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February 16, 2008
Jerry Search photos from SLC
Thanks to Jerry for sharing these amazing photos with us! He'll be posting the rest of his SLC photos very soon (by March 1, if not earlier) on his site.
Posted by noelle at 9:11 AM | Comments (17)
February 12, 2008
Day 2 photos from Stepho
Lots of terrific action shots here! http://picasaweb.google.com/stephannie/SLCWorldCupDay2
Posted by noelle at 8:10 PM | Comments (25)
February 11, 2008
Day 3 press roundup
Video on demand from WCSN: (lots more available at WCSN.com)
Ohno impresses in 1000m final | Wang breaks 500m WR | 1000m silver for Reutter
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Morning News)
Deseret Morning News | Ohno back on top of world
Only Seung-hoon Lee survived that carnage in the final and was there to challenge Ohno. But skating a tactical final lap, Ohno held onto the inside edge and looked as though he had to push aside Lee's hand on the final turn to prevent being interfered with himself."That's my favorite," he said of having a battle with a single competitor for the final few laps after the crash. "One on one, I like that better."
"I'll be ready for [the World Championships]," Jeff Simon said while his arm was in a sling to protect the broken left collarbone. "Even though I didn't have a lot of wins, I skated really, really well and got a lot of valuable experience. I'll be there."
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Morning News)
Salt Lake Tribune | Ohno strikes gold in 1,000
Canadian Press | Francois Hamelin sprints to short track speed skating World Cup bronze
Si-bak Sung lowered the world record to 41.051 in the semifinals. Francois Hamelin held the previous mark at 41.066 set earlier this season at team trials in Calgary.''I'm very pleased to win the medal," said Hamelin, who made his career World Cup debut last weekend in Quebec City. ''I wasn't necessarily going for the win but I knew I was capable of getting on the podium. A world record was something I was proud to have, it was a nice bonus for me."
AP | Collision clears way for Apolo Anton Ohno in 1,000
Posted by noelle at 4:46 PM | Comments (13)
February 10, 2008
Results from SLC, day 3
USA medal haul! 1000m gold for Apolo, 1000m silver for Katherine, relay bronze for the ladies. Well done, team USA!!
South Korea's Lee Seung-Hoon, United States' Apolo Anton Ohno and South Korea's Lee Ho-Suk celebrate on the podium after the men 1,000 meter short track World Cup final race Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah. Ohno won, Seung-Hoon took second and Ho-Suk third. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
I finally got to check out WCSN's live video feed tonight on the final day in SLC, and I was loving it! I may never have to leave home to watch short track again, if they keep this up. Lots of disappointments and too many serious injuries - hated to see Sun-yu Jin taken off the ice on a stretcher but at least she was back, hobbling, to receive her gigantic check as the 2007-08 1000m ladies' champion. it sounds as though poor Jeff Simon broke his collarbone when he crashed in his 500m quarter final too. Heal well and quickly, everyone!
Is it me, or are the Canadians really struggling lately? It's rather unsettling.
Some standout races for me (according to some scribbles I made while glued to WCSN) were Simon Cho's 500m quarter final, Katherine Reutter's 1000m quarter and final, and Apolo Ohno's 1000m quarter (and how about that final? Wow!). It will be fun to re-watch them on demand later. But overall, I think the best moment for me was when the camera showed Evgenia Radanova quietly sobbing with joy in the heat box after her 500m victory became official.
Bulgaria's Evgenia Radanova celebrates her gold medal win in the ladies 500 meter short track World Cup final race Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
500m #2 A final - women
1. RADANOVA Evgenia BUL 43.769
2. FU Tian Yu CHN 43.838
3. LIU Qiuhong CHN 44.191
4. ZHAO Nannan CHN 1:06.533
500m #2 A final - men
1. SUNG Si-Bak KOR 41.160
2. KWAK Yoon-Gy KOR 41.256
3. HAMELIN Francois CAN 41.371
4. HAN Jialiang CHN 41.440
Canada's Francois Hamelin celebrates on the podium after the men 500 meter short track World Cup race Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah. He finished third. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
500m #2 B final - men
1. DE DEYNE Wim BEL 42.213
2. TAKAMIDO Yuzo JPN 43.885
3. CHO Simon USA 46.902
4. KEPKA J.P. USA 48.616
1000m A final - women
1. WANG Meng CHN 1:31.080
2. REUTTER Katherine USA 1:31.266
3. YANG Shin-Young KOR 1:31.786
4. ZHOU Yang CHN 2:06.760
1000m B final - women
1. DERRICK Kimberly USA 1:41.825
2. BORODULINA Tatiana AUS 1:41.873
The two skaters actually made a nice little race of this one, and the crowd got into it, cheering on Kimberly.
Kimberly Derrick and Tatiana Borodulina - REUTERS/George Frey (UNITED STATES)
1000m A final - men
1. OHNO Apolo Anton USA 1:27.137
2. LEE Seung-Hoon KOR 1:27.223
3. LEE Ho-Suk KOR 1:49.650
4. HAMELIN Charles CAN 1:51.758
This was one of the wilder finals I can remember ever seeing!
Apolo Anton Ohno Lee Seung-Hoon skate in the men's 1000m finals at the ISU world cup short track speed skating in Kearns, Utah, February 10, 2008. REUTERS/George Frey (UNITED STATES)
1000m B final - men
1. SUI Bao Ku CHN 1:28.931
2. ZHANG Zhiqiang CHN 1:28.969
DQ MALONE Jordan USA
Women's 3000m relay A final
1. KOREA 4:09.938
2. CHINA 4:09.981
3. UNITED STATES 4:13.793
DQ CANADA
Team United States celebrates on the podium after the ladies 3,000 meter relay short track World Cup race. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
Men's 3000m relay A final
1. KOREA 6:43.882
2. CHINA 6:48.634
3. GREAT BRITAIN 6:52.540
4. RUSSIA 7:00.736
So refreshing to see the GBR team up there on the relay podium! Too bad the Korean men didn't get their relay world record after all...
Team Great Britain celebrates on the podium after the men 5,000 meter relay short track World Cup final race Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah. The team finished third. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
Men's 3000m relay B final
1. CANADA 6:45.084
2. JAPAN 6:48.965
3. FRANCE 6:49.652
4. UNITED STATES 6:55.690
Posted by noelle at 10:50 PM | Comments (25)
Day 3 observations from SusanG
The news dearest to hearts on the OZ, Apolo Ohno won gold in the 1000m. You've read the news summary from the 1500m race. Today in the quarter finals, Ohno beat Lee Ho Suk, holding off a fierce attack throughout the last laps. In the semifinals Ohno beat Lee Ho Suk again, holding the lead. In the finals were Lee Ho Suk, Lee Seung, Charlie Hamelin and Ohno.
The Koreans started out early to try and take the 1 & 2 positions, setting up a wall. But Charlie was having none of that. He repeatedly passed into 2nd place. Ohno made a big outside pass around them all to take the lead. Ho Suk and Charlie went down in the turn and Seung pushed Ohno hard to the finish line but wasn't able to do the job. The evidence shows that put Ohno with any one Korean and he will win. Give it up for The Man!
The Chinese were giving just as good as the Koreans this weekend. Just ask Simon Cho. Cho skated very well showing great speed and agility. But when one of the Canadians literally went airborne coming out of the turn, Simon got a shove from the Chinese skater he was passing into 2nd position. Not called, but then "That's short track." In one of the women's 1000m races today Katherine Reutter and a Korean were up against 2 Chinese girls. The Korean girl started to ramp up the speed but tangled with one of the Chinese girls, who was subsequently DQ'ed. The Korean girl was carried off on a stretcher.
My 2nd favorite moment of the evening was Evgenia Radanova, age 30!, holding off two young Chinese girls for the 500m gold medal. What great race! All the racing today was outstanding, by everyone. It was the sort of day that makes short track addicts.
Lastly for other comments here: Allison Baver missed skating a 1000m qualifying race due to TWO reassignments to different heats. The coaches got the info on the first heat change, gave it to Baver and discussed the race. 22 minutes before the race the officials reassigned her to a third heat. By the time the sheets were posted it was time for the race. The other girls had already been in that heat and knew they were expected on the ice. Baver's teammates told her of the change, she and her coach tried to beat their way around a nailed down fence and a big machine.
She called out to the race officials to let her go around and put on her skates, but hey "That's short track." Long track evidently has a time limit before the race in which the officials can reassign a skater to a new heat. Short track doesn't. I see a new ISU rule coming on this one. Baver has been out with an injury/illness and missed the entire preseason training. She began skating again three weeks before Nationals. The girl earned her bronze medal in the 1500 this weekend. Give up for courage and persistence!
Katherine Reutter needs no further comments. She's a great, great skater with tremendous endurance who doesn't yield the track to anyone. Two silvers! They're going to start planning strategy around you Katherine!
Our team overall looks the strongest of the 6 years that I've followed the sport. There were numerous World Records broken this weekend. The speeds out there are amazing! To qualify, any skater is going to need to train intensively... how I wish the USA skaters had the financial support that allows the Koreans and Chinese to train without the demands our young people face. The performance of every person out there is remarkable given the challenges they face for our small sport.
Posted by noelle at 10:43 PM | Comments (6)
Day 2 press roundup
WCSN | SLC Photo Gallery
Douglas C. Pizac, Associated Press
Deseret Morning News | After a 'bad year,' Baver pleased with bronze medal
February has been anything but a good month for Allison Baver. Battling injuries, illness and having been forced to take nearly a year off training to deal with a heart problem, Baver — one of the most experienced and familiar skaters on the U.S. short track speedskating team — didn't need any more bad news."It's been a bad year," Baver said. "My grandmother died this week and mentally, going into this competition, I was really distracted."
Her third-place finish almost didn't happen, though. It took the disqualification of two other skaters in the finals to help her move into third behind fellow American Katherine Reutter. But she's not complaining, especially after what happened to her in the 1,000 qualifying rounds on Friday.
Just minutes before she was to skate, the race officials juggled the starting lists — leaving Baver on the outside begging the judges to wait just a minute for her to put her skates on and join the heat she was suddenly scheduled to compete in.
"I'm really angry about it," Baver, who said she will fight during the offseason to change the rule that allows race officials to make schedule changes less than an hour before the race begins, said. "I came here with the right to represent my country in that race and II feel that right was taken away from me."
Salt Lake Tribune | Ohno cut off at pass, places third in 1,500
Ho-Suk Lee cut Ohno off on the final straightaway and the veteran pulled up to avoid a disqualification. Ohno had to settle on a third place finish while Seung-Hoon Lee took home the gold medal."I don't want to complain about the referee because that wouldn't do anything," said Jae Su Chun, who coaches Ohno. "That kind of move is a strategy that the Korean and Chinese use often."
Deseret Morning News | Simon says: Ohno is the man; he may be, too
Exactly how the first Jeff Simon and the made-for-TV Ohno comparisons came about were entirely my fault. I contacted U.S. Speedskating officials and told them I didn't want to do another AAO column; I'd been doing them since 2001. I wanted to do a column on the next Ohno, which, admittedly, is like asking to do a story on the next Aretha Franklin.
Canadian Press | Canada's Charles Hamelin wins gold at short track speed skating World Cup
AP | South Korea's Lee wins men's short-track 1,500 at World Cup meet
Not related to the World Cup, but interesting all the same:
Long Beach Press-Telegram | SoCal skaters up to speed
Posted by noelle at 8:19 AM | Comments (35)
Results from SLC, day 2
How about this for an improvement on Quebec City? Day 1 in SLC saw 5 American skaters reach A finals, including 3 podium finishes: 1500m silver for Katherine Reutter, 1500m bronze for the 2nd week in a row for Allison Baver, and 1500m bronze as well for Apolo Ohno. Congratulations, USA skaters!
1500m A final - ladies
1. ZHOU Yang CHN 2:17.162
2. REUTTER Katherine USA 2:17.349
3. BAVER Allison USA 2:20.030
4. LIU Qiuhong CHN 2:26.301
DQ SAKURAI Biba JPN
DQ JUNG Eun-Ju KOR
Kimberly Derrick was eliminated in her semifinal.
1500m A final - men
1. LEE Seung-Hoon KOR 2:13.922
2. LEE Ho-Suk KOR 2:14.072
3. OHNO Apolo Anton USA 2:14.252
4. LEVEILLE Charles Ryan USA 2:14.326
5. ZHANG Zhiqiang CHN 2:14.363
6. SILOVS Haralds LAT 2:14.967
Jordan Malone was eliminated in his semifinal.
500m #1 A final - ladies
1. WANG Meng CHN 43.266
2. ZHAO Nannan CHN 43.748
3. BORODULINA Tatiana AUS 43.899
4. FU Tian Yu CHN 43.904
China's Zhao Nannan (L), China's Wang Meng (C) and Australia's Tatiana Borodulina celebrate on the podium after the women 500 meter short track World Cup final race Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Lana Gehring was eliminated in her quarter final.
500m #1 A final - men
1. HAMELIN Charles CAN 41.205
2. SUNG Si-Bak KOR 41.226
3. TERAO Satoru JPN 41.568
4. KEPKA J.P. USA 42.158
Jeff Simon was disqualified in his semifinal.
In the relays, the USA women finished 2nd in their semifinal to move on to today's A final, where they'll take on Korea, China and Canada. The men didn't fare as well, finishing third in their semi. They'll face France, Canada and Japan in the B final.
Stepho sends these details about yesterday's races:
500m
quarters
* Lana started in the 4th spot, and made it to the first corner also in 4th, and she tried, but couldn't manage to get around them throughout
* Jeff made an incredible pass to the front to easily finish first in his heat
* JP led from the start for a great lead. He had a small stumble with 1/2 lap to go, but held on to move on. Steve Robillard was in this heat and seemed to be struggling a bit.
Semis
*Jeff had an amazing-looking race. He passed into 1st with 1 lap to go in front of Charles Hamelin, but cut the corner a bit too close. He finished in the 1st spot, but got DQed
*JP was running in 3rd for all of his race, but got 2nd right at the line by 2/1000ths of a second
Final
* JP started in the 4th position, and came out in 4th at the first turn. He couldn't get around for the rest of the race.
* Charles Hamelin had an amazing pass to the front spot, and held on to first. It was a sweet race to watch him do
1500m
Semi
* Allison - in her race, skaters from China and Japan went out really fast, but couldn't hold on the lead. Allison stayed at the front of the rest of the skaters, and after the two out front faded, she held on for 2nd
* Kimberly came in 5th in her heat. This was a brutal heat all around.
* Katherine had a stumble in the 1st corner. With 8 to go, she passed to the front and finished in front. Also in her race, Jin from Korea went down in a crash of 3 with 3 laps to go
* Charles Ryan started in 2nd, and pulled ahead to 1st with 3 laps to go.
* Apolo started in the back again like normal. At 7 laps to go, he moved into 4th position, and with 1.5 to go, he moved into 1st
* Jordan came in 5th in his heat - he seemed to stumble with 1 to go, and this was a really rough semi heat.
Final
* Allison finished in the 5th spot, but placed 3rd due to a double disqualification.
* Katherine pulled into the 1st spot with 8 to go, and stayed up at the front for a 2nd place finish
* Apolo stayed near the back for a long time, and stated to pass up with around 3 to go. In the final laps, he seemed to be trying to pass on the inside, but couldn't seem to find a spot.
* Charles Ryan led for a fair bit of the beginning of the race, and then finished up in the 4th spot
* All 6 Canadians in this event (women and men) skated the B final.
Relays
*The women's race was great - they passed into the 2nd spot with 15 laps to go, and held positions from there
* The mens team had a fall early in the race, and them spent most of it trying to catch up. They were going amazingly fast - Jordan said they tied the American record, even with the fall, but didn't manage to catch up. Apolo skated the last 3 laps instead of the last 2, gritting his teeth to
catch up. They went from 3/4 of a lap down to about 1/4 down. Amazing effort
* The Canadian men's team had a similar situation to the American men's team - had a fall, and a bad tag in the fall, so they couldn't make up the gap that had been created. Amazing effort though. It should be interesting to see them face off tomorrow.
Posted by noelle at 7:59 AM | Comments (3)