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September 29, 2007

American Cup 1 day 1 results

This just in from Midland...

Ladies 1500M Final (partial)
1. Katherine Reutter
2. Lana Gehring
3. Kimberly Derrick
4. Mary Grace

Men 500M Final
1. Jeff Simon
2. Jordan Malone
3. J.P. Kepka
4. Travis Jayner

Ladies 1500M Final
1. Kimberly Derrick
2. Katherine Reutter
3. Lana Gehring
4. Mary Grace
5. Maria Garcia
6. Lezleigh Jaworski

Mens 1500M Final
1. Ryan Bedford
2. Jeff Simon
3. Jordan Malone
4. Charles Ryan Leveille
5. Shani Davis
6. Travis Jayner

Congratulations especially to Katherine, Jeff, Kimberly and Ryan! Additional results available on the American Cup 1 web site.

Posted by noelle at 3:46 PM | Comments (10)

September 28, 2007

Bay City Times | Izy and Apolo will miss area skating meet

Alex Izykowski is going to have to sit this one out.

Lower back and hip pain will keep the 2006 Olympic bronze medal relayer out of the Dow American Cup I Short Track Speedskating Championship two-day event that gets under way at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Midland Civic Arena.

''I'm in town, but I'll just be watching,'' Izykowski said Thursday just before leaving his Monitor Township home and heading over to the Midland to see his U.S. team members practice. ''It's been pretty tough. I'm still not sure what's wrong. ''I tried getting back into some training, but my body isn't letting me.''

Get better soon, Izy!!

[update]

Midland Daily News | Short track World Cup bids on the line this weekend at Civic Arena

Former World Cup team members Jordan Malone and Travis Jayner will be competing again this year for spots on the U.S. World Cup men's team.

"The whole team, thanks to our coaches, is really on top right now," said Malone. "Jeff Simon is skating really good. He is one of our younger skaters."

Malone added that he has seen a lot of improvement in Midland's Ryan Bedford. "Ryan is skating fantastic," said Malone.

Jayner, who has been a member of the Midland Speed Skating Club for four years, knows it will be hard to earn a spot on the World Cup team: "This competition is always difficult, because we're racing our teammates and best friends. There are a lot of nerves, and (we're) really anxious."

On the women's side, U.S. National Short Track team members Tina Koenig and Kimberly Derrick head the list of female entrants along with Maria Garcia, who was a member of the 2006 Olympic team.

Koenig, who took first at the 2006 American Cup II, is coming off surgery and is not sure how well she will perform. "I just had surgery done on my ankle and wasn't going to come," said Koenig. "But I talked to my coaches and they decided I really didn't have anything to lose by coming. I am going to skate the best I can, since I am nowhere near 100 percent."

With the return of Garcia to speed skating after a year's absence, Derrick is encouraged with the direction of the U.S. Short Track team. "The girls' competition after the (2006 Olympics) kind of went down," said Derrick. "It is starting to work its way back up, which is a good thing for the 2010 Olympics."

Posted by noelle at 11:58 AM | Comments (9)

September 27, 2007

Training photos from Thursday in Midland

coach Jae Su Chun

Ericka Hawke and Tamara Frederick

Levi Kirkpatrick, Joey Lindsey, Kyle Carr and Barry Winslow

Simon Cho and Ryan Wheeler

National team press conference

Levi Kirkpatrick leading the Marquette group

The Marquette training group

Levi Kirkpatrick and J.P. Kepka

The Marquette group with their new coach, Janos Englert (another Canadian transplant!)

Sadie Grace and Vicky Labourdette

Posted by noelle at 8:55 PM | Comments (6)

Detroit Free Press | U.S. Speedskating has undergone a makeover

"You can feel things changing," [Ryan] Bedford said. "In 2010 we're going to have more than one individual medalist. And in the relay, Apolo said, 'We're going to win gold, no matter what.' He definitely wants revenge. When there's pressure, Apolo feeds off that. He brings a little extra level of intensity to the group whenever he's with us."

Note: Coach Jae feels he was misquoted in the newspaper in terms of his predictions for the U.S. team's results in Vancouver.

Posted by noelle at 8:53 AM | Comments (7)

September 26, 2007

Wednesday practice photos from Midland

Posted by noelle at 10:23 PM | Comments (2)

Video clip: Apolo raises the 12th man flag at Seahawks game

I'm not sure what that means, but we have video of the occasion! Looks like it was a lot of fun. Thanks to Olympia for the link. Click the image to watch:

Posted by noelle at 5:03 PM | Comments (24)

September 25, 2007

Photos from Tuesday practice

You can see more pictures on the Midland Club web site

Posted by noelle at 10:06 PM | Comments (2)

Midland Daily News | Speed skaters ready for action

"Any good role model will help them make good decisions," Adams Elementary first grade teacher Helen Gibbons said of speed skaters Ryan Bedford, right, and Travis Jayner visiting her class on Monday. "It's not just people from somewhere else, but it's people from their hometown that are doing really good," Gibbons said of the skaters, both from Midland, who spent time explaining their sport to Gibbons' students.

Bedford said [Apolo] Ohno has influenced him more off the ice than on it. "I think I have learned more from him when he is not skating," said Bedford. "You see what he is going through and what he has to do as a new celebrity. I see how busy he is."

Bedford sees his stiffest competition for a spot on the World Cup team coming from Travis Jayner, Jordan Malone, Jeff Simon, Shani Davis and J.P. Kepka.

Posted by noelle at 12:50 PM | Comments (13)

September 24, 2007

Monday training photos from Midland

Skaters have begun arriving in Midland, MI and they got on the ice there today for a lighthearted training session in advance of American Cup 1, which gets under way on Saturday. The rest of the skaters and the coaches were stranded in Chicago en route to Midland because the pilot for their flight was apparently AWOL!

Many thanks to the Bedfords for the photos!

Carly Wilson

Travis Jayner, Ryan Bedford and Jordan Malone

Travis Jayner shoots the duck

Ryan Bedford and Jordan Malone getting goofy

Travis and Ryan Charles Leveille

Carly Wilson and Jeff Simon

Posted by noelle at 10:33 PM | Comments (7)

September 23, 2007

'A grand moment in Canadian skating history'

New Brunswick native Jeff Scholten today announced his retirement from short track speed skating. A veteran of the team, Jeff has competed at the national and international levels for many years and is a former world record holder in the 500m. Last year Jeff starred in the T. Rowe Price commercial featuring several Canadian skaters.

Jo Guilmette and Mathieu Turcotte flank Jeff Scholten immediately after his final race

photo by David Gilday

From Speed Skating Canada:

At the end of the competition, Jeffrey Scholten (Fredericton, NB) announced that he was retiring from competition. The crowd was behind him for the final race of his long speed skating career, which he won. “I was stressed before the race, knowing it was my last, but the crowd’s energy and cheering gave me what I needed to have a good last race. I’ve always had good success in Calgary, so I wanted to finish my career here”, said an emotional Scholten shortly after his good-bye race.

Writes Davild Gilday: "The officials, the skaters, and the crowd gave Jeff a great ovation to the start the race. It was a grand moment in Canadian skating history."

Thanks for the memories, Jeff and best wishes!

Posted by noelle at 8:46 PM | Comments (14)

Canadian trials #1 conclude - overall classification

Top 10 men overall:
1. HAMELIN, Charles 2,632
2. ROBILLARD, Steve 1,492
3. MONETTE, Marc-André 1,473
4. BOISVERT-LACROIX, Alex 1,437
5. GIROUX, Mathieu 1,290
6. GILDAY, Michael 1,269
7. MONETTE, Jean-François 1,005
8. GUILMETTE, Jonathan 853
9. TURCOTTE, Mathieu 810
10. BEAULIEU, Rémi 666

Speed Skating Canada officially announced the teams that will take part in the first 4 World Cups of the season:
- Mathieu Giroux
- Alex Boisvert-Lacroix
- Charles Hamelin
- Steve Robillard
- François-Louis Tremblay
- Marc-André Monette
Tremblay could not skate this weekend due to an injury, but he was granted a bye.

Top 10 women overall:
1. ROBERGE, Kalyna 3,000
2. MALTAIS, Anne 2,075
3. VICENT, Tania 1,875
4. OVERLAND, Amanda 1,500
5. LAMBERT, Valérie 1,339
6. DO-DUC, Andréa 1,034
7. GREGG, Jessica 799
8. AVRITH, Nita 754
9. MALTAIS, Valérie 666
10. HEWITT, Jessica 651

Historic achievement by Kalyna Roberge this weekend - according to Speed Skating Canada:

Roberge once again swept all three events this weekend, becoming the first ever Canadian women to win all 9 events in three National Team Selections in a row (NT 1 in Calgary, last fall, Canadian Championships in Sudbury, last winter, and this weekend in Calgary). “Martin [Gagné, her coach] told me before the final that I could become the first to win 9 events in a row in selections, so that really pushed me to skate harder in the final”, explained Roberge. “I felt really tired after the semi-final, but it gave me the little bit of energy I needed.” Even better, she broke the Canadian record in her semi-final race with a time of 1:29.870, skating lower than the World Record (1:30.037).

Women’s team for the first two World Cups (Harbin, Oct. 19-21 and Kobé, Oct. 26-28):
- Kalyna Roberge
- Anne Maltais
- Tania Vicent
- Amanda Overland
- Andréa Do-Duc
- Jessica Gregg

Gregg will be replaced by Valérie Lambert for the 3rd and 4th World Cups (Heerenveen, Nov. 23-25 and Torino, Nov. 30 to Dec. 2).

Congratulations to all the skaters!

Rankings courtesy of patinagevitessecourtepiste.blogspot.com (detailed results from all 3 days available there and the Calgary Olympic Oval web site)

Posted by noelle at 8:21 PM | Comments (3)

Canadian trials day 3 results

Sorry for the late updates... here's the quick and dirty: Charles Hamelin got his win today in the 1000m and thus secured his place on the World Cup team. Kalyna Roberge remained perfect and swept all the distances. Congratulations to all the skaters!

Men's 1000m A final results:
1. Charles Hamelin
2. Marc-Andre Monette
3. Michael Gilday
4. Remi Beaulieu

Highly ranked Steve Robillard and Friday's 1500m winner Mathieu Giroux were eliminated early on with crashes in the 1000m quarter finals.

Women's 1000m A final results:
1. Kalyna Roberge
2. Amanda Overland
3. Tania Vicent
4. Andrea Do-Duc

Earlier:
Heading into the final day of racing, here's how things stand in the overall classification - Boisvert-Lacroix, Giroux and Roberge have assured themselves spots on the World Cup team as a result of their individual distance victories. The remaining team members will be determined later today, but even if he doesn't win today, Charles Hamelin is assured a spot if he remains in 1st overall.

Men top 10 overall after 2 events
1. HAMELIN, Charles - 1,632 points
2. ROBILLARD, Steve - 1,332
3. BOISVERT-LACROIX, Alex 1,241
4. GIROUX, Mathieu 1,160
5. MONETTE, Marc-André 657
6. GILDAY, Michael 603
7. MONETTE, Jean-François 562
8. GUILMETTE, Jonathan 558
8. MCFARLANE, Liam 558
10. TURCOTTE, Mathieu 448

Women top 10 overall after 2 events
1. ROBERGE, Kalyna 2,000
2. MALTAIS, Anne 1,632
3. VICENT, Tania 1,209
3. LAMBERT, Valérie 1,209
5. OVERLAND, Amanda 684
6. GREGG, Jessica 603
7. DO-DUC, Andréa 491
7. HEWITT, Jessica 491
9. KRAUS, Alanna 408
10. AVRITH, Nita 392

Lots more results and info are at patinagevitessecourtepiste.blogspot.com

Posted by noelle at 8:25 AM | Comments (4)