Ohno Zone

November 22, 2005

Around the rink (tidbits from the Hague)

I always run into Australian skaters before I see anyone else at World Cups. Always. So when Corin and I arrived at the rink for practice on Thursday, the first people we laid eyes on were the Aussies, waiting for the bus back to their hotel. It's funny, but it's been this way since the very first World Cup I attended (Bormio, December 2002).

Turns out that Steven Bradbury was the team leader for Australia at the World Cups this season. I stumbled upon him in my rounds Friday morning before racing started. I got that giddy fan feeling I used to know so well! I always wanted to meet Steven and never got the chance before. He's friendly and easy to talk to like all the Aussies are, and he's looking forward to doing commentary in Torino for Australian television.

He mentioned that Dan Weinstein will be providing commentary for NBC in Torino. Pretty cool, no? Since I never got to see Dan skate, I'm looking forward to hearing his Ivy-league analyis!

Fabio Carta is sporting newly shorn locks and confirmed that the reason for his new look is that he was recently inducted into the police - I believe the city police force in his hometown of Torino. He officially starts with them next November and plans to continue competing in short track for two more seasons. His hair is really short! It looks good but he wouldn't let me take a photo...

The Korean team held their short track trials back in September. Evidently only 7 men tried out for the Olympic team. Seems odd, no? Anyway, Seung-jae Lee was one of those seven but he didn't make it. That's why we haven't seen him around this season.

Speaking of Team Korea, it was really sad to learn that our friend Kevin from last season is no longer coaching the women's team. Chalked up to politics and power struggles. (Some things are universal!)

I definitely saw a different side of Hyun-soo Ahn this World Cup. I don't know if it's 'cause he was have a lot of success (there's nothing like winning to lighten the mood!) or he's just more comfortable in his skin, but he was downright happy go lucky all weekend. It was really nice to see him smiling and visibly enjoying himself.

There was one moment that I found really touching. At the medal ceremony for the men's 500m, J.P. Kepka was called to the medal stand last, after Ahn and Jiajun Li. He shook hands with them both and they did the medal ceremony. After it was all done, and all the photos were taken, Ahn turned again to J.P. to congratulate him personally and shake his hand again. He was really happy for J.P.

Hyun-soo Ahn congratulates J.P. Kepka during the men's 500m medal ceremony

The US team had quite an entourage along with them for the World Cups this season -- including a team physician, trainer, sport psychologist and even a video specialist recording all the races. These additional staff come courtesy of the USOC investing in the team this Olympic year.

That's nothing compared to the Canadian team, though. They always have a huge support staff along with them. In The Hague it seemed that every third person had a Canadian team jacket on. Someone joked that there was one person whose sole responsibility was to make sure Canadian athletes wore the right garb on the medal stand. I think it was a joke, anyway...

So, there was a short track speed skating World Cup taking place IN the Netherlands over the weekend. But when I get back to my hotel and turn the TV on after dinner, what do I see? The long track World Cup taking place 6,000 miles away in Salt Lake City. It's amazing -- they even have 3 talking heads in a tv studio going on and on about long track between races. You should see their expressions! You'd think they were discussing the prospects for peace in the Middle East!

So - live coverage in the middle of the Dutch night of a long track World Cup in Salt Lake. Meanwhile, the short track World Cup in The Hague was carried live on tv as well - in China. It must be great to be a long track fan in Holland!

We were definitely well taken care of in the press room. I love a country where they serve wine in the press room - and 3rd graders promote Heineken!

Posted by noelle at 6:00 PM | Comments (10)

November 20, 2005

Interesting notes after 4 World Cups

Check out these overall rankings -- 4 Americans in the top 10 overall! If Apolo hadn't had an ankle sprain at World Cup #1 who knows if he would be higher on this list, but this has to be the best seaonal result for the USA ever.

Granted, results are helped by the Chinese women and Canadian skaters not being eligible for overall rankings, but nevertheless these are some great results for Team USA and represent another step up for American short track. Way to go, USA!

Overall 2005-06 season rankings - men:
1. Hyun-soo Ahn (KOR)
2. Ho-suk Lee (KOR)
3. Apolo Anton Ohno (USA)
7. J.P. Kepka (USA)
26. Rusty Smith (USA)

Men's team rankings
1. Korea, 2. Canada, 3. China, 4. USA

Men's relay over rankings
1. Korea, 2. China, 3. USA, 4. Canada

Wow. We beat Canada??

Overall 2005-06 season rankings - women:
1. Sun-yu Jin (KOR)
2. Evgenia Radanova (BUL)
3. Allison Baver (USA)
4. Hyo-jung Kim (USA)
60. Kimberly Derrick (USA) (based on 1 World Cup)

Women's team rankings
1. China, 2. Canada, 3. Korea, 4. USA

Women's relay over rankings

1. Korea, 2. Canada, 3. China, 7. USA

Posted by noelle at 12:58 PM | Comments (14)

Short track is a craaaaaaaaazy sport

Women's relay final stopped and restarted - men's relay final cancelled

The refs stopped the women's race with less than 10 laps to go when Allison fell. She was unhurt, but the race was stopped for safety because Allison was in the path of oncoming skaters. The Koreans had also fallen early on in the relay and missed an exchange, which would be an automatic DQ.

Since the race was stopped the Koreans were required to exit the ice since they were already disqualified. And the US team received an automatic DQ DNF because the rule, it seems, is that if a race is stopped for an individual skater, that skater must immediately leave the ice. This resulted in a DNF for the American team.

Can someone clarify this rule? Because I've seen lots of races stopped this weekend for an individual skater and that skater never had to leave the ice.

Also, the skaters are saying they could have continued the relay without Allison, with the 3 remaining skaters. Anyone out there know if this is this true? If they had done so it would have been a guaranteed bronze, but I'm not sure if this is really legal.

Coach Li was livid down there. Everyone was just completely dumbfounded by what's going on, and when the relay was restarted it was a race for gold and silver only between Canada and Germany.

Meanwhile, the latest fiasco is that the men's relay final was at first delayed due to a section of ice worn down to the paint. I know this happened somewhere else at least once before.

[Update] Men's relay cancelled due to ice conditions. I think the decision was made that it's not worth risking further injury under these conditions. The top 8 teams have already been decided and wouldn't change with this relay - only perhaps the order of the top 8.

Interestingly, all 4 teams that would have skated in the men's relay final were awarded 1st place with the US men receiving maximum points for having the fastest winning relay time of the weekend.

U.S. men's relay team waits for ice to be repaired

Apolo, Alex, Coach Li and others try to figure out what is going on

No more skating for Apolo - or anyone else! - tonight

Posted by noelle at 10:34 AM | Comments (15)

3000m bronze for Allison Baver and Apolo Ohno!

This was another hugely successful world cup for the U.S. team as a whole, with 3 skaters qualifying to skate in the 3000m. Allison finished behind the Korean skaters Jin and Choi to earn bronze.

Apolo and J.P. both qualified for the men's 3000, along with 2 Chinese, 2 Koreans and Rodigari of Italy. Lee of Korea and Ye Li of China both decided to lap the pack and succeeded. Rodigari had made a half-hearted attempt a little earlier but was reeled back into the pack.

Apolo glances at Derrick Campbell for guidance during the 3000

J.P. leads in the men's 3000

Apolo at one point made a move to chase Lee and Li before they had completed their lap, and he got a half lap gap on the pack but he decided not to pursue it. Not enough payoff for him, I suppose, in trying to win the 3000 at this point in the competition. Still, he chased down Rodigari and Jiajun Li who were all trying to claim bronze and got it for himself instead. J.P., probably pretty tired from his exertions in the 1000m, finished 7th.

Congratulations, Apolo and Allison!

Posted by noelle at 10:09 AM | Comments (3)

J.P. gets silver in the men's 1000m final!

Congratulations to 1000m silver medalist J.P. Kepka (with Jiajun Li - gold and Hyun-soo Ahn - bronze)

The men's final was completely wild and a little desperate too. It was as if all the skaters were in a panic not to be passed and the jockeying and jostling was non-stop from the gun. Apolo started off at the back of the pack, with JP in front but they soon switched their relative positions with all the passing going on. I couldn't begin to recall the twists and turns, but Apolo was basically in the front 3 skaters throughout most of the race.

He was trying desperately to pass in the final 2 laps and had what I believe was the slightest of slips - or it could have been another stripped edge, I'm not sure. In any case, he slipped back and the ensuing shuffle in the last lap allowed J.P., who was threading his way forward to cross the line for silver ahead of third-place Ahn. Jiajun Li stayed out of trouble in this race and got the gold.

Looking over my photos it appeared that Ahn slipped right in front of Apolo when both skaters were 2nd and 3rd respectively - I know I saw Apolo slip at some point, maybe at the same time. Apolo then dropped back to last, Lee moved into second and Ahn dropped to third. Lee then lost his edge and fell, and that's when J.P found himself in a horse race for silver with Ahn.

I only wish Apolo had finished on the podium as well -- but what a fantastic weekend for J.P. Kepka!

Bottom line: Both men and women locked up 2 spots each for Torino. Allison, Halie and Kristen finished 5th, 6th and 34th overall in the 1000m today, while J.P., Apolo and Rusty finished 2nd, 4th and 22nd, respectively.

Posted by noelle at 9:38 AM | Comments (5)

1000m semis - some wild stuff

Wow, J.P. had quite a topsy-turvy semi final - he started well enough but quickly got passed. There was as expected tons of jockeying for position going on. J.P. looked to be setting up an outside pass to try to move around Ho-suk Lee who was in 2nd, but he slipped in the attempt and fell back to last.

He was definitely not giving up though and kept looking for opportunities when disaster struck in the final lap. First Lee went down, then Wim de Deyne fell. J.P, easily avoided Lee by skating wide, but Wim slid right into his path. I don't know how J.P. avoided going down in the collision but he capitalized on the fall to finish 2nd and move onto his 2nd final of the weekend!

Wim was DQ'ed for 'inside the box' and Lee advanced to the final.

Apolo's semi was just as full of jostling but luckily without the falls. While the details escape me now, there was tons of movement and Apolo made it to the front only to be passed several times. He made it back to the lead till the end when Ahn snuck past him to take the lead and the win.

Ahn edges Apolo at the line - 1000m semi

Allison Baver was unable to capitalize on her inside start position in her semifinal and was 4th off the line at the start. She was racing from the back and trying hard to find an opportunity to move up but none presented itself.

Posted by noelle at 9:03 AM | Comments (2)

1000m quarter finals

Finishlynx is aware of the results not appearing on Cyberscoreboard and they're working on the problem. It's from all the traffic they're getting tying up their server!!

Men's quarter finals

Apolo leads the pack in his 1000m semifinal

We got to see some more Ohno and Kepka magic out there in the men's quarter finals. Apolo was #5 on the line - AGAIN - and didn't get the best start in the world. Within about 3 laps he flew up the inside to take the lead where he stayed for quite a few laps. There may have been some other movement in there. A moment later, I believe Song passed Flou for 2nd and Flou then attempted a pass to move back into 2nd on the last lap. In doing so, he took out Song, who crashed. Apolo literally turned around mid-stride when he heard Song hit the boards to see what happened. Song was later DQ'ed for impeding with 3 laps to go and Flou for impeding on Song in the in the final lap.

J.P., also starting from lane 5, also had to make up lots of ground as he was in the hole from the get-go. He made another brilliant outside pass around the field to take the lead. He was eventually passed by Jiajun Li and finished the race in 2nd, so we'll have 2 guys in addition to Allison Baver as the sole American woman in the semifinals.

Women's quarter finals

Halie Kim evidently got advanced after finishing 3rd in her 1000m heat. She put in a valiant effort in her quarter final. She came from last to make an outside pass all the way around the field but had trouble getting around la Radanova. This allowed Meng Wang to come forward to take over the lead. Halie did get around Radanova for 2nd but I think her efforts cost her as she wasn't able to hang on and got nipped at the line.

Allison Baver finished 2nd in her heat. That was a pretty smooth race for all but the Italian Marta Capurso lost a lot of power and finished a lap behind - victim of another stripped edge, it appears.

Posted by noelle at 8:02 AM | Comments (1)

1000m heats

Men's heats

Wow, I wish you all could have seen Apolo skate his 1000m heat. We really saw the Ohno magic on display! Apolo was 5th off the line and of course he had Ahn in lane 1 in a 5-man field. I think Apolo was last at first but then he wove his way inside to move up a position, then whipped by on the outside, flying past Ahn with 2 laps to go to win the race. I think some of the press here was starting to have their doubts about Apolo after the first 2 days, but his performance in that race made them believers again. It was awesome!

J.P. did a fantastic job in his heat as well. He was in mid-pack for most of the race before getting around Rodigari and all the other skaters in front of him to win his heat as well. Awesome!

I think Rusty finished 3rd in his heat, so unfortunately he won't move on to the quarter finals. Fabio made an awesome move in the final lap to win the race.

Women's heats

Wow, some of the heats are TOUGH! Unfortunately, they stopped two of our three ladies. Halie Kim was in a wicked-tough heat with both Meng Wang AND Sun-yu Jin -- your basic nightmare. That's more like a semi final. Halie finished a very respectable third there. Update: She's on the ice now for the quarters - guess she got advanced! Yay. No announcement was made.

Same thing happened with Kristen Biondo in her heat. She finished 3rd behind the rapidly improving Hungarian Erika Huszar and Canada's Alanna Kraus.

Only Allison Baver moves on to the quarter finals after winning her heat in convincing fashion.

Posted by noelle at 7:08 AM | Comments (1)

1000m prelims

Men's prelims

I left my notes on the men's races downstairs but I know I want to say that the two skaters I feel for the most this weekend are Apolo and Mathieu Turcotte. Though he had to wait for the 20th and final heat to skate his 1000m prelim, Apolo made it through okay. Can't say the same for Mathieu, who was in the same heat with Rusty Smith.

By the last few laps, Mathieu and Rusty were safely 1 and 2 and had a gap on the field - about what you'd expect. Then meters from the finish line, in the corner everyone has been crashing in, Mathieu lost his edge and slid into the wall, finishing 4th -- so his day is over and the Canadian men, coming into this weekend from a superior position of strength, have now presumably lost their final chance to field 3 men in an individual distance at Torino. From what I've heard, Mathieu may now only get to skate 1 distance in Torino. What a pity.

With Mathieu's fall, Rusty finished 1st in his heat as did J.P. Kepka in his.

Apolo, racing last, looked comfortable when 2-3 laps into his race, Lachlan Hay sped around on the outside to take the lead by a meter or two. It was fun to see Apolo react to this -- he wasn't about to let the Aussie get away from him. Apolo closed the gap although the French skater got ahead of him a bit later. Apolo passed him on the outside for first and won the race.

Apolo gets ready to pass Chataignier

Where Apolo would normally be content just to qualify, he and the other U.S. skaters are making sure to win every heat they can to ensure themselves the highest ranking possible.

Women's prelims

Wow - Kristen Biondo did a brilliant job in her prelim! There were 5 skaters on the line and she got off to a strong start but was quickly passed and found herself skating in 4th. She stayed there for most of the race, until with 2 laps to go she started her move all the way around the outside to take the lead and win the race. Very nicely done!

Kristen Biondo makes her move to the front

Halie Kim was 2nd off the line in her prelim but soon found herself in 3rd of 4 skaters. With 3 laps to go she also moved up on the outside past Eun-kyung Choi to take the lead and won her heat.

Halie on her way to the front

Next up was Allison Baver who was 4th off the line, biding her time for a bit in last place till she saw fit to start picking off the skaters in front of her. She made it to the front with ease and glided across the finish line at a comfortable pace.

Posted by noelle at 4:51 AM | Comments (2)

November 19, 2005

Relays

Both relay teams are in tomorrow's final. The ladies finished 2nd in their semi final and the men won theirs. They slipped into the lead a couple times during the race but were in 2nd behind China for most of the time till Apolo seized the lead on his last 2 laps.

The best part of these results is that we locked up our positions in the relay today for Torino. The U.S. men and women will definitely be skating the relays in Torino!

Quick photos and then till tomorrow because I can't get online at the hotel:

Travis Jayner peeks out during the men's relay

Apolo skates the relay

Alex Izykowski in the relay - great seeing him out there today!

Posted by noelle at 12:35 PM | Comments (2)

500m finals - Bronze medal for J.P. Kepka!

500m medalists: Jiajun Li (silver), Ahn Hyun-soo (gold), J.P. Kepka (bronze)

YAY J.P.! He had such an awesome day today and skated a series of fabulous races to find himself in the final with Li Jiajun and all 3 Koreans. J.P. and Jiajun got off to a great start, with Jiajun Li in the lead and J.P. right behind. They stayed that way for nearly the entire race and it looked certain J.P. would have his first individual World Cup medal -- but which color? Ahn did one of his brilliant come-from-behind moves that we've been seeing a lot of lately to snatch the win at the very end. That put Jiajun in 2nd with silver and J.P. in 3rd with bronze. Way to go J.P, we are so excited for you!!

And bronze for Kalyna Roberge of Canada! It's her 3rd in a row in World Cups this season.

More good news -- all 3 U.S. guys are in well within the top 32, with J.P. 3rd, Apolo 10th and Rusty 13th. A huge, huge improvement on the results from Bormio so I believe this means we're safe for 2 spots for the men in 500m. Not sure for the ladies - best ranking for today was 17th, but all 3 were in the top 32 last week in Bormio, so we may have to sweat that one out. *crosses fingers*

For the Canadians, they have 3 ladies in the 500m in Torino but it looks like only 2 guys. Mathieu Turcotte stripped an edge and fell in his quarter final race earlier today and that could potentially really hurt. I can't figure out how to combine the rankings and there is no official info available right now about Olympic qualifications.

Posted by noelle at 10:57 AM | Comments (11)

500m semifinals - J.P. Kepka advances to final

Amazing job by the Canadian ladies -- all 3 made it to the semis, which I hope assures them of 3 spots in the 500m at Torino in spite of Alanna Kraus' disqualification for taking out Yang Yang A in their semifinal. Anouk Leblanc-Boucher won the same race. In the 2nd women's semi, Kalyna Roberge skated very strong behind Meng Wang for 2nd, so there will be 2 Canadian women in the final!

In the men's semis, Eric Bedard got DQ'ed in the first race. This was a pretty exciting finish. Eric was leading Jiajun Li till the end, when Ho-suk Lee whipped around them on the outside to get his skate 2nd across the line in impressive fashion. Eric was then DQ'ed, moving Li up a notch to the final.

JP of course drew lane 5 in his race, and Francois-Louis Tremblay was 4th. Both Korean skaters had the inside lanes. Flou got an amazing start and seized the lead and J.P. was in back. He managed to pass Assen Pandov (who I believe was skating in his first semi ever) to move into 4th. Meanwhile, Ahn moved up to take the lead, and J.P. somehow pulled himself up to 3rd with a heroic effort. The other Korean, Song, had been in 2nd behind Flou. There was contact between the two. Flou crossed the line in 2nd and Song finished last. Tremblay was disqualified, and Song was advanced. Best of all, the DQ puts J.P. in the 500m final!

It's been a rough day! Great efforts by all the skaters, dealing with outside lane positions, problems with the starter, dirty ice, equipment problems, etc. Tomorrow is another day!

Posted by noelle at 10:23 AM | Comments (1)

Men's quarter finals (It's a mess out there)

Very bad news for us with Apolo and Rusty both out of the running in the 500m now. Thank goodness J.P. is still in there! It stinks that a big part of it is luck of the draw -- ie, Rusty and Apolo reverted to the dreaded lane 4 while Eric Bedard who arguably shouldn't still be skating got lane 1.

Rusty's quarter final

Rusty had lane 4 but despite this he started well enough, spending the first half of the race in 2nd behind Tremblay. Tremblay maintained his lead and I'm sure Rusty sensed Ahn gaining ground and knew a pass attempt was coming. Ahn was moving up on the outside and Rusty seemed to be looking for him when he slipped, making Ahn's pass inevitable.

J.P.' quarter final
Ho-suk Lee was quite amazing in getting around on the outside at the last possible moment for the win, and J.P. got second to be the only American in the semi finals.

Apolo's quarter final
The other thing is that it seems like the starter's gun isn't working properly, which would explain what seems arbitary about races being started and stopped (though I still think Mau Asam's heat described below was favoritism and the Italians jeered it at the time).

Anyway, Apolo's quarter final was a fiasco -- it saw 2 false starts and one restart. The first thing was a false start by either Song or Bedard. Then the race got off ok, but Apolo and Nicola Rodigari bumped and Rodigari went down; the refs recalled the race -- which is probably lucky for Apolo because he did most of the bumping. The Italians jeered again when this moment was replied. In general though the refs are more lenient about bumping at the start of the 500m. When the race was started again, there was a 2nd false start - not sure against whom. And THEN there was ANOTHER false start -- and we think it wasn't the skaters' fault. It's because the starter's gun is malfunctioning.

The dirty ice is bad enough, but what if faulty equipment is also wrecking people's chances?

Posted by noelle at 9:55 AM | Comments (7)

Men's eigth finals

Rusty had an awesome race. For once he and Apolo both drew lane 1 and Rusty took full advantage. He was 2nd off the line and made an outside pass in the last quarter-lap to win the race. He's skating strong today and looking sharp. Rusty is skating on his backup blades. In his prior race, he clicked blades with another skater and got a nick in his blades, necessitating the switch so very good job by him in this race!

Apolo, also in lane, had difficulty getting started as 2 false starts in a row were called on his race. Once they got going things were smooth sailing as Apolo led wire to wire.

J.P. looked brilliant in his quarter final! He drew lane 3 and made an amazing (and somewhat risky) pass that left everyone gasping to slip into first midway through his heat.

There was some controversy with the Canadians' results. Mathieu Turcotte fell on his own - on the replay he hit a block with his knee, but that seemed to be happening as he fell. They've been restarting races all day long for less than that so I wouldn't have complained if they'd done it for him too, but no. This is going to hurt the Canadians a lot. Really tragic!

On the other hand, how Eric Bedard managed to not get DQ'ed in his heat - the same as JP's - I can't imagine. I think most spectators were expecting it after he pretty clearly took out Ye Li on the replay (Li was injured as well). Nevertheless, Bedard continues on to the next round, so that prevents more disaster for Canada anyway.

Posted by noelle at 9:14 AM | Comments (2)

Women's heats interrupted by fire alarm

As the 2nd heat is on the line, a fire alarm sounds and a voice says in Dutch and English to leave the building. The chief referee is talking on a cell phone and everyone is just looking baffled. Has fire ever broken out at a world cup before? The skaters are milling around on the ice but no one is in a hurry to leave although it seems people may be evacuating the press room.

What a bizarre moment!

[update] All clear - false alarm, they say!

Posted by noelle at 8:14 AM | Comments (4)

500m heats

Women's heats

What a shame for Halie Kim. What happened is that she drew lane 4 to start her 500m heat. The first problem is she drew a false start, which required her to start more conservatively the 2nd time around, and as a result she was mired in 4th - a very distant 4th. It was a lot of ground to make up in the best of circumstances. She was attempting to pass the New Zealand skater on the outside and fell. I think Halie rang her bell pretty good there and she was disqualified for cross-tracking. However, she was able to finish her race. I'll see what I can find out about how she's doing.

Allison Baver was equally unfortunate in her lane position -- also on the outside. She was able to pass from 4th to 3rd and was looking for more room to move up but couldn't find any. Great effort!

Allison skates in her 500m heat

Curious officiating: I don't know what kind of weird officiating is going on this weekend, but there have never been so many races restarted -- and it's not happening only when a skater falls before the apex in the 500m. There was at least one 1500m restarted yesterday and loads of them today. There seems to be some partisanship towards the home country skaters as well.

The most egregious case was ladies' heat #8 with Liesbeth Mau Asam. That race was restarted at least twice. First there was a fall when the race was more than halfway over, involving Mau Asam and another skater. Neither appeared to be hurt so it's not clear why it was restarted so late.

When the race was restarted Mau Asam stumbled right at the start, and they halted things again. Mind you, she stumbled all on her own, and I've seen other skaters stumble at the start too and the starter did nothing. So when the race started for the 3rd time, Mau Asam stumbled yet again, exactly like she had a moment earlier. This time, thank goodness, they let the race proceed.

Despite all the chances given to Mau Asam, Yang Yang A was the real beneficiary. In the race's first version she was sitting in 5th and last, far back. By the end, she was the only person who could deal with all the stop and go and stop and start and she won the race.

Men's heats
I was standing right by the first turn for the men's heats. Apolo's race was first and it was unreal to be a few feet away as they thundered past. I think the ground shook! lol. Anyway, Apolo won this one from start to finish.

Apolo out front in his heat

The start of Rusty's heat

J.P. had an awesome race! He jumped right into the lead and stayed there. I didn't even realize Ahn was in his race till after it ended but I don't think Ahn was even in a position to try to pass him.

J.P. en route to a win in his heat

The Canadian men want to be sure they don't lose that third spot in the 500m today. So far they're looking very good

Mathieu Turcotte in the lead of his heat

Eric Bedard had an exciting race. He didn't get the best position at the start. The German skater was in the lead most of the race and Eric was in 3rd. He finally passed to the front in the 3rd lap, but half a lap later, the Korean skater who had been third in turn passed the German and Eric for the lead.

Eric Bedard

Francois-Louis Tremblay

Posted by noelle at 7:53 AM | Comments (3)

500m preliminaries

Caroline Hallisey had a rough heat. About halfway through she was in 2nd place and going into the last couple of laps, Tatiana Borodulina tried to make a move. She and the Japanese skater crashed and Tatiana was hurt. The race was halted and Borodulina was helped off the ice and also disqualified for impeding. It's too bad for Caroline - she was in qualifying position when this happened. She skated well on the re-skate but wasn't able to hold off the Korean skater in the final lap. Hope Tatiana will be ok to carry on later this weekend!

Caroline in the re-skate of her 500m prelim

Allison Baver had a great, uneventful race - as much as I can remember it. Cyberscoreboard is down so can't check anything there but she crossed the line way out in front.

Here's Allison in the lead

Hyo-jung Kim didn't get the best start but she just zoomed past everyone on the outside in the first lap and a half to take the lead.

Halie makes her move to take the lead

Rusty was 3rd off the line in his prelim. He made a beautiful inside past Holland and Australia to take the lead and win his race.

Rusty makes his move to the front

Apolo led his prelim wire to wire.

Apolo comfortably out in front

J.P. Kepka got an excellent start and won his heat by miles.

J.P. way out in front

Posted by noelle at 6:16 AM | Comments (8)

November 18, 2005

Relays

Turns out there are only enough men's teams for the normal relay heats - semis, finals, so there is no extra round tonight for the men. I haven't been hearing skaters complaining about that! Not sure where the extra teams went between last weekend and this.

As the U.S. men took to the ice before their race began, Apolo noticed something and alerted an ice crew to do some repair work. Then he skated over to tell Li Yan that there was 'a rock this big in the ice over there' holding up his fingers in the size of a quarter. He made sure that chief referee Charles Veldhoven knew it was there as well. The rock was on the track, near the blocks in one of the turns.

Apolo escorts the chief referee to see a rock in the ice

Both the men and women skated beautiful races tonight. The women finished behind China and ahead of the Netherlands teams to assure themselves a spot in the semis tomorrow. The race was uneventful, with China maintaining a half-lap lead on the U.S. who in turn were a half-lap ahead of Netherlands for most of the race.

The men were doing great tonight too. Our guys lapped Ukraine and won with ease. Japan, the 2nd-place finisher, was well back by about a quarter lap. Well done!

Rusty and Apolo execute an exchange early in their relay heat

Posted by noelle at 12:20 PM | Comments (9)

1500m semis and finals

The most important result out of today is that we should have 2 women and men ranked in the top 32 for the 1500m after last weekend in Bormio and today. In the men's 1500m classification today, Rusty is in 11th, Apolo is 12th and J.P. 31st. In the ladies', Allison is ranked an awesome 5th, Hyo-jung 9th and Kimberly 18th. Once these results are combined officially with last week's results in Bormio, this means we can send two men and women to skate this distance in Bormio.

As noted in the comments, the Canadian men fared notably worse this week than last, where they had all 3 guys in the top 8. This week no Canadian man finished higher than 16th, so sadly, they're going to lose their 3 men's slot in the 1500m in Torino. It's looking like no country will have three men in the 1500 in the Olympics, which works out well for us.

1500 finals - Asian skaters dominate

Allison really skated strong in her final today, going to the lead early and setting a slow, steady pace in the early laps in a final with 3 Koreans and 2 Chinese skaters. Even after she got passed, Allison maintained her medal position for quite a while and made it difficult for the other skaters to pass her. Eventually they did and Allison finished 5th after a great effort.

Allison out front in her 1500m final

Jin and Wang start to make their move past Allison in the 1500m final

The European men - Italy's Rodigari and France's Chaitaignier - put in an effort too but results reverted to form and they finished out of the medals, with Korean Ahn on top again, his teammate Lee in 2nd and Jiajun Li 3rd.

Update on Apolo: Word around the rink is that Apolo lost his edge early on in the race - which explains a lot about the race's results. He lost a 5-inch segment of his blade this way. As a result, when he tried to pass other skaters he just couldn't. Somehow it's always a relief to hear these explanations, knowing nothing is really wrong. That may be the problem that caused Hamelin's fall in his semifinal as well.

The Koreans stripped edges in practice today apparently also. I'm being told that the dirty ice is the cause of most of these problems. This could set things up for a dangerous day tomorrow in the 500m. Let's hope that will not be the case! Rumor has it too that the Dutch team even decided to train in Germany after the Bormio world cup rather than coming to The Hague.

1500 semifinals - and then there was one

Way to go Allison Baver, making the 1500m final, alone among American skaters today! She had a great race. starting strong. The finish was quite close but Allison hang on to 2nd place behind Chun-sa Byun and ahead of Xiaolei Cheng. She skated a very strong race today.

Halie Kim started strong in her semi but was passed first by Yang Yang A and then by Eun-kyung Choi at which point the race was over. Nice effort! Kimberly Derrick also had a strong start but was outskated by the field this time.

Apolo salutes while being introduced for his 1500m semi

I'm not sure anyone would have predicted the outcome of the men's semi finals today. Sadly, Apolo is out of the action after finished 3rd to Ahn and Jiajun Li in his race. While racing from the back is a bit more understandable in a field like this one, it wasn't exactly like Apolo's quarter final. He started off in good position before getting passed midway through the race and finding himself last again. Apolo made it back to 4th place but couldn't move up. Cees Juffermans, perhaps for the first time in his life, beat Apolo at the line for 3rd. Mathieu Turcotte stumbled badly with less than 2 laps to go -- on his own, as near as I could tell.

1500m semi - Cees Juffermans leads Apolo Ohno

The 2nd semi final had a pretty unusual outcome. Refreshingly unusual it must be said, although I'd have preferred it if Rusty Smith and Jo Guilmette had been able to qualify. They finished 3rd and 6th respectively. Instead, the qualifiers were Italy's Nicola Rodigari and France's Maxime Chataignier. Good job by them -- Rodigari was really strong and impressive in this race.

The 3rd semifinal saw another bad stumble by a Canadian. Charles Hamelin, in qualifying position, fell on his own and wound up finishing last. Don't know but these could be more of those ice issues -- the stumbles didn't occur in the same location however.

Posted by noelle at 9:57 AM | Comments (17)

1500m quarter finals

Five of our six skaters will be moving on to the semis, which is great news! The ladies all skated very strong, largely uneventful races. I have no notes from Allison and Hyo-jung's races, neiher of which gave either skater any difficulty. Kimberly stayed with the leaders the whole race and was in first for a few laps before being passed, but in any case she made sure to stay up front to claim that 3rd qualifying position.

Allison en route to winning her quarter final

Apolo's quarter final was not fun to watch until the final lap! I'm sure all of you on Live Cyberscoreboard were having heart attacks! Apolo had to fight to move himself into a qualifying position in the last two laps of his face. He started last and stayed there lap after lap after lap. With 8 to go, I muttered, 'Time to think about moving up, Apolo.' A lap later: 'Any time now, Apolo.'

Apolo play caboose

No reaction from AAO. Finally, with four to go, he seemed to realize the situation was serious and started looking energetically for some racing room and... couldn't find any. Things were looking desperate! He finally concluded he could only get to the front by passing everyone on the outside. Once he made it to the front, of course, things were fine. Whew! Too much excitement this early in the day.

The Dutch skaters are doing everything they can to please their hometown crowd. There are over a hundred Dutch schoolchildren here today and they are making noise and cheering like crazy. The Dutch skaters are responding to that. In the race right after Apolo's, Robert Kees Boer went out hard from the start in an attempt to lap the pack. He had a good half lap lead or more for a few laps and really put on a show. Unfortunately, he couldn't maintain it. The pack reeled him in and he finished last in the race.

I don't remember much about Rusty's quarter final except that he had Ahn again. It was uneventful (thank goodness) and he finished 2nd behind Ahn.

Fabio Carta is looking sharp today and skating strong. There was a lot of movement in this race, with Carta, Lee of Korea and J.P. Kepka. J.P. wound up fading midway through the race and wasn't able to pass the Austrian skater to move into 3rd and qualfiying position. At the end, Jon Eley slipped and J.P. got tangled up with him a bit but kept his feet. Since J.P. wasn't in qualifying position however this had no impact on the race.

Alex Izy takes in the races

Posted by noelle at 8:44 AM | Comments (6)

Scenes from Apolo's 1500m heat

This was funny. Don't know what it was all about, but Apolo raised his arms - more like a bird flapping wings than a victory salute - twice just after winning his 1500m final. I think it was the benefit of coaches/teammates on the side, but not sure!

[update] Coach Jimmy Jang explained to me that this is Apolo acting out the skating style of the Korean skater in his heat, Ho-jin Seo. Seo flings his arms around to protect his position and no doubt this gets very annoying when you have to skate against him!

Posted by noelle at 7:31 AM | Comments (12)

1500m heats

Everyone made it through to the quarter finals! Nothing too remarkable to report. Lots of falls today, a couple on injuries, including to a Belgian skater but not sure if it can be attributed to the ice or not.

Hyo-jung Kim takes charge of her race

A determined-looking Allison Baver makes a move to take the lead

Kimberly Derrick skated a nice race for 2nd place in her heat

Rusty stayed steady to get the 3rd qualifying spot in his heat

Fabio skated great, winning his heat, and seems to be letting the whiskers grow in again

J.P. Kepka skated from behind for most of his heat before coming forward to qualifying in 2nd

Posted by noelle at 7:30 AM | Comments (3)

November 17, 2005

The Hague update

Serious problem with 'dirty' ice

It turns out that this venue has an outdoor long track as well as the indoor facility where the short track world cup will be held. There is only one zamboni to clear both ice surfaces and the problem is that dirt and debris from outdoors gets brought inside when the long track gets resurfaced, creating a potentially hazardous ice surface. The skaters are very concerned about this as numerous skaters have stripped edges and the greater concern is, of course, the potential for injury. No one wants to see any skater leave their Torino dreams in The Hague.

Overnight last night, the organizers did shave off the top layer of ice to try to remove debris but the skaters are still reporting problems today. Let's hope this can get fixed in time for the start of racing tomorrow!

Team USA starting lineup

Correction - any slight changes to the starting lineup this weekend are very slight indeed because I can't tell any difference so far from last weekend. Never mind! Carry on. Time to hit the hay over here to rest up for tomorrow. Help cheer on all our skaters! Good luck Apolo and Team USA!

Posted by noelle at 11:01 AM | Comments (8)

Team USA in the Hague - Thursday training session

Hi all - I made it here, more dead than alive and after concerns up till the end that work wouldn't let me go. The U.S. team had their World Cup-eve training session a little while ago and here are a few shots (hope the light improves tomorrow!). Enjoy!

Autograph hunters besiege Alex Izy and Travis Jayner

Newest addition to the team - Kimberly Derrick

The ladies get put through their paces

Posted by noelle at 10:46 AM | Comments (11)

November 15, 2005

The Hague World Cup Race Schedule

World Cup #4 in The Hague, Netherlands

Here's the schedule for those of you that want to watch the results online. As always, times are subject to change! So far they are as follows:

Day 1: 1500m, Relay Prelims
Friday, November 18th, 2005, at 11:00am
Eastern Time: 05:00 AM
Central Time: 04:00 AM
Mountain Time: 03:00 AM
Pacific Time: 02:00 AM

Day 2: 500m, Relay Semifinals
Saturday, November 19th, 2005, at 11:00am
Eastern Time: 05:00 AM
Central Time: 04:00 AM
Mountain Time: 03:00 AM
Pacific Time: 02:00 AM

Day 3: 1000m, Relay Finals, 3000m
Sunday, November 20th, 2005, at 10:00am
Eastern Time: 04:00 AM
Central Time: 03:00 AM
Mountain Time: 02:00 AM
Pacific Time: 01:00 AM

For more information, check out the The Hague World Cup website here.

Send your favorite skater a message! The Hague organizers are offering a very cool service where you can send a message of support to any skater you choose. Submit your message on their site and they'll deliver it for you. Keep it clean, though - they promise to check everything before delivering! ;)

You can check out the live races on Live Cyberscoreboard at these times, or check out the results on Cyberscoreboard.

If you'd like to chat with other fans during the races, you can join the OZ Chat group - You'll need a Yahoo! ID to register. Hope to see some of you there!

World Cup #4 is the second of two World Cups in Europe that serve as Olympic qualifiers to determine which countries will compete in Torino and how many skaters they'll be able to send per distance. For a summary of how things stand after the first of the two world cups is see "Olympic qualifications after 1 World Cup" below.

In addition, WorldShortTrack.com has a detailed analysis available.

Posted by noelle at 5:47 PM | Comments (8)

November 13, 2005

Ho hum, just another World Cup!

Thanks to Rutger from the Netherlands for the photo!

Posted by noelle at 9:38 PM | Comments (6)

U.S. men win relay bronze in Bormio!

Congrats to the relay team of Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith, J.P. Kepka and Travis Jayner on their bronze medal in the relay today, capitalizing on a multi-skater fall by the Canadian team. In their only mistake all weekend, the Canadian men got tangled up in an exchange early on in the race and 3 of their skaters fell together. Korea won gold and China got silver.

At one point the Chinese, skating in 2nd, had a sizable gap on the U.S. team which in a trademark move Apolo worked to close. As described by an eyewitness to the action: "Ohno closed a huge gap between USA and China. They put him on the relay [before his normal turn to close the gap]. He skated 3 laps! He took the handoff twice in a row! I've never seen that."

Posted by noelle at 10:50 AM | Comments (3)

Two Americans reach the 1000m finals and 3000m in Bormio!

Apolo wins 3000m gold and clinches the overall title!

Apolo Ohno continued his impressive display of consistency, making it through to the 1000m final. Though he finished last (5th) and therefore didn't earn a medal, the consistency he's displaying is much more important right now, in the hunt to secure those spots in Torino.

Apolo is the only skater, male or female, to qualify for all three finals this weekend. Fortunately, J.P. Kepka also finished in the top 32 today, so we aren't in the hole going into the 1000m next weekend in The Hague as we are in the 500m where only Apolo is ranked in the top 32.

1000m final results: 1. Ho-suk Lee, 2. Suk-woo Song, 3. Ye Li, 4. Mathieu Turcotte, 5. Apolo Ohno

Icing on the cake - Apolo prevailed in the 3000m super final to take gold and with it the overall title for the weekend, continuing his strong performances all season. Congratulations, Apolo!

---

New American record for Halie Kim!

On the women's side, it was great to see Hyo-jung Kim skate to her potential in reaching the 1000m final today. Although she didn't medal, she skated strong and consistently today and has a lot to be proud of -- including a new American record! Halie bested her existing record of 1:33.593 by nearly three seconds in skating to a 1:30.808 in the final.

Congratulations in particular to Jin, who on her way to winning gold also set a new 1000m world record of 1:30.037, and to Tatiana Borodulina, a very talented skater who had a tough day yesterday in the 500m. She earned a bronze medal behind Jin and Yang Yang A (silver).

Halie also skated a strong 3000m but faded towards the end, finishing 6th of seven skaters. She finished 7th overall this weekend. Allison Baver was 8th overall. Congratulations, Halie and Allison!

Posted by noelle at 9:37 AM | Comments (7)

World Cup Bormio Day 3 - 1000m qualifying

Another day of mixed results for team USA in the 1000m. Today's competition saw more disqualifications and advancements than the first 2 days in Bormio.

Apolo Ohno, who enjoyed smooth sailing in his initial rounds, has faced Hyun-soo Ahn many times this weekend in qualifying rounds. They encountered one another again in their quarter final, which Ahn won. This was a bit of a nail-biter for fans watching as Apolo had to move from last place to 2nd in the final two laps to qualify for the semi!

The two rivals were together yet again in a crowded semifinal which also included Ho-suk Lee and Mathieu Turcotte. This was a nerve-racking race as well with tons of jockeying for the two qualifying positions. In the end, Apolo came from mid-pack to win the race ahead of the two Koreans. Ahn was disqualified for impeding on Turcotte, who was advanced (his 2nd time today!) to the final.

Rusty Smith continues to struggle this weekend. He got off to a strong start in his opening prelim but crossed the line 3rd in his heat behind Ho-suk Lee and Fabio Carta, and was subsequently disqualified for impeding.

J.P. Kepka was disqualified in his quarter final for impeding. He seemed to skate a strong race but there was lots of movement in a 6-man field that also included Suk-woo Song and Turcotte. Looked like a mad dash at the end. Turcotte was advanced.

Hyo-jung 'Halie' Kim had a brilliant day, sailing through her qualifying rounds. She won all of them up till her loaded semifinal where she faced Sun-yu Jin, Meng Wang and Amanda Overland. Halie stayed at or near the front for most of the race, although she was in third heading into the final lap. Some of the strongest competition was eliminated before the final, with Wang finishing 3rd in the semi and Eun-kyung Choi eliminated in her quarter final.

Hyo-jung Kim leads Chun-sa Byun in their 1000m heat

photo by Armando Trabucchi

It was also great to see Tatiana Borodulina finish 2nd in her semi final, barely edging out Evgenia Radanova and Chun-sa Byun to make her first final of the weekend. [photo finish]

Kristen Biondo was the first to bow out. She skated a strong 1000m prelim only to be eliminated in the next round in a tough heat that included Choi and Alanna Kraus.

Allison Baver made it through to the quarter finals, where she had a strong chance to move on. Unfortunately, she got stuck for much of the race behind Borodulina and Byun and was unable to move into qualifying position.

Posted by noelle at 8:36 AM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2005

Apolo wins 500m bronze in Bormio!

Congratulations to Apolo Ohno on reaching the podium for the 2nd time in as many days! He won bronze in the 500m final today in Bormio, finishing third behind Hyun-soo Ahn (gold) and Eric Bedard (silver). Francois-Louis Tremblay was 4th. This was an awesome performance -- Apolo was 4th off the line and held his own in this talented field. In addition, this is his first appearance on the 500m medal stand this season.

Men's 500m medalists: Eric Bedard (silver), Hyun-soo Ahn (gold), Apolo Ohno (bronze)

photo by Armando Trabucchi/Bormio Ghiaccio

Meng Wang is back to her winning ways with a gold-medal performance in the women's 500m final. Evgenia Radova won silver, with Kalyna Roberge capturing bronze. Tiayu Fu was 4th.

Congratulations to Apolo, Eric, Kalyna and all the other medalists!

[Update - Relay semis] The U.S. men easily qualified for the final by finishing 2nd behind Korea in their relay semi. For a good part of the race, Korea and the U.S. seemed to be trading the lead after every exchange, but with about 12 laps to go Korea took the lead and kept it as the Americans eased up to finish a safe 2nd, 11 seconds back.

The U.S. women finished 3rd in their relay semifinal behind China and Italy, so they won't appear in the final. Still, this result puts them in the top 8 overall, where they need to be after next weekend in order to qualify to skate the relay in Torino. So far, so good!

Posted by noelle at 10:39 AM | Comments (6)

World Cup Bormio Day 2 - 500m qualifying

500m spots for U.S. men in jeopardy; Canadians and U.S. women all on track

With the number of skaters competing this weekend, the men had six rounds of the 500m scheduled, and the women had five rounds, setting the stage for another long day of racing in Bormio.

Yikes! Rusty hits the boards in Bormio photo by REUTERS/Max Rossi
Setting aside Apolo's strong performance, things have been mildly disastrous on the men's side today. Going into World Cups 3 and 4, the U.S. men had a real shot at qualifying three men for Torino in the 500m. In order to do so, they would need to have 3 guys ranked in the top 8 at this distance after this weekend and next.

That now seems like a tall (if not impossible) order. Right now we don't even have two guys in the top 32, the requirement to qualify 2 skaters for the 500m in Torino. At #3, Apolo is the only U.S. man ranked in the top 32 right now. The other U.S. men will need to regroup and refocus for The Hague to be sure of even securing that 2nd spot for the U.S.

J.P. Kepka and Rusty Smith, both 500m specialists, unexpectedly bowed out in the early going. Kepka finished 3rd in his 1st-round preliminary. J.P. must have slipped, because he finished 2 seconds off the pace. Then Smith, who moved on to the 2nd-round heats, fell in his race and was eliminated as well after he finished last. No disqualifications were made in either skater's race so it seems like some bad luck.

Apolo skates in the 500m qualifying rounds photo by REUTERS/Max Rossi
Apolo won all his heats outright (despite drawing outside start positions more than once!) and also posted the fastest time of the day, 41.713 in his quarter final. He was briefly rewarded for those efforts with an inside lane draw for his semi, against Ahn, Turcotte and Jiajun Li before reverting to 4th again for his final.

On the women's side, things went more smoothly, though only Hyo-jung Kim made it as far as the semifinals. Allison Baver was eliminated after finishing 3rd in her 2nd-round heat. Caroline Hallisey didn't move on from the quarter finals.

Kim had a great run, but had the unlucky outside starting position in her decisive semi final and was unable to move on to the final.

More importantly at this point, all three U.S. women are ranked in the top 32 for both the 1500 and the 500. Keep up that consistency, ladies!

The Canadians are doing an excellent job meeting their goals for the first of the Olympic qualifying meets. As expected, they excelled in the 500m today, with all 6 of their skaters (3 men and 3 women) ranking in the top 8 for the 500m, once again putting them on track to secure the maximum three spots for Torino.

Posted by noelle at 7:21 AM | Comments (2)

November 11, 2005

World Cup Bormio Day 1 - 1500m

Apolo wins 1500m gold!

Great job by Apolo in winning the 1500m today in Bormio against a strong field of 3 Koreans and 2 Canadians! He moved from 5th to take the lead with 8 laps to go, then came from 3rd to win the race in the final lap. It's another sweet victory for Apolo, as he is now 2 for 3 in this distance for the season.

This is a distance Apolo always seems to win in Bormio -- the ice likes him and he likes it! Congratulations also to silver medalist Ho-suk Lee and bronze medalist Charles Hamelin. Mathieu Turcotte finished 4th, Hyun-soo Ahn 5th and Ho-jin Seo was 6th.

Apolo Ohno leads Ho-suk Lee, Charles Hamelin and Mathieu Turcotte in the 1500m final

photo by Armando Trabucci/Bormio Ghiaccio

The Korean women seem back in form, with Sun-yu Jin and Eun-kyung Choi taking 1st and 2nd, respectively, with China's Yang Yang A winning bronze. Three Koreans and three Chinese contested the women's final. Maybe a little surprising to see Meng Wang out of the medals after her dominant performances in the Asian World Cups last month.

So far, the Korean men and women, Canadian men and Chinese women have set themselves up very nicely to gain the maximum number of 1500m spots in Torino.

[Update] Congrats to the U.S. men's and women's relay teams who both advance to tomorrow's relay semifinals. The men won both their relay heat and quarter final races today. The women were 2nd in their heat. Great job!

1500m qualifying rounds
It was a long first day of qualifying in Bormio, with crowded heats of 6 and 7 skaters. Though there aren't as many qualifying rounds in the 1500m since they can have more skaters in each race, it just takes a while to get through all the races due to the length of the 1500m. There is really no easy heat either, when you're trying to maintain or move into a qualifying position in these crowded fields!

All the U.S. skaters made it out of their opening round to the quarter finals. Kimberly Derrick was eliminated in the 2nd round after finishing 5th in her quarter final. J.P. Kepka was eliminated as well when he was disqualified after crossing the line in 2nd in his quarter final.

Hyo-jung Kim, Allison Baver and Rusty Smith all made it to the semis, where they were eliminated, leaving Apolo Ohno as the only American in the 1500m finals against a depressingly strong field of three Koreans and two Canadians. No Canadian women made it into the women's final either, a field equally divided among 3 Korean and 3 Chinese skaters.

Posted by noelle at 10:16 AM | Comments (15)

November 10, 2005

Ciao ragazzi!

[update] Race schedule has been revised - see post below this one for updated times!

Travis Jayner is in Bormio for the first time. He sent these rave reviews that his family has shared with us:

Besides the great view, the great ice and the fact that I am in a small skiing town in the Alps the food is great too. Wow. I really wish I could share that with you all. The Italians just really know how to eat. It is great. Everything is awesome and I mean everything. Hot chocolate as thick as chocolate bars, jams, bread, the list goes on and on but the pasta is great. The food is something that the whole team looks forward to. I wish you could see everyone before meals.

Wouldn't it be great to go to Italy with the metabolism of an athlete? And there isn't anywhere in that town without an amazing view!

Bormio Ghiaccio is already posting photos up on their World Cup site! Click here to see the rest.

Fabio Carta, Apolo Ohno, Nicola Rodigari

photo by Armando Trabucchi

Draw and starting lineups
The opening draw has taken place in Bormio and heat lists are posted now on Cyberscoreboard. Holy cow, there are a lot of skaters there. Everyone's looking for that shot at going to Torino.

There will be 4 rounds of 1500m on day one for both ladies and men, and the guys have to do six rounds of the 500m on Saturday, including 21 heats in the prelims! They are calling round 3 the 'eighth finals.' The men will have to skate 4 rounds of the relay as well, which in the past has meant both quarter and semi finals on Saturday.

For the USA, Hyo-jung Kim, Allison Baver, Kimberly Derrick, Caroline Hallisey and Kristen Biondo will all skate individually though only Kim and Baver skate all 3 distances. For the men it's Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith and J.P. Kepka skating all three distances.

Posted by noelle at 1:42 PM | Comments (14)

November 9, 2005

Bormio World Cup Race Schedule

World Cup #3 in Bormio, Italy

Here's the schedule for those of you that want to watch the results online. Times have been updated since I originally posted them:

Day 1: 1500m, Relay Prelims
Friday, November 11th, 2005, at 11:20am
Eastern Time: 05:20 AM
Central Time: 04:20 AM
Mountain Time: 03:20 AM
Pacific Time: 02:20 AM

Day 2: 500m, Relay Semifinals
Saturday, November 12th, 2005, at 11:00am
Eastern Time: 05:00 AM
Central Time: 04:00 AM
Mountain Time: 03:00 AM
Pacific Time: 02:00 AM

Day 3: 1000m, Relay Finals, 3000m
Sunday, November 13th, 2005, at 10:30am
Eastern Time: 04:30 AM
Central Time: 03:30 AM
Mountain Time: 02:30 AM
Pacific Time: 01:30 AM

For more information, check out the Bormio World Cup website here.

You can check out the live races on Live Cyberscoreboard at these times, or check out the results on Cyberscoreboard.

If you'd like to chat with other fans during the races, you can join the OZ Chat group - You'll need a Yahoo! ID to register. Hope to see some of you there!

World Cup #3 is the first of two World Cups in Europe that serve as Olympic qualifiers to determine which countries will compete in Torino and how many skaters they'll be able to send per distance. Beyond that, I haven't had time to wrap my mind around the complicated formulas. WorldShortTrack.com has a detailed analysis available.

(thanks to Yano/RustySmith.com for letting me copy info!)

Posted by noelle at 10:29 PM | Comments (5)

October 12, 2005

Another post-Korea followup

It's getting hard to keep up with the media blitz. Here's another follow up article about Apolo's experiences in Korea. He expands on some of the remarks in yesterday's AP report, saying Sunday was his worst day health-wise, and Hyo-jung Kim adds her perspective on Koreans' sentiments towards Apolo.

AFP/Yahoo News | Ex-villain Ohno overjoyed with Korean cheers

Seoul-born US citizen Hyo-Jung Kim, a 16-year-old women's short track Olympic hopeful, was raised in South Korea until moving here to train two years ago. Kim said Koreans had been angry at Ohno in 2002 but have gotten over it.

"They were, but not any more," she said. "I think they're changing a lot. They are open minded. (But) I'm sure they are still not all fans."

Posted by noelle at 6:47 PM | Comments (3)

October 9, 2005

The legend grows

Apolo won gold in an exhilarating 1000m final today in Seoul after being disqualified two days in a row, showing once again what a brilliant come-from-behind skater he is. Apolo started off in 4th and slowly picked his way forward, taking the lead with a lap to go. He also beat Ahn and Lee on their home ice which has to make it all sweeter. What an amazing champion! Congratulations Apolo! You did it -- one of the sweetest victories ever!

Its shades of his impressive comeback six months ago in Beijing at the World Championships -- and others before that.

And then -- Apolo did it all over again in the 3000 superfinal! He took control of that race and won it too, with a terrific burst of speed in the closing laps. His victory in the 3k means Apolo also snatches the overall title for World Cup #2 in the day's last race.

I don't have words to express how HUGE this performance is. But think about it -- ankle injury, riot police, angry fans, meddling reporters, two disqualifications and even a stomach bug -- and Apolo calmly puts it behind him and goes on to win the whole freakin' thing. WAY TO GO, OHNO!

Look at this thing of beauty:
1000m victory - Apolo wins, Jiajun Li 2nd, Hyun-soo Ahn 3rd, Ho-suk Lee 4th

3000m superfinal - Apolo wins ahead of Ahn and Lee

photo by Finishlynx

The photos really say it all.

Overall classification - men
1. Apolo Anton Ohno - USA (68)
2. Hyun-soo Ahn - KOR (68)
3. Ho-suk Lee - KOR (34)
4. Jiajun Li - CHN (29)
5. Mathieu Turcotte - CAN (26)
6. Jon Eley - GBR (11)
10. J.P. Kepka - USA
15. Rusty Smith - USA

Overall classification - women
1. Chun-sa Byun - KOR (63)
2. Evgenia Radanova - BUL (55)
3. Tatiana Borodulina - RUS (21)
4. Sun-yu Jin - KOR (13)
5. Nina Evteeva - RUS
6. Allison Baver - USA
7. Hyo-jung Kim - USA

Relays: Congrats to the U.S. men on making it to the relay final. So maybe they didn't get onto the podium, but right now we're making finals consistently, something that hasn't always been the case.

Right now the U.S. men are ranked 4th overall and the women are 7th (without the DQ in Seoul they'd be looking at possibly a higher ranking). Great momentum and right where we need to be, heading into the upcoming Olympic qualifiers at World Cups 3 and 4 next month in Europe!

top photo by REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won

Posted by noelle at 2:02 AM | Comments (31)

Seoul World Cup Day 3 news roundup

On Thursday afternoon, I had received an update on how Apolo and the U.S. team were faring in Korea. Though Apolo's ankle was markedly improved -- fortunately, faster than anyone anticipated -- a stomach bug was spreading quickly through the skaters' ranks. It affected Apolo as well as other members of the U.S. team (in addition to many other teams as well). As if one more thing needed to go wrong!

Not wanting OZ to provide fodder for yet more speculative AP headlines (and also not knowing exactly how sick anyone was) I opted to mention this in the chat only. Now that someone else has broken the news, here is the first press report:

Ohno's performance Sunday was made more meaningful after a U.S. speedskating team official told The Associated Press after the meet that the skater had been suffering from an intestinal virus for the past couple of days, AP reports.

Ohno returned to his hotel room shortly after his last race Sunday and was connected to a IV saline drip, the team's press attache said on condition of anonymity.

Also, from a security and comfort standpoint, everything has gone perfectly in Korea. The organizing committee kept their promise to Apolo that he wouldn't have to worry about his safety. Additional USOC support staff helped greatly with security, medical issues and media relations. The presence of coach Jimmy Jang and the father of Hyo-jung Kim, who with their local connections and knowledge were able to ensure the team had everything they needed, also provided great comfort. The only dissatisfactory aspect was the organizing committee's unwillingness for Apolo to hold a press conference.
***
More articles

[UPDATED]
US Speedskating | Ohno Clinches World Cup 2 Title

Much to the delight of millions of speed skating fans, all the hackneyed wordplay using Apolo Ohno’s last name (Oh Yes, Ohno!; Ohno, He Did it Again!) is once again making its round in headlines across the world Sunday after the U.S. Speedskating superstar clinched the World Cup 2 title.

"Apolo faced different challenges this weekend in Seoul and fought hard on the final day to win," U.S. Speedskating short track head coach Li Yan said to sum up Ohno’s World Cup 2 victory. "He controlled his races today and was aggressive, which made the difference."

Korea Times | Ohno Tops Overall Series

Ahn Hyun-soo failed to keep his dominance over archrival Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States at the final phase of the second meet of the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Seoul, Sunday.

With a last-day rally, Ohno, who was disqualified in the 500-meter and 1,500-meter events, took the first spot in the men's overall classification ahead of Ahn. Both had 68 points but Ohno had the advantage of winning the long-distance event.

Korea Times | Song Takes Bronze Medal in 500-Meter Final at World Cup

Jiajun Li and Eric Bedard stayed ahead from the beginning, with Song struggling to catch-up despite a tremendous effort in the final lap.

However, the race lacked the spark of enthusiasm as Song’s compatriots Ahn Hyun-soo and Lee Ho-suk along with Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States and China’s Li Jiajun were absent after they were disqualified for fouls in the quarter-final and semi-final.

Posted by noelle at 2:01 AM | Comments (6)

More on Seoul Day 2

US Speedskating | U.S. Men's Relay Team Makes Fantastic Recovery

We saw the U.S. men run into some difficulty in yesterday's relay semifinal after getting off to a smooth start. Here's what happened:

The U.S. men experienced a scary moment in the last half of the race when the team went down after positioning itself in a safe second place behind the Koreans. The Japanese team took over second as the U.S. team recovered. Working together and fighting hard to the finish, the U.S. men regained second place with one lap to go and skated a time of 7:01.457.

"Our guys fought hard today and showed that they could recover from a fall and still qualify," U.S. Speedskating short track head coach Li Yan said. "They worked together and never gave up, which is why we came back to qualify for the final."

Nice job on the recovery, guys!

And Derrick Campbell on the nature of the 500m after Apolo and Rusty were both disqualified yesterday, and J.P. didn't make it out of heats:

"To be a successful 500 meter skater, you need a very strong start, world class speed, and excellent racing skills." Explaining the difficulty the U.S. men experienced, Campbell stated, "In the 500 meters at the highest level of international competition the skaters have very polished racing skills and are tough to pass once in qualifying position."

Posted by noelle at 1:08 AM | Comments (0)

October 8, 2005

Seoul World Cup Day 2 - Bad juju continues

It's been hard to watch this competition! Psychologically we knew it wouldn't be an easy World Cup but troubles just keep mounting for Team USA. They're handing out the DQ's like candy in Seoul, that's for sure! Is this some kind of judging crackdown prior to the Olympic qualifiers next month?

Strange goings-on in Seoul among the men. DQ number two for Ohno -- and for Smith? Doesn't seem possible... I've already received my first taunting email from Korea. Francois-Louis Tremblay was disqualified in the same quarter final as Apolo. Apolo appeared to win his race but we didn't get long to celebrate before the DQ flashed across... accompanied by disqualification for Tremblay, who finished last. Photo finish

Spirits in the chat were definitely lifted when one race later Hyun-soo Ahn met the same fate. Earlier, Ho-suk Lee, was disqualified one heat prior to Apolo's. So the gods of short track are keepinig things somewhat balanced.

Rusty added to the Americans' hard-luck case with his 2nd consecutive disqualification as well. Rusty's came in his 2nd-round heat. He started from lane 5 and the finish to this race was pretty wild. Rusty crossed the finish line on his backside. Hopefully none the worse for the wear!

Only J.P. Kepka had a normal exit from competition, though it too came too early (in the heats).

Things were calmer with the women. Allison Baver was the sole female survivor for the U.S. of the opening rounds as Caroline Hallisey and Hyo-jung Kim bowed out after their 2nd-round heats. Baver finished 3rd in her quarter final and did not move on. Yang Yang A was yet another heavy hitter who exited prematurely, with a DQ in her quarter final.

Okay, all that said... it's interesting to see what can happen when so many top skaters go down early. Great job by Jon Eley of Great Britain getting into his first invididual World Cup final! Canada has clearly recovered faster than projected from their grueling Olympic trials and tropical vacation, as they succeeded in qualifying 4 skaters into today's finals.

The women's final was a great combination of two Canadians and two Chinese. Alanna Kraus made her first individual World Cup final since 2003-04 and it was the 2nd ever for Kalyna Roberge. For her efforts, Roberge takes home bronze, well done! Eric Bedard skated a strong final and though he couldn't hold on for the win, he adds another silver medal to Canadai's hardware collection this weekend. Congratulations!

Women's 500m final: 1. Meng Wang, 2. Tianyu Fu, 3. Kalyna Roberge, 4. Alanna Kraus
Men's 500m final: 1. Haonan Li, 2. Eric Bedard, 3. Suk-woo Song, 4. Jon Eley, 5. Baojian Wang

Tomorrow is another day! And Apolo has many times before shown us how he can turn things around. Go USA!!

Oh yeah, and we're gonna be in the men's relay final, so that's something good for the USA that happened today!

Posted by noelle at 1:54 AM | Comments (18)

October 7, 2005

Seoul World Cup Day 1

1500m finals

Of all the things to have happen at a meet in Korea, Apolo getting disqualified ranks pretty far down towards the bottom of my list because it plays into some of the Korean fans' and media's darker views. What a pity! He did make it to the 1500m final though where he skated a valiant race, only to finish out of the medals and was subsequently disqualified, to general dismay in the land of OZ.

Inevitably, Hyun-soo Ahn won the race, with teammate Ho-suk Lee getting bronze. Mathieu Turcotte intervened to win silver for Canada. For a while the two Koreans were in front, followed by three Canadians and then Apolo. It would be interesting to know if his disqualification came as he tried to work his way back up or not. The Korea Times reports that Apolo was disqualified for impeding on Lee.

In any case, making this final has to count as a big psychological victory even if Apolo doesn't have any hardware to show for it! He's skating on a much-improved but still sore ankle and had to conquer demons to compete here at all. Now he can start to put this behind and move on to the next challenge.

It was exciting to see all 3 Canadian men make it to the 1500m semifinal -- evidently skating a stronger game than they've been talking. In a day filled with disqualifications, Jonathan Guilmette made it in after being advanced following a fall in his semi final. Does anyone else think it's odd that he was advanced without another skater being disqualified? That is a first in my book.

All three Chinese women made it into the women's final - no North Americans! Still, it seemed likely that Koreans were going to win this race as Chun-sa Byun and Sun-yu Jin appeared to have control of the race during the middle laps. Then with 4 laps to go, Evgenia Radanova powered from 5th to 1st with Yang Yang A on her heels. Yang seized the lead in the final lap for the victory, with Radanova second and Jin and Byun 3rd and 4th. Very cool race!

1500m qualifying
Breathed a sigh of relief to see Apolo get that first race on Korean ice under his belt. He wasn't eased in gradually either, since he faced Se-jong Oh in his heat followed by Hyun-soo Ahn in his quarter final. But Apolo got the job done nicely. He went to win his semi final to become the lone U.S. skater to make it to the finals.

Rusty Smith faced Ahn in his opening heat and finished 2nd. Unfortunately he was disqualified in his quarter final, evidently for impeding. J.P. Kepka made it through the first two rounds uneventfully. Skating in a crowded 7-man field for his semifinal he started strong but faded to 6th.

Kristen Biondo was eliminated in the heats. Hyo-jung Kim and Allison Baver both made it to the semifinals where they were eliminated despite strong efforts.

Relay heats
The heartbreak adds up. As of this writing, the U.S. women's relay team of Baver, Kim, Kimberly Derrick and Caroline Hallisey appeared to skate to a strong 2nd-place finish in their heat behind Canada but they too were disqualified afterwards. Will update men's results later.

The U.S. men -- Ohno, Smith, Kepka and Travis Jayner -- won their heat, ahead of Japan, Netherlands and Russia and qualified for the relay semis.

Posted by noelle at 3:11 AM | Comments (5)

October 5, 2005

Seoul World Cup schedule - updated with starting heats

Here are the start times for World Cup 2:

Day 1
Thursday, October 6 at 11:30 PM ET | 10:30 PM CT | 9:30PM MT | 8:30PM PT
There will be 4 rounds of men and 3 rounds of ladies

Day 2
Friday, October 7 at 11:30 PM ET | 10:30 PM CT | 9:30PM MT | 8:30PM PT
5 rounds each of men and ladies

Day 3
Saturday, October 8 at 9:20PM ET | 8:20PM CT | 7:20PM MT | 6:20PM PT
5 rounds of men and ladies

Watch results live at Live Cyberscoreboard.

The chat room will be open -- you can join here if you haven't yet!
***

Opening lineups for 1500m heats:

Men
Heat 2 - Rusty Smith (Rusty gets to go against Hyun-soo Ahn all weekend long in his first round heats!)
Heat 4 - Apolo Ohno (he has a lesser-known Korean, Se-jong Oh. Oh was last active during the 2002-03 season)
Heat 10 - J.P. Kepka

Women
Heat 1 - Hyo-jung Kim
Heat 4 - Kristen Biondo
Heat 9 - Allison Baver

Reminder: The men will skate first since they have 1 extra round to skate.

Relay heats:
USA women are in heat 1 with Canada, Hungary and Italy. Top 2 teams plus next 2 fastest 3rd advance to the semifinals. USA men also skate in heat 1 against Japan, Netherlands and Russia. Top 2 teams in each heat advance to semis.

We'll see the first of Caroline Hallisey in international competition for quite some time. She is slated to skate the 500m on Saturday. Seems surprising that two-time World Champ Eun-kyung Choi still isn't skating individually for Korea. She did participate in the relay last weekend in China.

Posted by noelle at 5:29 PM | Comments (12)

October 3, 2005

Update on Apolo, his injury and South Korea

A lengthy AP article just came across the wires. Sounds like Apolo is on the mend from his ankle injury, saying it feels 'much better' but he'll take things day to day. Apolo says he was reassured by the tight security greeting him upon arrival, but is frustrated that his access to the Korean media is being blocked -- apparently by the local organizing committe. Apolo sees this as his best opportunity to speak directly to the Korean public and he's already issued statements reflecting his goodwill towards Korea and Koreans.

Associated Press | Ohno tries to mend wounds in South Korea amid security
(via USA Today)

Ohno still wants to get his message out to South Korean fans. He hopes organizers will loosen up their restrictions on the media.

"I guess we're running into some problems about whether it's a good idea," he said. "On our side, we definitely think so. All the people from the U.S. definitely want to set something up and have a positive influence."

Posted by noelle at 9:57 PM | Comments (7)

Security turns out in force for Apolo's arrival in Seoul

Associated Press | Tight security for skater Ohno at airport

INCHEON, South Korea -- Apolo Ohno, whose 2002 Olympic gold medal angered South Koreans, arrived Monday amid tight airport security for a short-track competition.

About 100 riot police stood guard as the American short-track star arrived and left Incheon International Airport outside Seoul.

Ohno was the target of strong criticism in South Korea after winning the 1,500-meter short-track final at the Salt Lake City Games. South Korea's Kim Dong-sung finished first but was disqualified for impeding Ohno.

Ohno severely sprained an ankle during a race in China on Sunday but hopes to compete in a World Cup event that begins Friday in Seoul.

News photos:
The scene at Seoul airport

South Korean riot police officers stand guard to protect U.S. speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno from protesters at the Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, Monday, Oct. 3, 2005. Ohno, whose controversial Olympic gold medal angered South Koreans in 2002, arrived for a short-track competition on Monday as authorities provided tight security for him over concerns of violence. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Policemen, security guards hired by the Korea Skating Union, and officials from the U.S. embassy in Seoul escort U.S. short track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno as he arrives at an airport in Inchon, west of Seoul October 3, 2005. Ohno arrived in South Korea to compete in 2005-2006 ISU Short Track World Cup second event to be held in Seoul October 7-9. (REUTERS/Jeon Kyung-woo/Newsis)

I also received this photo of the scene at Seoul airport from an OZ operative not connected to the U.S. team:

This witness describes the scene:
It looked like George Bush was arriving at the Korean airport today with about 100 police officers lined up and TV crews waiting. I thought it was for the Korean team arriving back but it was a security measure for Apolo. Two people came out of the luggage area and were mobbed accidentally because they were assumed to be Apolo. Then Apolo finally came out. TV crews and reporters were just going crazy and broke through the security as they ran him out of the terminal into a car. They ran him behind that red rope [you see in the photo above].

Posted by noelle at 10:13 AM | Comments (16)

October 2, 2005

World Cup Day 3

Ankle injury forces Apolo out of competition in Hangzhou

Just before the 1000m finals yesterday, an unsettling announcement flashed across Live Cyberscoreboard: Apolo would sit out the 3000m with an injury. In fact, he also skipped the men's relay final and we can now understand what caused Apolo's stunning upset in the 1000m qualifying rounds, where he failed to make it out of the heats. According to Apolo's dad who is with him in China:

Apolo's injury stems from the 500m quarter final. With 1 lap to go in the straightaway, a push by the Canadian skater sent him flying through the air. He landed on the ice on his hip and ankle. Apolo was able to finish that race and was then advanced to the semi final round due to the Canadian skater's DQ.

Today, Apolo had a hard time using his ankle to push in the 1000m prelim and heats. The U.S. coaches and USOC doctor unanimously advised him not to skate further events in order to protect his injured ankle and I agree 100% that this was the correct decision. I was able to manage through a Chinese interpreter to have an additional doctor on call to the ice rink for immediate treatment along with the USOC's doctor.

Apolo has a severely sprained ankle. We are all on the same page that the priority must be a full recovery from this injury. We certainly hope that his recovery is fast enough so he can compete in Seoul [next week at World Cup #2].

Thanks to Yuki Ohno for letting us know Apolo's status and details of his injury. As heartsick as we all were to hear he had been hurt, it's a huge relief to know he's taking the right precautions and has a great team looking after him! Be safe, Apolo. We send you all our best wishes for a speedy recovery!
***

Relay finals
It was exciting to see both the U.S. men and women in the relay finals in Hangzhou -- a great start to the season and a very promising sign leading up to the Olympic qualifiers next month in Europe. Both teams finished 4th yesterday in their finals.

The U.S. women's team of Hyo-jung Kim, Kristen Biondo, Allison Baver and Caroline Hallisey were right there with the Korean and Canadian teams at the finish. The U.S. men (Travis Jayner, Rusty Smith, J.P. Kepka and Alex Izykowski), along with the Canadian team, finished well off the pace behind the Korean and Chinese teams, but considering the absence of their anchor and Jayner skating on backup blades, we think they put in a fine performance. This is just the beginning!

Alex Izykowski in an exchange during the men's relay final

photo by sina.com

1000m finals and qualifying
The Chinese women -- and Meng Wang in particular -- continued their domination and Wang completed her sweep, with a victory in the 1000m. Yang Yang A took silver and Korea settled for a bronze by Sun-yu Jin. Hyun-soo Ahn upgraded his two previous silvers with a victory in the men's final (and kept the red helmet cover after all - I'll never tempt fate with a flip remark about that again). Jiajun Li earned silver and Ho-suk Lee took bronze.

Most of the wind left our sails after Apolo Ohno failed to advance out of his 1000m heat in the 2nd qualifying round today. I had come up with what now seems like a totally improbably scenario to explain this, but at the time we had no inkling of his injury.

Apolo skates in his 1000m heat

photo by sina.com

The performance of the remaining skaters rallied the stalwart group of fans 'watching' the races together, as alone among the U.S. skaters, J.P. Kepka and Allison Baver advanced through to the semi finals.

J.P. gave it his all in a loaded (and crowded) semi with a surge to the front midway through the race, but he finished out of qualifying position and was then disqualified for his efforts. Alex Izykowski skated a strong prelim in the same heat as Hyun-soo Ahn. Though he made a late pass to finish 2nd, Alex was disqualified and did not move on.

On the women's side, only Allison Baver made it to the semifinals. She put in a strong effort in a tough field but was never able to put herself into qualifying position. It's been pointed out that she earned a new personal best of 1:31.134 for her efforts, shaving more than. .4 sec. off her previous mark set earlier this year in Beijing -- congratulations to Allison!

Earlier, Hyo-jung Kim finished last in a very tough quarter final. Kimberly Derrick was unable to move up in her opening race and was eliminated in the preliminaries.

3000m superfinals
No energy or enthusiasm to talk about the 3000m races. For women's results, go here and for men's results, go here. (Seeing that DNS by Apolo's name made me flinch!)

Overall standings - Four top 10 finishes for U.S. skaters
Apolo still managed to finish 4th overall in spite of his difficulties on days 2 and 3.

Men's rankings: 1. Hyun-soo Ahn, 2. Jiajun Li, 3. Ho-suk Lee, 4. Apolo Ohno, 5. Ho-jin Seo, 8. J.P. Kepka
Women's rankings: 1. Meng Wang, 2. Yang Yang A, 3. Sun-yu Jin, 4. Evgenia Radanova, 5. Nina Evteeva, 7. Allison Baver, 8. Hyo-jung Kim, 22. Kimberly Derrick

Complete race results are available at Cyberscoreboard.

Congratulations to the whole U.S. team on some very strong performances in Hangzhou. Here's hoping their luck turns around a bit for Seoul.

Posted by noelle at 6:02 AM | Comments (34)

October 1, 2005

World Cup Day 2

Apolo peeks out from behind Li as Tremblay leads during their 500m semi

photo by sina.com

Relay semifinals
Both U.S. teams put in strong performances to qualify for tomorrow's (tonight's) relay finals. The women finished a strong 2nd in their semifinal. They'll face Canada, Korea and China in the final. The U.S. men skated very strong, in 2nd and qualifying position for most of the race behind Canada. In the final two laps Apolo made his trademark late burst of speed to surge past the Canadians, who had been leading most of the race, and give Team USA the win. The men's relay final will also feature the U.S., Canada, Korea and China.

Congratulations to the U.S. ladies who set new American 3000m relay record in their semifinal, as reported by US Speedskating: U.S. Team Breaks a Blade and a Record

500m finals
Unfortunately, no Americans and just one Canadian made it to the finals today. The Chinese are having a great weekend and making the local fans happy! Jiajun Li won 500m gold for the men while Meng Wang and Tianyu Fu claimed gold and silver on the ladies' side, with Evgenia Radanova 3rd.

Francois-Louis Tremblay snuck in at the end for a bronze -- edging Haonan Li by just two one-thousandths. You can see from the photo finish this was a close race! Unfortunately for us, Hyun-soo Ahn's second silver in a row means he gets to take the overall leader's red helmet cover away from Apolo -- for the time being.

China Daily | China sweep 500m golds in short track speedskating World Cup

Contains this annoying line: "With the cover from Fu Tianyu, the 20-year-old Wang Meng claimed the title in women's 500m..."

500m qualifying

Prelims
The day got off to a mixed start for Team USA. Two women (Kim and Baver) and two men (Ohno and Kepka) advanced easily out of the opening prelimaries of the 500m. Kimberly Derrick finished 3rd in her race. Skating in one of the slower heats, she was unable to move on as one of the eight fastest 3rds. Travis Jayner did not finish his prelim heat for unknown reasons. We hope he is ok and will pass along news when we can!

[Update] Travis was unable to skate because he broke off a bit of his blade at the very start of his heat. We hear Travis is pretty disappointed about this devlopment. That's understandable -- a skater wants to skate, after all! But over here we're pretty happy that (paraphrasing Trisha) it's Travis' equipment that broke, and not Travis himself! He does have backup blades and he'll get those ready for the rest of the weekend and Korea.

In two of the more improbable scenarios in the opening round, it was fun to see Brazil's Felipe de Souza move on. He won his heat in a time of 54.355 after an apparently wild race with a disqualification of a German skater and the advancement of another skater. Also, Yang Yang A finished last in her prelim after an apparent fall and did not move on.

Heats
For the women, only Allison Baver moved on to the quarter finals after she was advanced due to interference in her heat. Hyo-jung Kim was eliminated after finishing third in a field of three very capable skaters, only two of whom could continue on. J.P. Kepka and Apolo Ohno both made it through to the quarters easily.

Quarter finals
Baver bowed out, leaving no American women in the hunt. Ohno had a bumpy ride. He was leading but Eric Bedard appeared to have bumped him in his attempt to move up in the last lap, which dropped Apolo to 3rd. Bedard was subsequently DQ'ed and Apolo advanced to the semis where he'll be joined by Kepka, who enjoyed smooth sailing to this point.

Semi finals
End of the road for U.S. medal hopes... and disappointment for OZ stalwarts. Apolo finished 3rd behind Francois-Louis Tremblay and Jiajun Li, and was subsequently disqualified for impeding, though no advancements were made. Also not sure when the last time was that we saw Jiajun beat Apolo!

J.P. also won't move on after a third-place finish in his semifinal. Nice effort by our guys and gals today though... and the quiet Tremblay shows again that he's the class of the talented Canadian squad as he alone makes it through to the final today.

Posted by noelle at 5:36 AM | Comments (17)

September 30, 2005

Apolo strikes gold in Hangzhou - World Cup Day 1

To bring back a catchphrase from 2002 -- OH YEAH OHNO!

Awesome start to the season, OZ fans! Apolo won his first gold of the season in impressive fashion, dominating the 1500m final from start to finish. He started strong, going right to the front and staying there, which was a little easier on this fan's heart after the cliffhanger of his semifinal. Silver goes to archrival Hyun-soo Ahn and bronze to Ye Li. Lone Canadian Charles Hamelin finished 6th. Congratulations, Apolo!!!

More info: Ohno Starts Season Off with Gold Medal

Derrick Campbell: "Apolo skated an aggressive but controlled tactical race, which is what it takes to win in short track. He did an excellent job of counter-attacking all attempts by the Koreans to control the race."

Men's 1500m final - Apolo Ohno, Ye Li, Hyun-soo Ahn

photo courtesy sina.com

Women's 1500m final: It wasn't necessarily the ideal scenario for the average OZ fan. In what's becoming a familiar pattern, all 6 Korean and Chinese women who'd dominated the heats skated in the final. Meng Wang of China won, followed by Koreans Sun-yu Jin and Chun-sa Byun. It's nice to see Byun, reportedly the whistle blower in the Korean abuse scandal, back on the ice.

[Update] - You can read comments by Hamelin and Amanda Overland here.

1500m qualifying
Things got off to a strong start for team USA as 5 out of 6 skaters advanced out of their opening 1500m heats. Kimberly Derrick, skating in her first World Cup, did not move on but she skated a strong race against seasoned competitors, in qualifying position till near the end.

Travis Jayner got tripped up in his quarterfinal. He finished an exciting first but was then disqualified... may have been when he moved from 3rd to 1st in the race's final lap.

Allison Baver and Hyo-jung Kim both bowed out in their respective semi-finals after strong efforts amid very stiff competition. It was JP Kepka's turn next, leaving just Apolo Ohno to represent the USA in the finals. He made things awfully exciting for us in the semi, hanging at the back for most of the race and then making his move from last up to 2nd in the final 2 laps.

[Relays - Update] Another great start to the season for the U.S. relay teams. Both the men and women qualified for the semifinals. The U.S. men won their heat and the U.S. women were 2nd to Korea in theirs. Nice to also see Suk-woo Song, who got banged up pretty bad in Budapest in February, back again. He skated for Korea in the relay.

Fall Fashions
Finally, what would a new season be without new styles? The Canadians as usual are sporting an eye-catching new look -- a trippy new design with... is it polka dots? While the Americans appear to be wearing basic black... er, navy... not sure if this is the new look, or they're still testing skinsuits as we saw from their training camp in Oregon over the summer.

Posted by noelle at 3:51 AM | Comments (16)

September 29, 2005

World Cup 1 preview

As the skaters ranked 1st and 2nd, Apolo Ohno and J.P. Kepka skate all 3 individual distances at the World Cups. Rusty Smith has opted to skate the individual races at World Cup #2 next week in Seoul so Travis Jayner and Alex Izykowski share the distances this weekend with Travis skating the 1500m and 500m and Alex the 1000m.

Similarly, for the ladies, Hyo-jung Kim and Allison Baver skate all individual distances. Kimberly Derrick will join them in Hangzhou while Kristen Biondo and Caroline Hallisey will split the distances in Seoul.

The opening draw has been held in Hangzhou so we now know who's going to be skating in what heat. Here's the lineup for the U.S. skaters in tonight's 1500m:

Ladies 1500m
Baver - heat 3
Derrick - heat 5
Kim - heat 8

Men 1500m
Ohno - heat 1 (geez - he has Jonathan Guilmette and Korean Ho-suk Lee!)
Kepka - heat 4 (has Fabio Carta)
Jayner - heat 12

The men will likely skate first since they have 3 rounds of qualifying vs. 2 for the ladies.

As for the relays, the U.S. women are in heat 1 with Japan, Germany and Korea. The top 2 teams in each heat plus the next two fastest 3rds will advance to the semis. The guys are also in heat one with France, Belgium and Japan. Only the top 2 in each heat advance.

It's definitely an Olympic year! Looks like a pretty fully-subscribed event. Countries like South Africa, India and Mongolia have sent both men's and women's teams to compete.

Want more info? All the heats are listed at Cyberscoreboard.

Posted by noelle at 9:28 AM | Comments (8)

September 28, 2005

World Cup #1 - Race Times and Chat

Ok, short track fans... the first World Cup of the season will be coming to us from the Dragon Sports Center in Hangzhou, China beginning in the wee hours of Thursday night/Friday morning. I believe the schedule is subject to change so I'll post updates as I become aware of them.

Day 1
Friday, Sept. 30 at 1:40AM ET | 12:40AM CT
Thursday, Sept. 29 at 11:40PM MT | 10:40PM PT

Day 2
Saturday, Oct. 1 at 2AM ET | 1AM CT | 12AM MT
Friday, Sept. 30 at 11PM PT

Day 3
Saturday, Oct. 1 at 10:30PM ET | 9:30PM CT | 8:30