February 11, 2007
Budapest World Cup day 3 - relay finals
Relay bronze for Team USA
Men's 5000m relay - A final
1. CHINA 6:54.719
2. KOREA 6:55.516
3. UNITED STATES 7:02.292
DQ CANADA
See photos from all 3 days of competition
Here's a description of the race from the ISU:
Canada took the lead 17 laps before the finish, China and Korea skating for the second place. A few laps to go and Korea came close to Canada, while it seemed that China would have to make do with the bronze. In the very last lap the Canadian and the Korean skater crashed into each other which allowed the Chinese to outskate both and take the gold. Korea came in as second and, with Canada disqualified, the USA received the bronze.
Women's 3000m relay - A final
1. CHINA 4:15.379
2. KOREA 4:15.679
3. ITALY 4:19.291
4. CANADA 4:21.536
The USA women skated in the relay B final, finishing 3rd behind Hungary and Germany.
Posted by noelle at 5:13 PM | Comments (11)
Budapest World Cup day 3 - 1000m results
1000m bronze for Jordan Malone, silver for Charles Hamelin!
Men's 1000m - A final
1. LEE, Ho-Suk KOR 1:28.623
2. HAMELIN, Charles CAN 1:28.666
3. MALONE, Jordan USA 1:28.732
4. BELLOTTI, Denis ITA 1:29.068
5. KNOCH, Viktor HUN 1:29.312
Women's 1000m - A final
1. JUNG, Eun-Ju KOR 1:34.536
2. BYUN, Chun-Sa KOR 1:34.711
3. ZHOU, Yang CHN 1:34.716
DQ ZHU, Mi Lei CHN
Man, some of these quarter final races seemed more like semis or finals. Alex Izykowski faced both Ho-suk Lee and Jeff Monette in his race and finished 3rd in his 1000m quarter final. Travis Jayner finished 4th behind Hyun-kon Kim, Latvia's Heralds Silovs who's had a very strong season, and hometown favorite Viktor Knoch. I pulled up the live scoreboard right at the start of Jordan's semi, featuring Tremblay, Maxime Chataignier and Nicola Rodigari. It looked pretty exciting with lots of passing. Jordan edged Flou at the line for the win.
In her quarter final, Kimberly Derrick had Mi Lei Zhu, Chun-sa Byun and Canadian newcomer Marianne St-Gelais. Kimberly and Marianne finished 3-4 and won't move on to the semis.
The semis got even crazier. Jordan again had Flou, along with Jeff Monette and major threat Lee. Jordan pulled from start to almost finish, but you could just sense Lee lurking in 3rd, waiting to unleash one of his patented come-from-behind outside passes. Can't know for sure, but he seems to have done just that, taking the lead in the final lap to win the race, with Jordan 2nd. Both Lee and Malone moved on to the A final with the two Canadians skating by themselves in the B final.
Anne Maltais, having qualified for the quarter finals on the strength of her win in the repechage A final, finished 3rd in her semi final and was eligible to skate in the 1000m B final but did not start the race.
Posted by noelle at 11:17 AM | Comments (11)
Budapest World Cup day 3 - 500m #2 results
Olivier Jean adds 500m gold to the bronze he earned in yesterday's 1500m. Jean has had an incredible breakout season. This is his 2nd trip to the top of the podium - he also won 500m gold at World Cup 4 in Montreal in December.
Men's 500m #2 - A final
1. JEAN, Olivier CAN 42.104
2. SERRA, Roberto ITA 42.259
3. HEUNG, Tyson GER 42.259
4. GYSEL, Pieter BEL 42.533
5. LI, Ye CHN 42.757
They finished in the order they started!
Women's 500m #2 - A final
1. WANG, Meng CHN 43.858
2. FU, Tian Yu CHN 44.059
3. JEON, Ji-Soo KOR 44.175
4. RADANOVA, Evgenia BUL 44.862
Cherise Wilkins was the lone American woman to skate in the medal rounds of 500m #2... she skated in the final quarter final, skating from lane 4. She finished 4th and didn't move on.
Kalyna Roberge faced a tough battle in her semi and did not qualify for the A final. She went on to win the B final of 500m #2. Jessica Gregg and Nita Avrith were eliminated earlier on in the quarter finals.
Charles Ryan Leveille was the only American man in the medal rounds and also finished 4th in his quarter final. Much more a distance skater, he lacks the explosive start the 500m requires and he was starting from lane 4.
Olivier Jean won his quarter and semi final races and became the last Canadian man standing as Marc-Andre Monette was disqualified in the quarters.
Posted by noelle at 9:59 AM | Comments (4)
Budapest World Cup day 3 - repechage results
1000m ladies: Sarah Lang made it through to the repechage A final, where she finished 3rd. This race was won by Anne Maltais, allowing her to advance to the 1000m medal rounds.
500m #2 ladies: Tina Koenig skated her way into the repechage A final, for 3rd place. Jessica Gregg and Nita Avrith finished 1-2 to move on to the medal rounds. Lezleigh Jaworski was 4th in the rep B final.
500m #2 men: Ryan Bedford skated through the repechage rounds to the A final, where he finished 4th and does not move on.
Posted by noelle at 9:47 AM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2007
Budapest World Cup day 2 - 500m #1 results
Gold and silver for the Canadian men
Men's 500m #1 - A final
1. HAMELIN, Charles (CAN) 41.377
2. TREMBLAY, Francois-Louis (CAN) 41.439
3. LEE, Seung-Hoon (KOR) 41.442
4. MONETTE, Jean-Francois (CAN) 41.683
The Canucks had an excellent chance to sweep the medals here with current WR holder (Jeff Monette), reigning world champion (Francois-Louis Tremblay) and Canadian record holder Charles Hamelin) all skating in the final. Korean Seung-hoon Lee acted as spoiler as he snuck in for bronze in the final lap.
Canada wins three medals at short track speed skating World Cup
Earlier, Travis Jayner was eliminated after being dq'ed in his quarter final, while Alex Izy was 3rd in his quarter final and thus did not move on.
Women's 500m #1 - A final
1. WANG, Meng CHN 44.158
2. ZHU, Mi Lei CHN 44.300
3. JEON, Ji-Soo KOR 44.316
4. GREGG, Jessica CAN 45.994
Marianne St-Gelais won the women's B final and Anne Maltais was 3rd. There were no American women skating in the World Cup round.
Posted by noelle at 9:53 AM | Comments (84)
Budapest World Cup day 2 - 1500m results
Oliver Jean takes bronze for Canada
Refreshing to see Alex Merriman skating in this final! It's the first A final for the 17 year old Aussie in his rookie season on the World Cup circuit.
Men's 1500m A final
1. LEE, Ho-Suk (KOR) 2:16.118
2. SONG, Kyung-Taek (KOR) 2:16.448
3. JEAN, Olivier (CAN) 2:16.497
4. KIM, Hyun-Kon (KOR) 2:17.060
5. MERRIMAN, Alexander (AUS) 3:02.756
DQ MONETTE, Marc-Andre (CAN)
The semis were quite loaded this weekend. Ryan Bedford finished 5th in his semi final and did not move on to either final. Jordan Malone appears to have taken a tumble a little more than halfway through the race and finished last.
Things went a bit better for Charles Ryan Leveille, who finished 4th in his semi to move on to the B final. He went on to a 6th-place finish in the B final.
Women's 1500m final
1. JUNG, Eun-Ju KOR 2:22.298
2. BYUN, Chun-Sa KOR 2:22.916
3. KIM, Min-Jung KOR 2:22.988
4. ROBERGE, Kalyna CAN 2:23.06
5. CHENG, Xiao Lei CHN 2:35.483
DQ ZHOU, Yang CHN
Kimberly Derrick was the only American lady to make it into the World Cup semifinals. She finished 7th in her race and didn't move on to either final.
Canadians Ivanie Blondin and Nita Avrith were 4th and 6th respectively in women's B final.
Posted by noelle at 9:50 AM | Comments (8)
Budapest World Cup day 2 - repechage results
1500m ladies: Sonia Milan skated in the semis and won the B final of the 1500m repechage.
1500m men: Ho-suk Lee unexpectedly found himself skating in the repechage round after an apparent fall in his qualifying heat yesterday. Naturally he went on to win the rep A final and thus moves on to the World Cup round. All American and Canadian men qualified yesterday for today's 1500m medal rounds.
500m #1 ladies: Sarah Lang, Lezleigh Jaworski and Cherise Wilkins all skated in the repechage today. Lezleigh was 3rd in her semi, putting her into the B final. That race was not skated (only 2 athletes were entered). Sarah and Cherise went on to finish 5th and 6th in the repechage A final.
500m #1 men: J.P. Kepka was eliminated in the early going after he finished last in his heat. He had a tough outing in 500m qualifying yesterday and wasn't even able to start in his 500m #2. From what I understand, he's suffering from a groin injury.
Posted by noelle at 9:30 AM | Comments (4)
February 9, 2007
World Cup #6 gets underway in Budapest
The final World Cup of the season takes place today through Sunday. Coverage will be spotty since we don't have reporters and photographers on the scene a la Heerenveen. However, Cyberscoreboard is really up and running for the latter half of the season. Results are being posted much more quickly now, and some of you have noticed that they are now offering real-time results (just look for the Live Results link on the CSB site).
Official website for Budapest World Cup
The three powerhouse teams from Korea, China and Canada are all competing in Budapest. Korea and China missed World Cup 5 in order to take part in the Asian Winter Games, while Canada was absent from Heerenveen because the Asians weren't there. Japan elected to skip the final 2 World Cups altogether. The Korean team is in Budapest minus reigning world champs Hyun-soo Ahn and Sun-yu Jin.
In addition, Charles Ryan Leveille rejoins team USA after missing World Cup #5 due to a long track conflict.
Posted by noelle at 3:40 PM | Comments (95)
Results from Budapest World Cup day 1
Skaters competed in qualifying events for each distance, plus men's relay heats. This weekend the 500m will be contested twice. Results broken down by distance event:
Men's relay heats
I caught some of these on the live results - they looked like very exciting races!
The USA men faced China, Australia and Ukraine. We switched leads with China constantly throughout the race, with our guys really having an edge maintaining first in the latter half of the race. According to the splits, China regained the lead with 4 laps to go, but the USA got it back a couple laps later to win the heat. Skaters were Jordan, Travis, Alex and Ryan Bedford.
The Canadian men won their heat by a wide margin. Charles Hamelin, Olivier Jean and the Monette boyz skated this one.
The final heat with Korea, France, Hungary and Germany looked pretty cool as well... Quite unexpectedly France won this race, seizing the lead from Korean on the last lap. Korea finished 2nd. Watching on the live results it was another nail biter! [on edit] Apparently Ho-suk Lee fell, allowing France to edge them for the win.
1500m
Women
Kimberly Derrick finished 3rd in her heat behind Eun-ju Jung and Kalyna Roberge, no less. She qualifies to move on to the semifinals as one of the 4 fastest 3rd-place finishers. Sophia Milan will skate in tomorrow's 1500m repechage round. Tina Koenig was disqualified in her heat and won't move on. There appears to have been a 4-way pileup in that race, with 2 DQ's, 1 DNF and a skater advanced.
All 3 Canadian skaters (Roberge, Ivanie Blondin and Nita Avrith) move on to the semifinals.
Men
Jordan Malone and Ryan Bedford finished 1st and 2nd in their respective heats to qualify for the semis. Charles Ryan Leveille also moves on due to an advancement.
Only 2 Canadian men are skating this distance. Olivier Jean won his heat; Marc-Andre Monette also qualifies after an advancement in his race.
Distance-by-distance results for 500m #1 and #2 and the 1000m below the jump...
500m #1
Women
The U.S. ladies (Lezleigh Jaworski, Sarah Lang and Cherise Wilkins) will skate in the repechage for another chance to advance to the medal round quarter finals.
All 3 Canadian women (Anne Maltais, Jessica Gregg and newcomer Marianne St-Gelais) easily qualified for the quarter finals.
Men
A stunningly early elimination for 500m specialist J.P. Kepka, who finished last in his 2nd-round heat and will move on to the repechage. Assuming he's healthy, he should have an excellent chance to make it out... but this is in doubt, since he failed to start in 500m #2. Alex Izykowski and Travis Jayner both qualified to move on to tomorrow's World Cup-round quarter finals.
The Canadian trio of Charles Hamelin, Francois-Louis Tremblay and Jean-Francois Monette qualified for the quarter finals.
500m #2
Women
Cherise finished 2nd in her heat to qualify for the quarter finals on Sunday. Both Tina and Lezleigh will move on to the repechage.
The Canadian ladies encountered difficulty in this round. Roberge won her heat to qualify, but Gregg (facing powerhouses Meng Wang AND Evgenia Radanova) will skate in the repechage on Sunday along with Avrith.
Men
J.P. is listed as DNS for this heat, so clearly something's not right with him. Hope he's ok. Both Ryans (Leveille and Bedford) had some trouble with their 2nd-round heats in 500m #2. Bedford will move on to the repechage round, while Leveille was advanced, for the 2nd time on the day, to the medal-round quarterfinals.
Canadians Jean and Jeff Monette both move on as well to the quarter finals.
1000m
Women
Kimberly will move on to the quarter final round; Sophia Milan and Sarah Lang will skate in the repechage round.
Canadians St-Gelais and Blondin qualified for the quarter finals; Maltais will skate in the 1000m repechage.
Men
Travis, Jordan and Izy all qualified to move on to the quarter finals, as did Flou, Charles and Jeff Monette.
Posted by noelle at 2:51 PM | Comments (0)
February 4, 2007
Relay bronze for USA women!
Team USA receiving relay bronze medals (l-r: Kimberly Derrick, Sonia Milan, Cherise Wilkins, Tina Koenig, Sarah Lang
The women's relay team of Tina Koenig, Kimberly Derrick, Sophia Milan and Cherise Wilkins took the lead off Tina's start and led for the beginning of the race. With 18 to go they were passed by Italy an Russia. With 15 laps to go they get passed by the Netherlands. They were back a long ways, when out of no where they catch up and Kimberly blows by the Netherlands in the last lap to take bronze. Very cool race.
Way to go, ladies!!!
click image to enlarge - Women's relay medalists: Italy (gold), Russia (silver), USA (bronze)
Men's relay B final: The U.S. men's team of Alex Izykowski, Ryan Bedford, Jordan Malone and Travis Jayner were in the lead from the start. There was a messup when the Russian team fell and the U.S. had to skate around two of their skaters. At that time, the Australians passed them, but the U.S. took the lead again and led the rest of the way. No falls, no missed exchanges, and the team won the B final.
Many thanks to the Bedfords for all their hard work in keeping us up to date all weekend - photographer extraordinaire Phil and virtual play-by-play announcer Beth!
Posted by noelle at 1:24 PM | Comments (38)
Report from Heerenveen - day 3 results
Jordan Malone wins 1000m #2 to make it gold medal #2!
Men's 1000m#2 medalists: Yuri Confortola - ITA (silver), Jordan Malone - USA (gold), Heralds Silovs - LAT (bronze)
1000 men's quarters: Jordan Malone was in 4th place and with 4.5 laps to go, tried to pass everyone on the outside, but almost fell. He then made another move with 2 laps to go on the inside and won the quarter. He moved on to the semis.
Ryan Bedford was in 2nd and then 3rd and could not find the right moment to make it around second place. He finished close 3rd and did not move on to the semis.
Ryan skates in his quarter final
1000 Semis: Jordan took off from the gun and basically time-trialed the race from start to finish, winning the semi and advanced to the A final.
Jordan skating in his semi final
1000 A Final: Jordan was in 4th until 3 laps to go when he made an inside pass on all 3 skaters and won the A final by 15 meters. The second gold this weekend for Jordan!
Scene's from Jordan's gold-medal performance:
500 women's quarters: Cherise Wilkins was in 3rd position and was 3rd off the line. She couldn't pass, but made it into the semi by having 1 of the next fastest 2 times. Tina Koenig was also 3rd off the line in her quarter. She finished a close 3rd, but made it into the semi by having 1 of the next fastest 2 times.
Tina in her quarter final
500 men's quarters: J.P. Kepka was 2nd on the line and 2nd off the line. He stayed comfortably in 2nd, as 1st and 2nd were 15 meters ahead of 3rd.
500 semis: Cherise and Tina were both 3rd off the line in their semis. They could not move up and Cherise finished 3rd and Tina 4th. They advanced to the B final.
J.P. again stayed in 2nd position off the start and skated a very safe race, advancing to the A final.
J.P. skates in his 500m semifinal
Women's 500 B Final: Tina and Cherise went 2nd and 3rd - the entire race that had no passing.
Tina & Cherise skating in the 500m b final
Men's 500 A Final: JP was in the 4th start position and was 5th off the line. He never found the right time to pass until the last 5 meters where he stretched for 4th place.
Posted by noelle at 12:34 PM | Comments (6)
Sunday repechage results from Heerenveen
Travis Jayner was in the 1000 meter repechage round and won his quarter final easily. In the semis, he was in second and moves into 1st with 3 laps to go and will go to the repechage round A final.
Travis skates in his 1000m rep semifinal
In the 1000 meters men's repechage A final, Travis went to the front and then there was a lot of very close passing. With 2 laps to go, he made a move on the inside and went down, taking out another skater. He was DQ'd and therefore does not move on the WC races.
In the 500 semis for women, Lezleigh Jaworski was first off the line in the semi and was passed with 2 laps to go. She remained in 2nd and qualifies for the A final of the repechage round.
Lezleigh skates in her 1000m rep semifinal
In the 1000 semis for women, Sarah Lang skated in third the entire race and could never find a opening to pass. She moves to the B final of the repechage. Sophia Milan was in 4th from the start and tried to move on the outside with 6 laps to go, but could never get back in. She placed 3rd and moves to the B Final of the repechage.
Sarah skates in her 1000m rep semifinal
Sonia skates in her 1000m rep semifinal
In the 500 meters women's A final of the repechage round, Lezleigh started in 4th position on the line was 4th off the line and could never find an opportunity to pass anyone. She placed 4th and did not move on the WC races.
In the 1000 meters women's B final of the repechage, the pace was very slow. Sarah took the lead with 2.5 laps to go and won the B Final. Sophia passed into 2nd place on the last corner. Since this was the B final, neither skater moves on the WC races.
Sonia and Sarah in the rep B final
Posted by noelle at 8:48 AM | Comments (0)
February 3, 2007
Relay semifinals in Heerenveen
Women's relay: Skating for the U.S. were Kimberly Derrick, Sarah Lang, Sophia Milan and Cherise Wilkins. The women had only 2 teams in their semi. They were in second until 5 laps to go when Sophia moved into first. They got passed back and Kimberly moved back into 1st with 1.5 laps to go. The women move on the A Final.
Men's relay: The men had 4 teams in their semi. They were in 4th most of the time from various run-ins with skaters doing their push-offs. They rocketed into first with about 17 laps to go and had a 15-meter lead when Jordan slipped and fell. They tagged up and caught the pack with 8 to go, but they ran into a skater/missed the push, and fell again. They are out of the final.
Cherise skates in the relay semi
Kimberly skates in the relay semi
Posted by noelle at 5:32 PM | Comments (2)
USA men take 1500m gold and silver
Congratulations to Jordan Malone and Ryan Bedford who took 1st and 3rd respectively in the men's 1500m final today in Heerenveen - way to go USA!!
1500m medalists: Ryan Bedford (bronze), Jordan Malone (gold), Pieter Gysel (silver)
The race: Ryan and Jordan settled into 5th and 6th place for about the first 8 laps. They both moved up with a lot of pushing. Jordan shoots to the front of the race and Ryan gets knocked off the back of the pack. Jordan is cruising in the lead as Ryan moves up and finishes 4th on the line, but a French skater got dq'd and Ryan receives the bronze. Jordan receives the gold.
Scenes from the race:
Finish of the men's 1500m (Jordan was already safely across the line for the win at this point)
Click the link to read more about team USA's performance in the 1500m:
1500 meter semis men: Picking 2
Jordan was in 2nd for the first part of the race and then slips back in the pack. He moves to 3rd with 4 laps to go and then moves in the lead with 2 laps to go. Jordan wins the semi and moves to the A Final
Ryan stayed in the middle of the pack and passes into 1st with 4 laps to go. He wins the semi and moves to the A Final.
Travis Jayner was in a very quick start, fast paced semi and was in 6th place for the beginning of the race. He moves up and actually gets 2nd on the line, but is dq'd for impeding with 6 laps to go.
Travis in his 1500m semi
Posted by noelle at 4:38 PM | Comments (15)
1000m bronze for J.P. Kepka!
Congratulations J.P.! Here he is on the podium earlier today in Heerenveen:
1000m medalists: Wim de Deyne (silver), Nicola Rodigari (gold), J.P. Kepka (bronze)
JP moved up and made some great passes during the final. He finished 3rd and received the bronze. Scenes from the race:
1000m semis
Cherise Wilkins took the lead from the start and with 3 laps to go got passed and finished in 4th place.
Sarah Lang skated a great race and was in 2nd place until the back stretch of the last lap, when she was knocked down. She was inserted into the A Final.
Sarah skating in the 1000m A final on Saturday
JP skated in 3rd most of the race and edged his blade forward at the end of the race to get 2nd place. Very close and tight race.
Skating in the 1000m quarter finals, Alex Izy moved from 4th to 1st with 6 laps to go. He was passed with 3 laps to go and stayed in 2nd, but was out-kicked by 1 inch at the finish line. He finished 3rd and did not move on to the semis.
Posted by noelle at 4:36 PM | Comments (4)
Women's 1500m B final
Kimberly Derrick made it out of the repechage earlier today to move onto the medal rounds in the 1500m later in the day. She was in a very fast semi and skated in 6th for most of the race. She finished 5th in the semi to move on to the B final. In the B final, she sat in 2nd for the first 6 laps when the paced picked up with 7 laps to go. She moved to 1st with 3.5 laps to go and then got passed back with 2 laps to go and finished 3rd.
Posted by noelle at 4:30 PM | Comments (0)
Report from Heerenveen - day 2 - 1500m repechage
The A final was packed with 8 skaters. Kimberly Derrick was in 4th or 5th place during most of this fast-paced race. She made an outside pass with 1.5 laps to move into 2nd place and finished 2nd, qualifying for the regular (medal-round) semi of the WC 1500. They were picking 4 skaters from this final to move on.
Click the link below for details and photos of team USA's performances in the 1500m repechage:
Kimberly and Sophia Milan were in the same heat. Kimberly was in 2nd most of the race. Then with 5 laps to go, she made her move into the lead and won the race by 10 meters. Sophia moved into 3rd with 3 laps to go, but took out a Netherlands skater and was dq'd. Kimberly moved to the final of the RP round.
Tina Koenig was in the 2nd heat and sat in 5th place most of the race. With 4 laps to go, she made a pass on the inside of 2 skaters entering the corner and pushed them out. She was dq'd.
Posted by noelle at 9:30 AM | Comments (1)
Report from Heerenveen - 1000m heats (Friday results)
Sorry for the delayed posting, but I've been having email access problems... Here are the final set of results from day 1 in Heerenveen:
Women's 1000 heats -- picking 2
Heat 2 was Sarah Lang With 5 laps to go there was a fall and Sarah and a Russian were left standing. They coasted in for a 1-2 finish. Sarah was 2nd and goes to the next round.
Heat 3: Cherise Wilkins took the lead from the start and was passed with 2 laps to go. 3rd was a ways back, so Cherise finished in 2nd place and goes to the next round.
Heat 3: Lezleigh Jaworski was in the back of the pack and passed into 3rd with 4 laps to go. The pass was not good and she was DQ'd so she will not be able to skate the RP round.
Men's 1000 heats - picking 2
Heat 5. J.P. Kepka took the lead for the first few laps and then sat in 2nd place for the rest of the race. The Italian and JP were doing 9.7's for the last 5 laps. JP was 2nd and goes to the next round.
Heat 7 - Alex Izy was in the back and with 4 laps to go moved into 2nd place. He sat there until the finish, as 3rd place was 10 meters back.
Also, Ryan Bedford and Jordan Malone's heats:
Posted by noelle at 9:14 AM | Comments (0)
Travis Jayner skating in his 500m heat in Heerenveen on Friday
Posted by noelle at 9:10 AM | Comments (0)
February 2, 2007
Report from Heerenveen - 500m heats preliminaries
Men's 500 men's prelims
First, Dutch schoo kids arrived and took over one end of the stands just before the 500's. They were all orange, had signs and horns and were very loud and enthusiastic. They went crazy for the Dutch skaters. A good group of kids.
Heat 4: From lane 1, J.P. Kepka took the lead from the start and dominated. He won by blue-blue.
Heat 6: From lane 3, Alex Izy got off the line 3rd. He passed a Dutch skater 1.5 laps into the race for 2nd, but apparently bumped him and was DQ'd and will not move to the repechage round.
Coach Scott Koons videotapes the races with USA team members seated behind him
Posted by noelle at 8:04 PM | Comments (7)
Report from Heerenveen - 5000m relay heat
U.S. men's relay team warms up
The U.S. team of Travis Jayner, Jordan Malone, Ryan Bedford and Alex Izykowski skated in the 3rd heat today along with Russia and Great Britain. GBR was in first and the U.S. in 2nd for the first few laps. Travis moved into the lead a few laps later. Jordan fell in the corner with 37 laps to go, putting the U.S. behind by 1/2 a lap.
The team worked hard and caught back up with 20 laps to go. They sat in 3rd for a few laps, then Ryan moved into 2nd place off of Travis's push with 15 laps to go. The team moved into the lead with 9 laps to go and finished first with a 10-meter lead.
It was an exciting race and it looked like the ice was not that great as people were slipping a lot. They finished with a time of 7:04, with the fall.
The women did not have heats, but start with semis for the relays tomorrow.
Saturday will start with the RP rounds and then the finals in the late afternoon.
Posted by noelle at 11:51 AM | Comments (11)
Report from Heerenveen - 1500m heats
Women's heats - picking 2
In heat 2, Tina Koenig went from the back of the pack to the front and was leading a few laps until other skaters passed her for the lead. Tina ended up 4th in the heat and will move on to the repechage round.
Tina Koenig skates in her 1500m heat
Sophia Milan, skating in heat 3, took the lead with 8 laps to go. She fought off most skaters to stay in 2nd place, only to get out-kicked in the last 5 meters by a Polish skater.
Sonia Milan - 1500m heat
Kimberly Derrick took the lead from the start and was doing mostly sub 10.5-second laps, then was passed with 2 laps to go by the Italian. With one lap to go she was passed by a Netherlands skater and didn't have enough energy to get 2nd place back. All three will go to the repechage round.
Kimberly Derrick - 1500m heat
Men's heats - picking 2 and the 4 fastest 3rd place finishers
Jordan Malone sat in 4th or 5th most of the race and took the lead with 6 laps to go. With 2 laps to go, there was a fall that split up the group. Jordan and another skater were in the top 2 spots and then just coasted to the qualifying round. Jordan finished 2nd.
Jordan Malone - 1500m heat
Ryan Bedford was in heat 5. There was a ton of passing each lap for most of the race. Ryan took the lead for the last time with 3 laps to go and won the heat.
Travis Jayner was in heat 6. There was also a lot of passing in his heat. He took the lead and then was passed by two skaters. He was 3rd in the race but qualified for the next round by having one of the 4 fastest 3rd-place times.
see cyberscoreboard for complete results
Posted by noelle at 11:40 AM | Comments (7)
December 1, 2006
World Cup #3 - Saguenay
Official web site for the World Cup
Cyberscoreboard official results
Explanation of new World Cup format
Hopefully this makes some sense...
This is the 3rd of 6 World Cups this season. In keeping with the new World Cup format, skaters will compete in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m as well as team relays (the 3000m superfinal has been eliminated). The 500m will be raced twice.
Why is the 500m being contested twice? In order to determine overall rankings, each distance is raced 8 times over the course of the season -- but there are only 6 World Cups, so one distance must be raced twice at each World Cup in order to fit it all in. This weekend, then, skaters compete in 2 separate 500m events. Similarly, the 1500m was contested twice at World Cup #1 and the 1000m twice at World Cup #2.
Friday's (today's) events are purely for qualifying purposes only. The preliminaries are being run in each distance, to decide which skaters qualify to compete in the medal-round quarter finals or semi finals of the respective distances. Those medal rounds take place Saturday and Sunday.
What's the deal with the 'repechage'? Skaters who don't qualify based on their results in the prelims then skate in repechage rounds on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This format is similar to the World Team Championships. These repechage 'consolation' rounds give skaters additional opportunities to skate at the international level. In addition, they serve as a final chance for skaters to qualify for the medal rounds of the respective distances, as the top 2-3 finishers in the repechage finals move on to the medal round quarter finals or semis.
Note: If disqualified, a skater is automatically eliminated and does not continue in either repechage or medal rounds of a race.
Posted by noelle at 10:28 AM | Comments (1)
November 16, 2006
Web sites for World Cups 3 and 4
Speed Skating Canada has launched informational web sitse for the Saguenay and Montreal World Cups coming up next month. I know a lot of you have emailed asking for ticket info - you'll find info on prices and how to purchase tickets on both sites, as well as event schedules and more.
click image for web sites
or click these links to go directly to the individual English-language sites:
Posted by noelle at 5:52 PM | Comments (14)
November 2, 2006
Race video from Jeonju City/World Cup #2
Thanks to Kiseop for making video from Jeonju City available on YouTube! I haven't had a chance to look through too much yet, but seems like everything is there...
Click the image for Kiseop's videos:
Posted by noelle at 10:59 AM | Comments (11)
October 29, 2006
Day 3 in Jeonju City - ladies' 500m, 1000m#2 & relay results
Meng Wang seems unbeatable right now at 500-meters. It's great to see la Radanova back on the podium! With Yang Yang A now retired, the Bulgarian has got to be the senior member on the ladies' circuit these days (if not the whole sport).
Ladies 500m Final A
1 WANG , Meng (CHN) 44.647
2 FU , Tianyu (CHN) 44.693
3 RADANOVA , Evgenia (BUL) 44.851
4 KIM , Min-Jung (KOR) 44.933
Americans: Lana Gehring won the repechage A final, qualifying her to move on to the quarter finals, where she was eliminated. Tina Koenig was 3rd in the repechage A final. Cherise Wilkins was 2nd in the repechage B final.
Canadians: Anouk Leblanc-Boucher finished 3rd in the B final while Kalyna Roberge was disqualified in her semi final. Anne Maltais was eliminated in the quarter finals.
Ladies 1000m Final A - #2
1 JUNG , Eun-Ju (KOR) 1:32.389
2 JIN , Sun-Yu (KOR) 1:32.450
3 ZHU , Mile (CHN) 1:32.634
4 LIU , Xiaoying (CHN) 1:34.780
Americans: Katherine Reutter and Alyson Dudek finished 2nd and 4th, respectively in the repechage A final. This result qualified Katherine to move on to the quarter finals, where she was eliminated after finishing 3rd in her heat. Kimberly Derrick was likewise eliminated in the quarter finals. Good to see American skaters capitalizing on these repechage opportunities!
Canadians: Amanda Overland finished 4th in the B final. Nita Avrith was dq'ed in her quarter final; Raphaele Lemieux finished 4th in her quarter final.
Women's 3000m relay
A bit of a surprise with these results - or maybe not, considering how strong the Chinese ladies have been skating!
1. China 4:18.524
2. Korea 4:18.548
3. Japan 4:25.068
4. Germany 4:25.100
Team USA finished 2nd behind Italy in the B final.
complete results at cyberscoreboard
(AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man) via Yahoo News
Posted by noelle at 9:14 AM | Comments (4)
October 28, 2006
Day 2 in Jeonju City - men's 1500m, 1000m#1 and relay results
[newsflash] In addition to Halie Kim, Apolo is also in Jeonju City this weekend (reported by fan-on-the-spot Starangel)! He is training in Korea for a couple of weeks and was spotted at the arena today taping some of the races. Sounds like a promising sign to me! ;)
No surprises here! The Korean men are dominating on their home ice. Nice to see Ho-suk Lee topping the podium in 1000m #1. His main rival Hyun-soo Ahn is competing in 1000m #2 and is well-positioned to equal his double-gold-medal success from last weekend in China.
The Canadian men continue to make it into the finals and have added 1000m silver and bronze to the 7 medals they won last weekend in China.
Men 1500m Final A
1 AHN , Hyun-Soo (KOR) 2:19.737
2 KIM , Hyun-Kon (KOR) 2:20.016
3 SONG , Kyung-Taek (KOR) 2:20.795
4 SUI , Baoku (CHN) 2:20.829
5 ROBILLARD , Steve (CAN) 2:21.089
6 ITO , Junji (JPN) 2:21.413
No Americans in the 1500m A final this time, alas! As expected, Jordan Malone (still ill) didn't skate in the repechage. Jeff Simon was eliminated in the repechage quarter finals. Only Travis Jayner qualified for the 1500m semis, where he was eliminated after finishing 5th. Canadians Marc-Andre Monette and Mathieu Giroux finished 1-2 in the B final.
Men 1000m Final A
1 LEE , Ho-Suk (KOR) 1:30.579
2 HAMELIN , Charles (CAN) 1:30.645
3 JEAN , Olivier (CAN) 1:31.270
4 RODIGARI , Nicola (ITA) 1:31.352
Shani Davis, the only American to qualify for the quarter finals, skated in the B final, where he was disqualified. Last weekend's 1000m gold medalist Francois-Louis Tremblay was the winner of that race. Ryan Bedford was eliminated after being disqualified in the repechage semifinals.
Charles Hamelin: "I was really pleased with my race but I thought I was going to win it. I probably should have changed my strategy against Lee but I got a little apprehensive in the race. It’s something I’m continuing to work on because I’ve geared my preparation towards being able to beat the Koreans." via Speed Skating Canada
Men's relay semifinals
The USA goes to the B final after facing a really tough semi which was won by Canada, with Korea 2nd. Joining these two teams in the A final are Italy and China.
Complete results at Cyberscoreboard Reborn
(AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man) via Yahoo News
Posted by noelle at 10:28 AM | Comments (27)
Day 2 in Jeonju City - ladies' 1500m, 1000m#1 and relay results
The Korean ladies are running into some DQ trouble in the medal finals:
Ladies 1500m Final A
1 KIM , Min-Jung (KOR) 2:23.681
2 LIU , Xiaoying (CHN) 2:23.773
3 CHENG , Xiaolei (CHN) 2:23.920
4 FU , Tianyu (CHN) 2:26.492
5 FONTANA , Arianna (ITA) 3:00.677
DQ JUNG , Eun-Ju (KOR) DQ
Among USA skaters, only Alyson Dudek qualified for the semifinals, where she finished 6th in her heat. Katherine Reutter finished 5th in the repechage A final, Lana Gehring was 3rd in the repechage B final. All 3 Canadian ladies (Kalyna Roberge, Nita Avrith and Raphaele Lemieux) skated in the B final.
Ladies 1000m #1 Final A
1 WANG , Meng (CHN) 1:32.897
2 ZHU , Mile (CHN) 1:33.108
3 JEON , Ji-Soo (KOR) 1:33.300
DQ BYUN , Chun-Sa (KOR) DQ
Powerhouse Sun-yu Jin was eliminated in the semis after her teammate Jeon beat her out for the 2nd qualifying position. Jin is reportedly suffering from a pretty severe cold. Meng Wang is looking to repeat her success from last weekend on her home ice where she won 1000m and 500m gold. Looks like China's skaters are really stepping up their challenge to the Korean ladies! I think World Cup #3 when two 500-meter races are skated will be very interesting since that distance is the one weakness for the Koreans and plays much more to the strengths of China and Canada (who will be on home ice).
American Tina Koenig was the lone American to qualify for the 1000m quarter finals, where she was eliminated. Teammates Cherise Wilkins and Kimberly Derrick finished 1-2 in the repechage B final. Canadians Amanda Overland and Roberge finished 3rd and 4th respectively in the B final. Anouk Leblanc-Boucher was eliminated in the semis.
Women's relay semifinals
The USA will skate in the B final after finishing 3rd in their semi behind China and Germany. Team Canada is out of the running entirely after an uncharacteristic DQ in the same semi. The A final will be Korea, Japan, China and Germany.
Complete results at Cyberscoreboard Reborn
(AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man) via Yahoo News
Posted by noelle at 10:01 AM | Comments (1)
October 27, 2006
Full results from World Cup #2, day 1
Hey, so the results from Korea are well hidden, but they are indeed there on the new Cyberscoreboard. Thank goodness!
In qualifying today, here's how the American ladies fared:
1500m: Alyson Dudek qualified for the quarter finals
Lana Gehring and Katherine Reutter didn't qualify and will skate in the repechage.
500m: Lana, Tina Koenig and Cherise Wilkins will all skate in the repechage.
1000m #1: Tina qualified for the quarter finals; Cherise and Kimberly Derrick to the repechage
1000m #2: Kimberly qualified for the quarterfinals
Katherine and Alyson will skate in the repechage.
Note: Skating in the repechage gives skaters another shot at qualifying for the quarter finals leading to the medal final for a given distance.
Here are the U.S. men's results:
1500M: Travis Jayner qualified for the quarter finals
Jeff Simon will skate the repechage while a still-ailing Jordan Malone will sit out further rounds of the 1500m
500m: Jeff and Anthony Lobello qualified for the quarter finals.
Jordan did not start his 500m heat.
1000m #1: Shani Davis qualified for the quarter finals
Anthony was disqalified in his prelim, and Ryan Bedford will skate the repechage
1000m #2: Travis and Ryan both qualified
Shani was disqualified in his heat
The guys finished 2nd behind Korea in their relay heat to move on to tomorrow's semifinals. It's gonna be a tough one with Korea, Canada and Russia in the field.
It's been another strong day for Team Canada - the ever-devoted Canadian press has a rundown:
All the Canadian women qualified for the quarter finals tomorrow as follows:
500m: Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Kalyna Roberge, Anne Maltais
1000m: Anouk, Kalyna, Anne, Amanda Overland, Raphaele Lemieux, Nita Avrith
1500m: Kalyna, Anouk, Nita
"It was obvious that the girls learned a lot from last week's racing," said national team coach Martin Gagné. "They knew their opponents better, they were vigilant and were less hesitant to pass an opponent. They're gaining a lot of confidence."
Canadian men's qualifiers:
500m:Olivier Jean, Francois-Louis Tremblay
1000m: Steve Robillard, Charles Hamelin, Marc-Andre Monette
Mathieu Giroux to the repechage
1500m: Giroux, Monette, Robillard
The Canadian men finished a surprising 2nd behind Italy in their relay and will skate in tomorrow's semi.
More: CBC Sports | Canadians advance in short track World Cup
Posted by noelle at 4:39 PM | Comments (17)
October 22, 2006
Day 3 results from Chang Chun [updates added]
South Korea dominated the gold medals today as World Cup 1 concluded with the 1000m and 1500m #2 as well as the relay finals.
It was a strong weekend for the Canadian men... great to see them medaling in the longer distances, and another World Cup rookie, Mathieu Giroux, made it onto the podium in the 1000m. F-L Tremblay can't have had too severe a crisis of confidence as he brings home 2 individual medals (1 gold, 1 silver) in addition to a relay silver - only Hyun-soo Ahn did better (3 gold).
The Chinese women, in particular Meng Wang with 2 individual golds, had a great weekend, even if Korea's ladies had the edge in the medal count. Very nice to see a rare podium finish by Czech skater Katerina Novotna in the women's 1500m - she's the only skater to break the Asian teams' stranglehold on the podium this weekend.
Complete results are now posted online as is ISU press release.
Women's 1000m final
1. Meng Wang (CHN)
2. Sun-yu Jin (KOR)
3. Chun-sa Byun (KOR)
Men's 1000m final
1. Hyun-soo Ahn (KOR)
2. Francois-Louis Tremblay (CAN)
3. Mathieu Giroux (CAN)
Race had to be stopped and re-started after 3 of the 4 skaters were involved in a crash. Ho-suk Lee was disqualified at that point and Giroux had blade problems, leaving Ahn and Tremblay to battle for the win.
Women's 1500m final #2
1. Min-jung Kim (KOR)
2. Tianyu Fu (CHN)
3. Katerina Novotna (CZE)
Men's 1500m final #2
1. Hyun-kon Kim (KOR)
2. Kyung-taek Song (KOR)
3. Charles Hamelin (CAN)
Women's 3000m relay final
1. Korea
2. China
3. Canada
4. Italy
Team USA's youth showed as they finished a distant 4th in their relay semi on Saturday. They went on to finish 3rd in the relay B final today. The best thing about the new World Cup format is these skaters got more experience this one weekend than they might have gotten all season long under the old format.
Canadian women's coach Martin Gagne notes that his team has been dealing with several injuries and results are therefore better than expected. They're focusing on getting into top form by the time Worlds comes around in March.
Men's 5000m relay final
1. Korea
2. Canada
3. China
4. Japan
Sounds like yet another thrilling duel between Korea and Canada. It came down to the final 2 laps. Tremblay said he tried to hold off Ahn but Ahn was too strong. The USA men finished 2nd in the B final behind Italy.
If these results are representative, I think I'm liking this new format!
Posted by noelle at 9:16 AM | Comments (21)
October 21, 2006
Something else that's new this season...
There's a new rule this year that assigns start positions in a race based on skaters' times in the previous round. Obviously this has a huge impact on the 500m, where the start is so critical. Previously skaters' lane assignments were drawn at random. Now athletes who skate fast times in previous rounds are rewarded with the best lane assignments.
Francois-Louis Tremblay was the beneficiary of the new rule today in the 500m. After skating the fastest qualifying heats, he was rewarded with the inside lane assignment for the 500m final and went on to win that race. In fact, the skaters' order of finish matched their lane assignments.
Tremblay: "The important thing for me today was to skate fast in each round of the 500m (quarters, semis and final). That way I was guaranteed to get the best position on the start line. I raced the final the same way as the qualifying rounds, by taking the lead from the start." (via rds.ca)
His teammate Olivier Jean also had an outstanding World Cup debut in winning 500m silver today.
Posted by noelle at 11:09 AM | Comments (16)
Day 2 in Chang Chun - Two Americans qualify for finals!
Jeff Simon's family has passed along some exciting news. Today both Jeff and Travis Jayner made it to the A finals - Jeff to the 500m A final and Travis to the 1500m A final.
The skaters in the 500m final were Jeff, Kim Byeong Jung (KOR) and Canadians Francois-Louis Tremblay and Olivier Jean. In Jeff's words:
Made the 500m A final. Went to pass the Korean on the outside. I got by him then he clicked my left skate. Put my left skate down and just fell. Injured my back again. I got up and got 4th, missed out on a medal. Kinda upset, but happy. Everybody is proud of me and said I skated out of my mind.
We're proud of you too, Jeff. What a great way to make your World Cup debut! Hope your back is ok.
Men 500m Final A - Heat 1
1 TREMBLAY , Francois-Louis CAN 42.139
2 JEAN , Olivier CAN 42.271
3 KIM , Byeong-Jun KOR 43.863
4 SIMON , Jeff USA 56.417
Congratulations also to Travis for his 6th place finish in the men's 1500m A final. This was also Travis's first individual World Cup final. Great job, guys!
Men 1500m (1) Final A - Heat 1
1 AHN , Hyun-Soo KOR 2:20.432
2 LEE , Ho-Suk KOR 2:20.685
3 LI , Ye CHN 2:20.977
4 MONETTE , Marc-Andre CAN 2:21.107
5 GIROUX , Mathieu CAN 2:21.112
6 JAYNER , Travis USA 2:21.662
Unfortunately, the guys did not qualify for the relay final. We're also sad to report that Jordan Malone spent day 2 laid up in his hotel room with a virus and was unable to race. Get well soon, Jordan!
Posted by noelle at 9:04 AM | Comments (12)
Complete results from Day 2 in Chang Chun
AP | South Korea's Ahn, Jin take 1500, China's Wang the 500 at short track World Cup
Navigating the results is confusing. As best I can tell, here's how North Americans fared in their races today:
Women's 1500m
Nita Avrith 3rd and Katherine Reutter 5th in the B final
Women's 500m
Kalyna Roberge 2nd in the B final; Anne Maltais and Anouk Leblanc-Boucher eliminated in quarter finals
Cherise Wilkins 1st in the repechage B final
3000m relay
The Canadian ladies won their semifinal. USA finished 4th in the same semi and won't advance to the final.
Men's 500m
Anthony Lobello eliminted in quarter finals; Charles Hamelin DQ'ed in semi
5000m relay
Canada finished 2nd in their semi to move on to the final. Multiple falls led to a last-place finish for Team USA in their semi.
Posted by noelle at 9:02 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2006
Women's results from day 1 in Chang Chun
Women's results are now posted on the Cyberscoreboard-esque new results site.
1500m
So far we know that all six American ladies competed in the 1500m. Cherise Wilkins, Lana Gehring and Tina Koenig all qualified to move on to the semi finals. Unfortunately, Kimberly Derrick was disqualified, and neither Alyson Dudek nor Katherine Reutter qualified for the finals. They will skate in the repechage round of the 1500m.
Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Anne Maltais, Raphaele Lemieux and Nita Avrith qualified in the 1500m for Canada; Amanda Overland was disqualified. In fact, Nita skated both rounds of the 1500m. Not sure what that means. I'm confused with this new format!
1000m
Kimberly, Alyson and Katherine all skated for the U.S. in the 1000 but they didn't make it out of the heats and will skate in the repechage quarter finals.
Among Canadian ladies, Raphaele and Amanda move on to the semi finals; Kalyna Roberge wil lskate in the repechage quarter finals.
Posted by noelle at 12:52 PM | Comments (6)
Men's results from Day 1 in Chang Chun
Looks like a great debut for our guys yesterday during Day 1 in China. Remember that with the new World Cup format, they skate qualifying rounds of every distance on Friday. Here's how it went:
At this World Cup, they are skating 2 1500m races, 1 1000m and 1 500m. So, everyone skated a 1500, 3 skated the 500 and the other 3 skated the 1000. They did all the prelims and heats today. Shani Davis, Travis Jayner, Jeff Simon and Jordan Malone all qualified in the 1500. Jordan, Jeff and Anthony Lobello qualified in the 500. Shani was eliminated in his 1000m heat. Travis and Ryan Bedford were dq'd in the 1000 - but not sure if it was in the prelim or the heat.
Most important of all, we made it out of the heat in the relay and beat Canada to do it. They ran Travis, Jordan, Anthony & Shani. With 2 laps to go we were right there with Canada. Charles Hamelin pushed Francois-Louis Tremblay really hard to try to give him an edge but fell doing so. That gave Jordan the opportunity to zip by Tremblay. Tremblay tried to catch him but Jordan held him off for the win. I know it was just a heat but they were really excited!
How I would have liked to see that relay. Congratulations, team USA! Hopefully we'll get girls' results soon!
Also: CBC Sports | Good 1st day for Canada at short track World Cup
"It's very different to compete under this format," said Canadian national team coach Martin Gagne."It's a long process. It requires a lot of focus for the skaters. I like the addition of the repechage, because sometimes you get knocked out of [the] race due to some bad luck. But tomorrow [Saturday], Anouk could potentially race six times in one day."
Posted by noelle at 8:57 AM | Comments (9)
August 28, 2006
ISU Short Track Schedule, 2006-07
[update] Please note that locations for World Cups 3 and 4 in Canada have been reversed. World Cup 3 will now take place in Saguenay (rather than Montreal) and World Cup 4 in Montreal (rather than Saguenay).
No World Cups in the United States this year...
World Cup #1 - Oct. 20-22 - Changchun, China
World Cup #2 - Oct. 27-29 - Jeonju City, South Korea
World Cup #3 - Dec. 1-3 - Saguenay, Quebec
World Cup #4 - Dec. 8-10 - Montreal, Quebec
World Cup #5 - Feb. 2-4, 2007 - Heerenveen, Netherlands
World Cup #6 - Feb. 9-11, 2007 - Budapest, Hungary
World Short Track Championships - March 9-11, 2007 - Milan, Italy
World Short Track Team Championships - March 17-18, 2007 - Budapest, Hungary
***
The U.S. team for World Cups 1 & 2 will be picked at American Cup 1; the U.S. team for World Cups 3, 4, 5 & 6 will be picked at American Cup 2. The World Championships team will be picked at nationals in February.
The schedule for these U.S. team selection events:
American Cup 1 - Sept. 30-Oct. 1 Fri Sept 29- Sat Sept 30 - Milwaukee, WI
American Cup 2 - Nov 11-12 - Midland, MI | More Info
U.S. Nationals - Feb. 22-25, 2007 - Cleveland Heights, OH | More Info
Full 2006-07 meet schedule is available from US Speedskating.
originally posted 7/26/06, updated 8/12 and 8/28
Posted by noelle at 7:04 PM | Comments (75)