August 26, 2006
Terrific photos from 2006 World Team Championships
Loads of galleries from the World Team Ch. which took place this past March in Montreal. Here are just a few shots - you can see all the galleries here: MondialTeam2006
Takafumi Nishitani (JPN), F-L Tremblay (CAN), Jordan Malone (USA)
Charles Hamelin, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Kalyna Roberge
USA corner: Kyle Carr, Allison Baver, Amy Peterson, Travis Jayner
Photos by Tuan Do-Duc via Montréal-Inter
Posted by noelle at 9:56 AM | Comments (54)
April 5, 2006
More banquet photos
The beautiful Canadian women's team:
Amanda Overland, Alanna Kraus, Kalyna Roberge, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Tania Vicent
photo by Junko
Jordan Malone channels his inner pirate
photo by SusanG
Posted by noelle at 8:45 PM | Comments (21)
April 4, 2006
Minneapolis banquet photos
Top 10 women overall (click to enlarge)
Top 10 men overall (click to enlarge)
The top 10 guys and girls received ipods and digital cameras, I believe!
USA men's relay team: Alex Izy, JP Kepka, Jordan Malone, Anthony Lobello, Rusty Smith
After dinner they passed out these little tubes that glow neon colors when you hook them together. Most skaters accessorized themselves with the tubes, but Ahn and crew hooked a bunch of them together and used it to form a conga line and hog-tie a fellow teammate, but eventually devised the best possible use - gigantic jump ropes.
Skaters who'd already been active non-stop for days then spent several hours jumping in the air! There were double ropes and I kept waiting for them to try double dutch but apparently that's unknown in other countries!
Ahn and teammates jump rope
Who's cuter? It's a tossup as Ahn holds his littlest fan
I am pretty sure I can hear a collective 'awwww!' from the female readers of this blog!
Posted by noelle at 9:40 PM | Comments (60)
Worlds banquet (and the end of an era!)
Team USA at the banquet in Minneapolis - weird not to have Apolo in there!
Tina Koenig, Rusty Smith, Allison Baver, Chris Shroer, Jordan Malone, Tricia Stennes, Alex Izykowski, Jimmy Jang, Anthony Lobello, Li Yan, Lezleigh Jaworski, J.P. Kepka, Amy Peterson, Kimberly Derrick, Paul Marchese
The banquet was really nice - it was held in a gorgeous space in McNamara Alumni Center at the Univ. of Minnesota. As usual, they honored the top 10 men and women overall for the competition, as well as the women's and men's relay medalists. More photos to come!
Finishlynx says goodbye
The big news Sunday night was that Finishlynx - the company that runs Cyberscoreboard and Live Cyberscoreboard - announced that they've decided to leave short track. Effective with the end of this season, they'll no longer be providing timing, record-keeping and data management services for the ISU.
This is sad news for all of the fans, friends and family members of skaters who rely on the web sites to keep up with the action at international events. Unless you live in Asia, Cyberscoreboard is the only source for live short track coverage. Finishlynx says they're helping the ISU find a comparable new partner, but right now I have no idea what we're going to do next season or how we'll get results.
Thanks Doug, Hugues, Rich and the rest of the Finishlynx crew for all your service over the years! We'll sure miss you around here...
Posted by noelle at 3:45 PM | Comments (39)
April 3, 2006
Worlds news coverage
CBC | More short track gold for Canada
"We tried a new strategy [in the relay] and it worked like a charm," said Francois-Louis Tremblay. "The strategy was for me to anchor the race well rested. When the final laps came, the Koreans were surprised at my speed and they panicked and cross-tracked all over the place. There's no doubt in my mind if they hadn't cross-tracked, we would have hit the finish line first."
Minneapolis Star Tribune | Short track all work in Korea
AP | South Koreans control short track speedskating worlds
Bay City Times:
Izykowski and Co. travel bizarre bronze medal path
Izykowski beaten by a foot in a game of inches
Whirlwind at Worlds ends on bronze
Posted by noelle at 11:15 PM | Comments (37)
2006 Worlds relay medalists
Chinese, Canadian and Italian women's teams
Chinese, Canadian and American men's teams
Posted by noelle at 7:27 PM | Comments (36)
April 2, 2006
Mens' relay final - gold and bronze for North America!
YEAH! Canada took back the top step of the relay podium with today's final, and the American men showed they've got it going on with their bronze-medal performance -- a very significant accomplishment with not only Apolo Ohno missing, but also Rusty Smith was curiously absent from the final. This has to be a huge confidence booster for the guys! Congratulations to the team of Alex Izykowski, J.P. Kepka, Anthony Lobello and Jordan Malone!
Anthony Lobello, Jordan Malone, J.P. Kepka, Rusty Smith, Alex Izykowski
The Canada-Korea duel was unbelievable to watch. The way they kept stealing the lead back from one another in the closing laps of the race had everyone on their feet and screaming in excitement. The last half lap matchup between Hyun-soo Ahn (or was it Lee? not sure) and Francois-Louis Tremblay was a nail-biter. Tremblay was trying to get around Ahn on the last turn and there was contact between them. They came together to the line and Korea crossed first by a hair.
In addition, Tremblay confirmed in his press conference that the Canadian men busted out their rumored new relay tactics today. He declined to give details of what those tactics were but I don't think it will be any secret to anyone with video of the race. Can't be meant to be a huge secret since coach Guy Thibault kept dropping hints to the press the week before World Teams.
It took the refs ages to sort it all out, but when they made their decision, Korea was disqualified for cross-tracking (the move that prevented Flou's pass at the end) and the North American teams wound up on the podium as a result. I'm not ashamed to say I cheered out loud when the announcemeent came! For me the relay results were the perfect end to the weekend.
I can't forget to mention that Korea went down at the finish line in the women's relay final and Sun-yu Jin got hurt also and was carried off the ice. In the excitement about the good results for Canada and the USA, I want to wish her the best and hope she'll be well soon. Definitely too many bad falls, crashes, injuries this weekend!
The Canadian women finished 2nd in the relay final and they were all smiles collecting their silver medals afterwards. Congratulations to them! Hope they could bring a medal back for the injured Anouk Leblanc-Boucher.
Sun-yu Jin gets checked over after crashing in the final lap of the relay
Posted by noelle at 6:56 PM | Comments (45)
Double bronze for Canada!
Huge cheers and congratulations to Kalyna Roberge and Francois-Louis Tremblay on their third place overall performances in the World Championships this weekend! An awesome result anyway you look at it.
Congratulations to Hyun-soo Ahn for becoming the first skater in history to repeat as World Champion 4 consecutive times!
Men overall: 1. Ahn, 2. Ho-suk Lee, 3. Tremblay
Women overall: 1: Sun-yu Jin, 2. Meng Wang, 3. Roberge
[update] Photos from the overall medalists' ceremonies
Medal ceremony for top 3 men: Ho-suk Lee, Hyun-soo Ahn, Francois-Louis Tremblay
Medal ceremony for the top 3 women overall: Meng Wang, Sun-yu Jin, Kalyna Roberge
Posted by noelle at 5:04 PM | Comments (22)
Anouk Leblanc-Boucher injured
Anouk Leblanc-Boucher is the latest casualty today. She was involved in a crash with Xiaolei Cheng of China during their quarter final race. At first it looked like Cheng hit harder, but Anouk was the one who didn't get up.
photo by Nick Ah Kun
They saw fit to bring a stretcher out for Anouk - whether because her injury was worse or because they got their act together, who knows. Anouk's teammates report that she hurt her ankle pretty bad in the crash and is at the hospital getting x-rays. Get well soon, Anouk!
On the injured skater front, Eric Cheng who had a bad crash yesterday is back skating again today.
Posted by noelle at 3:00 PM | Comments (23)
Worlds day 3 - 1000m prelims & heats
Women's 1000m heats
Everyone is skating great today so far! We had to wait for the final 2 women's heats to see Americans hit the ice, but Allison Baver and Kimberly Derrick both controlled their races well. As with Izy's prelim, Kimberly got passed at the end by Choi of Korea but she had no trouble qualifying to move on to the quarter finals, as did all three Canadian women in their respective heats.
Men's 1000m prelims
Just finished round 1 of the men's 1000m and all our North American guys are through to their next round, as expected.
The announcers said Rusty Smith had a 'perfect race' in his heat, which he did. Alex Izykowski came close to having one too, but for Ho-suk Lee being in his heat. Izy led from the front the whole race and set a fast pace as he did yesterday in his 500m prelim.
Lee insisted on getting by him in the end. When Lee started to make his move, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher's dad sitting behind me start yelling 'Go Izy go!!'
Izy with Lee hot on his heels
By the way, I'm a bit miffed about the helmet covers for the overall leaders. Hyun-soo Ahn and Lee are both wearing the red helmet cover of the overall leader. Francois-Louis Tremblay is tied with them for points and wasn't accorded the honor. Hmph! There may be a reason for it, but without knowing what it is, it doesn't look right!
Posted by noelle at 12:35 PM | Comments (15)
April 1, 2006
Canada comes up big!
Francois-Louis Tremblay successfully defended his 500m World Championship title from last year in Beijing with a big win tonight. He skated a fantastic race and looked super-strong in holding Ahn, Lee and Li at bay. Tremblay looked really happy about this victory! Kalyna Roberge bounced back from her scary crash on day 1 to get bronze behind the near-unbeatable Meng Wang and her teammate Fu. Way to go, Canada!!
A gold-medal smile from Flou for the Ohno Zone
Kalyna Roberge is about to receive her bronze medal
In more continuation of the great sportsmanship we've all been enjoying since Torino in particular, Ahn right away came to congratulate Tremblay on his win.
500m men: Gold - F-L Tremblay, silver - Haonan Li, bronze - Ho-suk Lee
500m women: gold - Meng Wang, silver - Tianyu Fu, bronze - Kalyna Roberge
Congratulations to all the medalists!
[update] After 2 days of competition, there is by my reckoning a three-way tie among Hyun-soo Ahn, Lee and Tremblay for the overall lead. Each skater has 34 points to his name. I'm not sure who will get to wear the overall leader's red helmet cover tomorrow! On the ladies' side, Wang is the leader with 55 points to her credit.
***
The U.S. men did an awesome job in their relay semifinal. They all looked really strong out there. Jordan Malone turned on the jets each time he took the ice, it just seemed like everything sped up when he was out there. Adjusting for Apolo's absence, J.P. Kepka started for the U.S. and Rusty Smith was the anchor. Alex Izykowski rounded out the squad and I hear the team was pretty pleased with their performance. There's a palpable excitement that we'll have a chance to see the guys on the podium tomorrow night! They take on Korea, Canada and China in the final.
Apologies for the lack of updates tonight. I have 5 family members plus assorted friends here tonight, all seeing short track for the first time. I've enjoyed hanging with them in the stands and explaining the action to them -- as well as seeing my nieces and nephew screaming for the USA and Canada and second-guessing the refs' calls like seasoned fans!
***
Additional notes:
- Whenever Charles Hamelin skates, the announcers credit him with being the 500m world record holder, and that his WR time is 41 seconds flat. I know he skated a de facto WR at the Canadian trials... did he set an official one since then?
- Attendance improved noticeably this evening. The arena was far from full, but there were lots more spectators than on Friday or this morning.
- Today they had a proper flag-raising during the medal ceremonies which was a big improvement!
Posted by noelle at 10:54 PM | Comments (38)
Worlds on TV, attendance, new World Cup format
Worlds to be shown on TV
By the way, Worlds is being shown live on TV in Korea (and perhaps somewhere in Europe or China also). I ran into one of the producers Friday morning in the breakfast buffet and he also mentioned that Comcast will show a two-hour program from Worlds in about two weeks or so.
I assume this means you need to be a Comcast Cable subscriber (I am! Whee!) but not really sure at all. The producer suggested calling Comcast to find out when Worlds will be shown. If I find out anything more specific, I'll share it on OZ.
Attendance
A lot of people have asked about the ambiance and the crowds. All those empty seats you see in the background of photos are unfortunately not an illusion. The arena is large and beautiful, but so far mostly empty. Fridays are often poorly attended, and this morning was just the qualifying rounds, so with luck we'll see better attendance tonight and tomorrow.d supportive fashion!
New World Cup format
The ISU is planning to debut a new competition format for the World Cup series starting as soon as next season. The plan was unveiled in a meeting here yesterday during the break between morning and evening race sessions. It's pretty complicated but the general idea is to make World Cups more attractive to spectators, media/TV and participating countries. They would stage all qualifying rounds on Friday to pick an A group of the top 16 skaters. There would be two separate rounds of each distance on Saturday and Sunday, and no more 3000m superfinal or overall rankings.
The days would be shorter than they are now, and a separate B-round of competition would take place to provide countries who don't make the A round more racing opportunities. As it stands now, a lot of skaters skate a preliminary round and then they're done. There's a lot more to it than this but I really can't remember all the details. It's also not finalized - a number of team leaders and coaches raised questions and concerns to tweak the format that was proposed.
Posted by noelle at 6:39 PM | Comments (18)
500m prelims & heats
Allison Baver leads Celine Lecompere and Ikue Teshigawara
Women's heats: Allison Baver looked very strong skating in her 500m heat. She took the lead from the start, got passed, then with 2 laps to go seized it back and stayed in front for the win.
Kimberly Derrick was less fortunate. She was in a field of five skaters and was 5th on the line, putting her behind from the get-go. She just had too much ground to make up and not enough time to do it. Better luck tomorrow!!
Men's prelims: The men skated first this morning since they have an extra round of 500m qualifying. All three of our guys as well as all three Canadians qualified easily.
Alex Izykowski was awesome! The 500m definitely isn't his event and he was 4th off the line but he started like a rocket and had the lead for the first few laps. He was smart in getting it off to quick start as the 8 fastet 3rd-place finishers also move on to the next round. Alex was one of those 8 fastest thirds.
Charles Hamelin got off to a slow start in his race and was stuck in 4th but still effortlessly surged to the front to win. Anthony Lobello got 2nd in the same heat.
Ho-suk Lee pulled off his special brand of magic, moving up from last to win his heat as well, similar to Hamelin, though Lee also capitalized on the mistake of the Bulgarian skater in the next-to-last lap.
Eric Cheng of Chinese Taipei had a bad fall, in the same spot as Kalyna Roberge's last night. He also lay on the ice for at least as long as Roberge did and also had to make his way off the ice, supported by officials. What is up with that?
Eric Cheng hobbles off the ice assisted by refs
Posted by noelle at 12:55 PM | Comments (20)
Worlds news roundup
Minneapolis Star-Tribune | Skater faces next great challenge 'a step at a time'
After finding success in inline and short-track racing, Allison Baver is considering a move to long track. This summer, she will go to Utah to live with and learn from long-track Olympians Jennifer Rodriguez and KC Boutiette.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune | Sharpen up on a sport full of speed, spills
AP | So. Koreans Dominate Short Track's 1st Day
Posted by noelle at 11:02 AM | Comments (19)
A few candids from Friday in Minneapolis
Mathieu Turcotte with new OZer Rosh!
It's great to see new fans and long-timers here too!
Suk-woo Song entertains himself by playing with the Japanese skaters' hair
I think I love Suk-woo Song a little more every day. Please don't retire, Suk-woo! Short track needs more like you...
Anouk was really getting into the 2nd women's relay semi!
Amanda Overland and Anouk Leblanc-Boucher
Some of the American crew takes in the action:
CW from top: J.P. Kepka, Mike Kooreman, Tina Koenig, Jordan Malone, Peggy Aitken, Levi Kirkpatrick, Ryan Bedford
Posted by noelle at 8:53 AM | Comments (25)
Scenes from the 1500m semifinals
It looked like a bit of a free-for-all in this shot!
Meng Wang, Chun-sa Byun, Amanda Overland, Allison Baver, Celine Lecompere
Oh finally gets by Rusty...
But no way is he gonna let Li do the same!
The last few meters of Rusty's 1500m semi final were thisclose
Posted by noelle at 1:08 AM | Comments (36)
Men's 1500m medal ceremony
Rusty gave it everything he had in the men's 1500m final and skated his heart out. Still, the Korean men managed to sweep the medals.
There was a pretty funny moment during the medal ceremony. First bronze medalist Se-jong Oh was called out and he took what he thought was his place in front of the podium. I said to my brother, 'wait a sec, he's standing in the silver medalist's spot!' But by then they'd called Ho-suk Lee up and he took his place in front of the bronze medal step. Suddenly Lee got confused and glanced at Oh. In this photo you can see that Oh's mistake had dawned on him. They got a good laugh over it and swapped spots.
Then Ahn arrived and the officials joined them to hand out the medals. But then the officials were totally confused about who was supposed to be in what spot.
They're in the right spots now, but chief referee Jim Hewish isn't sure who's on first
The 'flag-raising' portion of the medal ceremony is a little unorthodox...
Posted by noelle at 12:54 AM | Comments (20)
March 31, 2006
1500m semifinals
It's a pretty good night for the USA. Allison Baver kicked ass in her semifinal to qualify for the 1500m final tonight. Rusty Smith did likewise in his semi, with a real strong skate that he led most of the way till Oh of Korea passed him. He hung on the last 1/4-lap for the 2nd qualifying position. Way to go!
It's a tough night for Canada without a single male or female skater advancing to tonight's final. Kalyna Roberge had a very scary crash. She along with Marta Capurso and Xiaolei Cheng crashed together. Kalyna slid headfirst into the boards and lay stunned on the ice for several long moments. It seemed like it took ages for medical attention to reach her. Thank goodness she was ok - it seriously looked like it could have been much worse.
Kalyna was at the far end of the rink from the exit point and had to limp all the way down while a member of the Canadian team's support staff escorted her. Seems like they should have had her carried off. It just didn't look right to us spectators. Later I saw her on the sidelines talking and watching the men race, so she seems to be ok, which is a relief!
Kalyna Roberge is escorted off the ice
After a tough night it was good to see Kalyna was ok, sitting in the stands watching the races, and being kept company by these two guys!
Rusty Smith, Kalyna Roberge, Jonathan Guilmette
Posted by noelle at 9:21 PM | Comments (32)
Worlds day 1 - 1500m qualifying
Technical difficulties! For the first time in 4 years I forgot to pack a power adapter for my laptop. For now a kind soul has lent me his but sooner or later he'll need it back...
For now, the ladies 1500m heats are going well. Kimberly and Allison both came through strongly. Allison took the lead with an outside pass with 5 laps to go and never looked back. She crossed the line miles ahead of everybody else.
Whew! Done with men's heats. Bummer about Alex Izy not making it out of his heat. He skated a pretty good race and was in qualifying position most of the time and just got passed in the final lap. It was a pretty exciting race, as was Anthony Lobello's. Anthony and Rusty will both move on to the semis along with Allison and Kimberly.
Update: All the Canadians skated well enough to move on to the semifinals tonight as well.
Allison's mom told me her ankle injury stems from a fall in her very first race at the Olympics. It affected her tendon, which separated from the bone, not giving her sufficient ankle and foot support when she pushes. She's able to skate but tendon injuries heal more slowly than bones so she needs a few months off to rest up -- which she'll fortunately have once this weekend is finished!
I don't know if I'll have laptop power tonight or not at the arena. I can't post any pics (I have some pretty good shots!) till I find an adapter to use.
I got to see Mathieu Turcotte mold Nick and Cassie's feet this afternoon for their new Apex boots. It was pretty fun to see how it works. I'll post some pics on how all that works after I get back home.
Posted by noelle at 1:14 PM | Comments (34)
March 30, 2006
World Championships Schedule & News Roundup
[note:] Race times for all 3 days have been updated below based on Live CSB's posted start times...
Detailed results of every race will be available on Cyberscoreboard. Cyberscoreboard has start lists posted now, although these will be revised after this evening's draw, sometime after 7PM CT, at which time you can check which heat your favorite skater(s) are slated to compete in.
Skating individually for the USA:
Women: Allison Baver, Kimberly Derrick
Men: Alex Izykowski, Anthony Lobello, Rusty Smith
To 'watch' the races in real time, visit Live Cyberscoreboard.
Ad from a Minneapolis newspaper (courtesy Amy L)
Schedule
Friday, March 31
1500m heats and quarter finals
11:15AM - 1:50PM ET
10:15AM - 12:50PM CT
9:15AM - 11:50AM MT
8:15AM - 10:50AM PT
1500m semis, finals and ladies' relay semis
7:30 - 9:15PM ET
6:30 - 8:15PM CT
5:30 - 7;15PM MT
4:30 - 6:15PM PT
Saturday, April 1
500m preliminaries and heats
11:30AM - 1:25PM ET
10:30AM - 12:25PM CT
9:30AM - 11:25AM MT
8:30AM - 10:25AM PT
500m quarters, semis, finals and men's relay semis
7:30 - 9:25PM ET
6:30 - 8:25PM CT
5:30 - 7:25PM MT
4:30 - 6:25PM PT
Sunday, April 2*
1000m, 3000m, relay finals
11AM - 4:05PM EDT
10AM - 3:05PM CDT
9AM - 2:05PM MDT
8AM - 1:05PM PDT
* reminder to move your clocks forward one hour!
***
Katy Kepka and Caroline Hallisey will be selling pens at the Worlds for support of J.P. Kepka.
The pens are handcrafted and in various types of wood some with bands that say 2006 for the Olympic Year and some where the wood is red, white and blue. They have been handcrafted by his father, John.
***
News links
St Paul Pioneer Press | Minnesota native Amy Peterson
Bay City Times | Izy races on for post-Olympic glory
I heard a lot of the Olympians are struggling to feel motivated for Worlds, which is understandable. I'm sure I would just want my season to be over, already.
Some sad news: Are the Worlds cursed? I've heard a report that Japanese skater Satoru Terao had a hard crash in training this week and broke his back. I have no details of his condition beyond that.
Not sure if there is any connection, but other skaters who crashed reported that the pads are hard -- too hard. Why do we see these problems over and over and over again?
Be safe, skaters and get well soon, Satoru!!
Posted by noelle at 3:12 PM | Comments (48)
March 28, 2006
New photos from World Teams
Many thanks to Simon of Montreal for sharing his awesome photos from the World Team Championships! There's a wide variety of American, Canadian and other skaters shown here. View Simon's gallery.
Amanda Overland and Alanna Kraus
Alex Izykowski
And my personal favorite:
Korean men make a statement with flowers. Suk-woo Song is now a bespectacled brunet
Photos by Simon P (puissance007@hotmail.com)
Posted by noelle at 5:21 PM | Comments (52)
March 26, 2006
World Team Championships day 2 (finals)
The Koreans dominated the day, taking both team titles in Montreal. They last pulled off the double in 2004. Last year Canada won the men's title on Korean ice. This year the Koreans took it back on Canadian ice. Canada did however exact a measure of revenge for Torino by winning the men's relay today.
We have a firsthand report on today's action, courtesy of Stephen Gough:
Women's relay: The Canadian women had a bad exchange early on when Tania Vicent tried to pass on the outside from 3rd the turn before the exchange. Anouk Leblanc-Boucher couldn't get out wide enough to complete the exchange.
They wound up chasing for most of the racing, only catching up with 3 or 4 laps to go. Korea sat in 3rd most of the race and only tried to move up on the outside during the last two laps. The Italians were in 2nd until the last 2 laps.
Men's relay: The men's race was very close with Canada and Korea having pulled away from the other two teams. Near the end of the race the Koreans were leading when they fell during an exchange. It would have been a close race the whole way in. The Canadians did not use any new tactics.
Men's 3000m: Ho-Suk Lee and Hyun-soo Ahn were pretty amazing in the 3000m, although credit must be given to Jo Guilmette for a job well done. Both Koreans tried to lap the pack and Jo went with them, essentially preventing them from taking a lap. Eventually the 3 came back to the pack.
Charles Hamelin was pretty strong and took off fast in the closing laps. Lee went after him hard and caught him at the end, only to fall at the 6th block on the final turn. I believe it was a little late, but the gap that he closed (all by the outside of course) was pretty impressive, especially considering the sprinting he had done at the start. Ahn did the same, getting around the pack on the last corner but a ways behind Hamelin and Lee.500m: Hamelin had a great 500m. So did Lee - check out his splits!
A salute to veteran Canadian team member Eric Bedard, who says he may have skated his last competition on Canadian ice: South Koreans edge Canada for short-track title
Overall Results - women:
1. KOR - 40
2. CHN - 38
3. CAN - 26
4. ITA - 14
Overall Results - men:
1. KOR - 39
2. CAN - 36
3. CHN - 27
4. ITA - 16
Full results at Cyberscoreboard. Next stop, Minneapolis!
Posted by noelle at 8:00 PM | Comments (26)
March 25, 2006
World Team Championships Day 1
Repechage results: We endured a tough, tough night, as neither U.S. team was able to make it out of the repechage round to the finals on Sunday. On the women's side, we were never really able to get things going and finished a distant 4th of 4 teams. The teams from China and Italy advance to the finals.
The failure to advance to the finals was particularly heartbreaking for the guys, who were so, so close right up to the end. After 3 events they were in 2nd and qualifying position, one point ahead of 3rd-place China. It all came down to the relay. Our guys were going great, at or near the front the whole race! Unfortunately, we had a fall and that took us out of the running.
China won the relay, catapulting them to the team points lead in the repechage. The U.S. was 3rd. China and Italy will join Korea and Canada in tomorrow's finals.
[Side note:] Hats off to Kimberly Derrick, who pulled for lap after lap after lap in the women's 3000m. Leading for so long in a 27-lap race is a tough task though and she ultimately faded to 8th after skating her heart out.
The men's 3000m looked like an awesome race! Alex Izykowski skated strong, at or near the front for many laps, while Jordan Malone was close to the back until the last third. As Jordan moved up, it looked like Alex and Jordan would finish 2-3. There was so much passing! In the end Jordan was 2nd and Izy 6th - he got passed only in the final lap though. Congrats to both on a thrilling race!
***
Bracket 1: As expected, Korea dominated the action early on, with their men's and women's teams both winning bracket 1 to earn automatic berths in tomorrow's finals. From bracket 1, both the Chinese and Italian men's and women's teams move on to this evening's repechage round for another attempt at qualifying for Sunday's finals.
Bracket 2: Canada likewise dominated bracket 2, which included the USA and Japan teams. Canada automatically advances to the finals. The American women were a solid 2nd in their bracket, while the USA men tied with Japan for 2rd at 30 points apiece. With only 3 teams, they and Japan were guaranteed a place in the repechage.
[Update:] Canadian coach Guy Thibault has dropped another hint that something special may be in store for tomorrow's men's relay final: "We have a trick up our sleeve for tomorrow's men's relay, a new tactic. We worked it out in training. It will allow us to be in a better position during the race's final laps. Just wait and see!" Ah, I can't wait! Hope they don't need it tomorrow so they can bust it out in Minneapolis instead.
Repechage: USA men and women will join Japan, Italy and China in the skate-off tonight to vie for the final 2 spots in Sunday's finals.
Canada's Anouk LeBlanc-Boucher and United States' Tina Koenig come in one-two in the women's 500-metre second qualifying heat during the 2006 World Short Track Speed Skating Team Championship 2006 in Montreal. (AP PHOTO/Ian Barrett, CP)
Highlights
* Canadian women turned in perfect performances by winning all four 500m races, while the Canadian men were perfect in the 1000m
* Anthony Lobello got a lot of skating in, competing in every individual distance today (500m, 1000m, 3000m)
* Allison Baver didn't compete at all today, for unknown reasons. A couple sources said she appears to be nursing an ankle injury. If that's the case she may be resting up for next weekend - or else just resting up for tonight's repechage
Also: Canada, South Korea to clash at world short championships
Visit Cyberscoreboard for complete results
Posted by noelle at 4:15 PM | Comments (67)
March 23, 2006
World Team Championships
The World Team Championships take place Saturday and Sunday at the Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal, home base of Canada's short track team.
Teams is a unique format in which skaters vie to earn points for their team rather than skate for individual glory... Distances skated are 500m, 1000m, 3000m and relays. World Short Track has a handy-dandy primer explaining how it all works.
On Saturday, I believe the U.S. men are slated to compete in bracket 2, which includes Canada. The U.S. and Canadian women should skate in bracket 2 as well. Korean teams are in bracket 1.
The Korea-Canada rivalry will be one to watch! The Canadian men won this event last year when it was hosted in Korea and are looking to defend their title... not to mention return to the top of the relay heap after their silver medal finish in Torino.
The Canadians may have the home-ice advantage in more ways than one:
"(Monday), we skated on it and it felt great," said [Francois-Louis] Tremblay. "They had just made it up, so it was perfect. And right after us, the Koreans skated and they all said the ice was bad. That's good for us, because we're used to it."
A French-language article indicates that the Canadians have some tricks up their sleeve for this weekend. Says coach Guy Thibault: "We're holding some tactics in reserve to use against the Koreans. I can't say more than that. It's something we've never attempted before. We might do it on Sunday."
Hmmm! Wish I was gonna be in Montreal.
More info: 2006 World Team Championships web site
Follow the action online!
Results will be posted on Cyberscoreboard after each race. To 'watch' the races in real time, check out Live Cyberscoreboard, which displays an online scoreboard with split times and adjusts the skaters' positions lap by lap as the race proceeds. (Kind of hard to explain, but a demo on the Live CSB site shows how it works!)
Action begins at 10:30am ET Saturday. Bracket 2 (including teams from the U.S. and Canada) begins at 2pm ET. Finals are at 2pm ET Sunday.
Posted by noelle at 10:24 PM | Comments (25)
March 22, 2006
Worlds news roundup
Marquette Mining Journal | USOEC’s Jimmy Jang honored by U.S. Speedskating
Congratulations to Jimmy on his coach of the year honors!
CP | Canada looks to avenge Olympic loss to Korea at short-track worlds
Canada and Korea are expected to dominate the world team championships on Saturday and Sunday at the 4,800-seat Maurice Richard Arena, the Canadian squad's training base in Montreal's east end.
Canada and South Korea have been trading relay bragging rights from year to year for the past four or five years. The Koreans had the edge in Turin, now Canada wants it back.
"A lot of countries use this as a preparation for the following week, but we always took it seriously because we've been in the top two in the world for the last eight years or more," said national coach Guy Thibault. "It's important. We're the defending champions on the men's side. On the women's side, we have one of our best teams in the last eight years. I think, seriously, they have a shot at winning this thing."
This article also reports that Rusty Smith won't compete in Montreal, but I am fairly certain they're wrong about that...
St Paul Pioneer Press | Ohno won't be here for world short track meet
Twenty-five medalists from the Olympics in Turin will be here for the three-day competition that begins next Thursday.
Posted by noelle at 9:43 AM | Comments (34)
September 1, 2005
2006 World Championships in Minneapolis
A notice in today's Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
World's top short-track speedskaters coming to Mariucci Arena
The World Short Track Speedskating Championships will be held in Minneapolis next year only weeks after the rough-and-tumble sport gets its quadrennial place in the spotlight during the Winter Olympics.
The event -- bringing together more than 200 of the world's best skaters from about 30 nations -- will be held at Mariucci Arena from March 31 to April 2, a month after the Winter Games conclude in Turin, Italy.
"We're planning on the United States doing well in Turin," U.S. Speedskating Executive Director Katie Marquard said. "This means people will be able to see the Olympic competition in Minnesota."
U.S. skater Apolo Ohno, who won two medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, is among stars expected at the event. Maplewood's Amy Peterson, a five-time Olympian and nine-time U.S. champ who is making a comeback for Turin, is hoping to complete her career at the World Championships.
The Detroit Free-Press has a writeup on Amy Peterson as well here:
Michigan athletes yearning for Turin (scroll to bottom)
Posted by noelle at 8:32 AM | Comments (4)