Ohno Zone

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November 3, 2007

More photos from Kobe

Junko has shared some more of her great shots with us!

men's 1000m #2 podium

men's relay podium

women's relay podium

Ryan, Shani, Kimberly

Canuck men

Satoru Terao with Kimo Spencer

women's 500m podium

Posted by noelle at 4:19 PM | Comments (10)

November 1, 2007

Photos from Kobe

The globe-trotting Junko was in Kobe over the weekend for World Cup #2 and she was nice enough to share some of her photos with us. Enjoy!

1000m #1 men's A final

women's 1500m B final (including Kimberly Derrick, 2nd from left)

Ahn on the jumbotron

Francois-Louis Tremblay

men's 1500m B final (including Ryan Bedford on far left)

Posted by noelle at 9:52 PM | Comments (12)

October 31, 2007

Thanks to ocgirl for the link!

The Park Record | Welcoming winter with the stars

There may not have been any ballroom dancing at the 27th annual Jans Winter Welcome, held at the Silver Lake Lodge in Deer Valley on Saturday night, but the speedskaters still took center stage.

Olympic gold medallist Derek Parra led the festivities, serving as master of ceremonies for the fundraiser's main event, the live auction.

Fellow gold-medal winner Eric Heiden did his part, contributing a unique package, which gave the highest bidder the chance to train like a Tour de France star.

But the bonified star of the evening was speedskater and Dancing With the Stars winner Apolo Ohno, who made his first-ever appearance at the affair. Ohno said he came as a guest to observe what the evening was all about and orient himself to Park City.

Posted by noelle at 1:27 PM | Comments (18)

October 30, 2007

Video from Kobe

Race clips from World Cup #2 are up on YouTube, thanks to lick10 and Melissa!

Here's the link.

Posted by noelle at 8:21 PM | Comments (1)

October 29, 2007

World Cup #2 news articles

I haven't seen any video yet, but there are a lot of great photos from Kobe on the ISU web site!

Korea Times | Koreans Sweep Short Track Golds

The Province | Four medals for Canada in short track

Charles Hamelin threw cold water on the theory that the Koreans work together to help a designated teammate win a race. "They raced like that more three, four years ago, but now they (all) want to win," he said in a telephone interview after his third place finish in Saturday's 1,000 metres. "Now they will not pull the race for another guy or try to block people to not let him pass another Korean. We haven't seen that for the past three years."

Montreal's Amanda Overland became the first Canadian woman to take an individual podium this season, finishing third in the 1,000 metres. Overland clocked 1:37.230, trailing Korean's Sun-Ju Jin, 1:36.268, and Shin-Young Yang, 1:36.293. "I'm very pleased," said Overland. "I tried to control the race as much as possible, but the Koreans got me a little bit. Still, I stayed with it until the end."

The Province | Canadians battle flu, Koreans

"The ice here is slow and I didn't feel very comfortable," Charles Hamelin, who placed third behind two Koreans in last week's 1,500 at the season opener in Harbin, China, said in a conference call early Saturday morning. "I had trouble executing what I wanted to do. I was also sick all week and that really wore me out. So, all things considered, my result is pretty good."

Canada's top female hope, Kalyna Roberge of Ste-Etienne-de-Lauzon, Que., withdrew in the quarterfinals because of back spasms.

China Daily | Fresh Wang leads short-track skaters

"Now I'm the veteran on the team, so I want to do my best in each race to encourage my young teammates with my fighting spirit," said the 22-year-old Meng Wang. "I will think more before I do things. I hope to set a good example for my fellow skaters."

At the World Cup series stop in Harbin last weekend, Wang claimed three gold medals in the women's 500m, 1,000m and 3,000m relay, winning all the events she took part in and beating her arch-rival, South Korean Jin Sun-yu.

Wang's performance was highly praised by officials, as well as coach Li Yan. "She's the key member of the team. Her spirit in the races has set a good example and she acted as a stabilizing force for the team."

Li's comment confirmed Wang's leadership role on the team and also helped ease the tensions still simmering from the conflict earlier in the year.

Posted by noelle at 7:39 PM | Comments (20)