Song wins... for pride! I guess he did lap, or close. Ahn gets silver, Ohno bronze.
overall winners Apolo Anton Ohno, bronze medal, of the United States, Korea's Hyun-Soo Ahn, gold, and Canada's Charles Hamelin, silver, on podium after the men's 3000-meter final at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, March 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Alison Gilkes)
Wow, congratulations to 5 time consecutive world champ, Hyun-soo Ahn! That's never been done before.. right? Way to go Charles Hamelin with overall silver! And welcome back Apolo. Strong performance, esp. after missing the season.
3000m results - men
1. Song
2. Ahn
3. Ohno
4. Hamelin
5. Tremblay
6. Rodigari
7. Confortola
8. Malone
Women's superfinal: Oh, finally! They always wait till I'm distracted before starting the race. Allison Baver is out in front now but it's still waaay early. Presumably no one made an attempt to lap. You usually don't see that with the women anyway. Roberge is i nthe hunt there in 3rd. Jung, Jin and Byun are stalking from the back of the pack. How long will that last?
not long, they're moving up, Roberge has dropped back.It's getting hard to scroll back and forth to follow who's where. Jung and Jin are racing for it now though. JIN WINS - SHE IS WORLD CHAMPION! Jung gets silver. They both end up with 89 points, but Jin's win in the 3k will break that tie.
3000m results - women
1. Jin
2. Jung
3. Zhou
4. Roberge
5. Fontana
6. Fu?
7. Baver
8. Byun?
Posted by noelle at 11:12 AM | Comments (20)
Live-blogging Worlds day 3 - 1000m finals
Bronze medallist Ohno Apolo Anton of the U.S., gold medallist Ahn Hyun-Soo of South Korea and silver medallist Charles Hamelin of Canada pose on the podium after the men's 1000 metres short track speed skating final at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2007 in Milan March 11, 2007. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo (ITALY)
Men's final: Ack! I've missed the first half the men's race... its outcome will be decisive. Sort of. Like Jin, Ahn Hyun-soo wants to threeFIVEpeat today. Ahn wins gold, Charles Hamelin smells an overall title in his grasp with his silver medal, Ohno gets bronze and is still very much in the hunt. Points are so close ... the only way Apolo wins the overall title is by winning 3000m gold (or Ahn and Hamelin having really bad luck). This is a race Apolo can win as he has so many times before. I predict it comes down to him and Ahn but definitely not counting Charles out at all.
Canada's Charles Hamelin is outsprinted for gold by Korea's Hyun-Soo Ahn, as Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States sprints for bronze in front of Canada's Francois-Louis Tremblay in the 1000-meter final at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, March 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Alison Gilkes)
1000m men's final - results
1. Ahn
2. Hamelin
3. Ohno
4. Tremblay
5. Confortola
REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo(ITALY)
Again, the superfinal will be the determining race. Hold on to your hats!
Overall points after 3 events:
Ahn - 60
Hamelin - 55
Ohno - 47
Tremblay - 29
Rodigari - 21
Malone - 13
Women's final: Two Koreans vs. two Chinese... I think I know who will win. Yes, Sun-yu Jin will try to pull out another overall championship on the final day of competition. She takes gold, current overall leader Eun-ju Jung takes silver, with Yang Zhou earning bronze.
1000m women's final - results
1. Jin
2. Jung
3. Zhou
4. Fu
Bronze medallist Zhou Yang of China, gold medallist Jin Sun-yu of South Korea and her compatriot silver medallist Jung Eun-Ju stand on the podium after the women's 1000 metres short track speed skating final at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2007 in Milan March 11, 2007. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo(ITALY)
It will all come down to the superfinal to determine the 2007 World Champion, but it will be a Korean lady. Mathematically, Kalyna Roberge could still win it all, but it woud take her winning the 3000m and abysmal performances or DQs by Jin and Jung for it to happen.
Overall points after 3 events
Jung - 68
Jin - 55
Roberge - 34
Fontana - 21
Zhou - 21
Posted by noelle at 10:47 AM | Comments (9)
Live-blogging Worlds day 3 - 1000m semifinals
Men's semis: AAO is in semi 1 with FLT. There seems to be a ton of passing going on, unsurprisingly. At least Apolo never appears to get stuck in the back. he makes his move with 2-3 to go and wins the race. Yuri Confortola earns the 2nd slot in the final - awesome! Something about that home ice magic. Flou is 4th and won't move on. Bummer. Unless... ? Kyung-taek Song is dq'ed. YES! Flouie is advanced to the final.
Ok, 'Maloney', you're up now. This semi is just heinous. Did I say go to the back of the pack? No, stay with Charles up there. Oy, Jordan. Hyun-soo Ahn, who'd been malingering in the back, zooms to the front, Hamelin takes 2nd. Jordan is last. He evidently fell - on his own, or was there interference? Whatever happened took place when he was in qualifying position (according to split times)... Alas, no call. {udpate} Simon P got word that Jordan hit a block - so he fell on his own. A pity, because he was in 2nd between Hamelin and Ahn when it happpened.
According to my calculations (always a sketchy proposition) Jordan can't be knocked out of the top 8, and therefore is assured of skating in the 3000m superfinal.
Women's semis: These semis, predictably, could easily be finals... can't wait to see 'em later on on SBS or YouTube. Eun-ju Jung, hoping she's on her way to her coronation later today, came out on top and Tianyu Fu of China will join her in the final. Italy's pocket rocket Arianna Fontana made a very strong bid to join them but just missed out on qualifying. Girlfriend is 16, so just wait!
Skating in the 2nd semi, Allison Baver had a really strong race, sitting in 2nd most of the way behind Yang Zhou. The marvelous Sun-yu Jin accelerated around them all though to take the lead and nudge Allison out of qualifying position. Still shaken up by her fall in the quarters, Kalyna Roberge never seemed to threaten and finished last. So North American ladies are finished now with the 1000-meters.
Posted by noelle at 10:06 AM | Comments (5)
Live-blogging Worlds day 3 - 1000m quarter finals
Men's quarters: Wake me up when something interesting happens! I am missing the video... FLT made it out easy in his 1000m quarter to earn a ticket to the semis. Kinda weird to see European champ Nicola Rodigari finish last in that race but they're all strong skaters at this point.
Yikes, things just got a little interesting for my tastes, I'm awake now. Jordan Malone was coasting along, it appeared, in the lead in a rather icky heat (Ahn and Hu Ze)... all the scoreboard tells us now is that Hu is the apparent winner. And it's on to the next race, so who knows what happened. [update] WHEW! CSB was way wrong. Ahn won and Jordan made it out in 2nd. Hu did not qualify so not sure what CSB was on about originally.
Charles Hamelin joins Flou in the semis. Surprisingly, Kyung-taek Song is out but perhaps he will be advanced; there was a DQ. Yes, he is advanced. Man, 2 of 3 Korean guys had hard trips to the semis today.
AAO, Olivier Jean, Ye Li AND Byeong-Jun Kim - what a lineup! Apolo wins this thing, despite what looks like a hiccup late in the race, and Jean and Kim seem to trade places at the last second - Jean winds up 2nd and Kim last. Hope that was all clean. But no. Olivier, Olivier (that was a weird movie, btw)... I was afraid of this. He has attained the dubious distinction of being disqualified in every event this weekend. What a sensational season he's had but the overall lack of experience is catching up with him.
women's quarters: Allison Baver is up first in a pretty tough quarter - looks like she led wire to wire, and finished 2nd to move on to the semis. Good girl! Kalyna Roberge ran into trouble, falling early in the same heat and finishes a full minute off the pace. We'll have to see if the refs make a call there... uh oh. From Peggy Aitken: "Kalyna just fell and is holding her arm and shoulder." Sure hope she is ok!
[update] Kalyna is ok. Chinese skater was disqualified and Kalyna advanced to the semis.
Amanda Overland is next. Must be tough to skate right after your teammate has a mishap. Dang, Amanda is 3rd.
Man, Italy's Arianna Fontana is a great little skater, I hope she keeps improving and challenging the big girls. She's only 16 so she should... and she's off to the semis, with Byun. In general, it's just nice to see more Europeans doing well this season.
Posted by noelle at 9:26 AM | Comments (5)
Live-blogging Worlds day 3 - 1000m prelims & heats
Men's heats: Heat 3 - Feel free to move up a bit, Charles Hamelin. There's a fellow. He finishes first, B. Kim is 2nd. FLT makes it 2 for 2 for the Canajuns.
Jordan Malone is first up for the USA and gets an easy win. This should be a good day for him, it's a strong distance for him as it is for AAO. Just stay on your feet, kid!
And now it's Ohno's turn! Man, you'd never know he took the season off, I love it. Although I could really thank him to move up into qualifying position already. Is he waiting for the last lap again? Yep! It's just hard to know for sure with CSB, but Apolo wins the heat in the end and that's what we care about...
And with Olivier Jean's win, all remaining North American guys survive to skate another race.
Women's heats: They're picking top 2 plus 2 fastest 3rds... Man, I hope CSB isn't down because this seems like the longest ice resurface ever otherwise. Disadvantage to Kimberly Derrick skating in heat 1. She'll have to wait to see if her time of 1:35.420 holds up, but it probably won't since everyone knows what to beat now. *fingers crossed*
Anne Maltais looked to be safely through in 2nd, but no she's 3rd with a slower time than KD, 1:37.523.
Go Amanda Overland! This is your distance too. Excellent job... and Kimberly's time is holding up so far. Kalyna Roberge follows in the next heat. Looked like she was going to skate away with it, but she's 2nd. I was really beginning to wonder about Evgenia Radanova, sitting in 4th the whole time but she powered to the lead in the final lap, it looks like.
Bummer... Kimberly's time won't hold up, so she's eliminated. We had to wait for the final heat to see Allison Baver make it safely out to the quarterfinals.
Prelims below the jump
Men's prelims: Twelve heats to get through in round 1. Top 2 qualify plus 4 fastest 3rd place finishers... Not surprised they started early today; Sunday is always the longest day at Worlds. Olivier Jean had an effortless trip through. I was really hoping for the Israeli skater to make it out in the same heat, but no such luck. Speaking of Israel, anyone know what became of Denis Zaslavsky? I loved that guy.
Charles Hamelin, just hanging out at the back of the pack, biding his time till 2 laps to go. And wins. Now Jordan Malone is up. This race should not be a problem. If CSB had actually shown it to us! Hmph. So is it my imagination or are they re-running heat 7 (Rodigari)?
Yay, they're showing AAO's heat! He's sort of pulling a Hamelin, which is really an Ohno, and makes it up front by the final lap or two. How cool is it that there is a skater called Aslan in this race? Go Kazakh lion! Hm. The lion sleeps tonight - he comes in last.
Yikes, at the end I thought Anthony Lobello had this one! He's 3rd... that time looks like it could be good enough to qualify him as one of the 4 fastest thirds... let's hope so. [update] Sadly, Anthony did not make it out... Jordan's result is now up - he won his heat in one of the faster winning times posted so far.
Hey, Felipe de Souza is back! I saw him make Brazil's short track debut a few seasons back. Super nice guy. As is Kiwi skater Blake Skjellerup, but no way is his 3rd place time going to be good enough for him to advance, methinks. And Blake is DQ'ed, so it's a moot point. I hope they advance Felipe.
Just like all the Israeli skaters are Russian, all the Romanian skaters are Hungarian. Zsolt Istvan Pataki - it doesn't get more Magyar than that! Francois-Louis Tremblay wins handily against an all Eastern bloc field...
Women's prelims: Darn it, I'm late again and have missed half the women's preliminary heats. They always monkey around with the published schedule at worlds without telling us back home... But I am happy to see that Allison Baver, Amanda Overland and Anne Maltais are all safely through so far. Yay, Kimberly Derrick is also through, as one of the fastest 3rd place finishers; Kalyna Roberge won this same heat.
Posted by noelle at 6:43 AM | Comments (20)