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January 12, 2008
Junior World Short Track Championships, day 2
Report courtesy of Mike Kooreman:
Today, the start positions in the 500m were in alphabetical order. We were told that they were random but I would like to see the odds on something like that actually happening. Countries like us, Ukraine and Russia had the outside lane in every race and countries like Austria, Australia and Canada had inside lanes. This was brought to the attention of the Head Official and the meet organizers but it was explained to us that this was just the luck of the draw. Okay.
Ladies 500m
In the 500m prelims, Erin Bartlett and Skylar McCormick skated strong races but were unable to make the necessary moves to get into qualifying position. Great skating though
- they fought all of the way to the line. Alyson Dudek had a great start that put her into 2nd where she stayed for the length of the race.
In the heats, Alyson skated fast but ended up in 3rd place. Fortunately, her race was one of the fastest races and she qualified for the quarter-finals based on time.
For her quarter-final Alyson was matched up against the top Korean and Chinese skaters. Starting from lane 3, she had her work cut out for her. After the start she was in 3rd place. With two laps remaining she set up an incredible pass on the Chinese skater, skating two consecutive 9.2 second laps (the fastest laps skated in the ladies' races today).
From where I was standing she was in front of the Chinese skater by the center of the straightaway but for some reason that skater stood straight up, implying that Alyson was impeding. Well, the refs bought it and Aly was DQed. Too bad - she looked to be one of the fastest girls racing today. Maybe that is just my personal opinion but I wasn't the only one there today who found the call incorrect.
Alyson ended up 18th, Skylar was 35th and Erin finished in 37th.
Men 500m
No outside lanes were going to hold back our men today. They may have all started on the outer lane but the worst position any of them had after the start was 2nd. They all qualified out of their prelims without a challenge.
Kyle Uyehara and J.R. Celski won their heats without a problem. They were turning some heads skating sub-9 second laps on slow ice without even swinging an arm.
Walter Rusk on the other hand had a stroke of bad luck. He won the start uncontested but a couple of skaters behind him went down (possibly after the apex but that's not my call to make). On the restart, Walter clicked blades with someone, sending him down. I guess the starter saw no interference so the race wasn't called back and Walter was done skating 500s for the rest of the day. After the race we realized one of his blades was broken. Luckily he had a new pair with him.
In the quarter-finals, Kyle looked good but couldn't make a move into the top two spots to qualify for the semi-final. J.R. made some smooth passes to win his quarter, earning himself a spot in the semis.
In J.R.'s semi-final race he was matched up against the skaters with the two fastest times from the quarter-finals, including Han-Bin Lee, who set the Junior World Record. Technically, J.R. looked strong, smooth, and efficient, but the Japanese and Korean skaters in front of him were skating tight tracks and very close together . He just couldn't find a way past them. He ended up 3rd across the line.
Overall, J.R. was 5th, Kyle was 10th, and Walter was 25th.
Congratulations to our friends from the North . Canada's Guillame Blais DuFour and Marianne St-Gelais won a silver and a bronze medal today.
Relay
If you like short track because of the passing, our men's semi-final was a race for you. There were not many laps without exciting passes. Again, on Walter's first exchange, he made an incredible move to take the lead, skating an 8.5 second lap (the fastest of any men today
and he did it on brand-new blades).
On Kyle and Walter's final exchange, all three leading teams got jumbled up going into the corner, sending the U.S. Men's team out to the boards. They recovered quickly but there were too few laps left in the race to catch back up and get into qualifying position for the final. It's too bad because they are skating great right now. The good thing is that they know how well they are skating and are looking forward to tomorrow's races!
Posted by noelle at 1:07 PM | Comments (12)
January 11, 2008
Junior World Short Track Championships, day 1
Many thanks to Mike Kooreman for this report from Bolzano, Italy, where the U.S. team had a successful first day of competition!
Ladies 1500m
Erin Bartlett, Skylar McCormick and Alyson Dudek all skated great races in their heats and qualified for the quarterfinals. Erin and Skylar skated well in the quarter-finals but were unable to move on. Alyson kept herself in a good position throughout the race and moved on to the semi finals with ease. Again in the semi final, Alyson maintained a good position throughout most of the race but couldn't match the speed of the Korean and Italian skaters in the last few laps of her race.
Alyson finished 15th in the 1500m. Erin and Skylar were 26th and 27th.
Men 1500m
In the heats Walter Rusk was disqualified for impeding with 5 laps to go. Kyle Uyehara and J.R. Celski moved on easily. In the quarterfinals, Kyle skated a great race with impressive passing to move on to the semi finals. J.R. and the Korean skater in his race skated away from the rest of the pack on the last couple of laps and moved on to the semis.
In the semis, Kyle was skating a perfect race until he was slammed into by the Japanese skater in his race who was trying to take Kyle's lead position. No one fell, but the bad pass sent Kyle way behind the pack. The Japanese skater was DQed and Kyle was advanced to the final.
J.R. stayed in the back of the pack for most of his semi until the Korean skater in his race started to attempt an outside pass on the entire pack. When J.R. saw this happening he quickly made a move on the inside of the entire pack. The two of them maintained their 1, 2 positions for the remainder of the race.
In the final, Kyle put himself in a good position for most of the race until he was overpowered by the Korean team as they began their sprint for the finish. J.R. stayed relaxed throughout the entire race, saving energy for some explosive passing at the end of the race. On the final lap he made an incredible pass on the top Canadian skater and set out in hot pursuit of the Korean men who had a large gap on him. In an impressive last lap he reeled them in but was unable to make a move at the line. He finished fourth, barely missing out on a podium finish.
J.R. finished in 4th, Kyle was 6th, and Walter tied for last due to his DQ in the Heat.
Relays
The women fought hard but were unable to qualify for the semifinals, finishing 3rd in their heat. The men had no problem making it out of their heats. In the quarterfinal, Walter made a nice move to take the lead on his first exchange. The team held the lead for a majority of the race until the Korean team caught up and moved into to the lead. The U.S. men finished 2nd and will face China, France and Russia in their semifinal race tomorrow night.
For the official results check out: http://www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/ShortTrack/
Also, be sure to check out Skylar McCormick's blog about her and her teammates' experiences in Bolzano.
Posted by noelle at 3:37 PM | Comments (5)