500 Final - Results from American Cup 1

More updates from Liz:

+ Derek was in 2nd for a good portion of the race, by a wide margin, but was edged out by Shani at the line and finished 3rd. Derek looked much more confident in this race than he did this morning.
+ J.P. is skating like his pants are on fire. He must have resolved some of the equipment problems that plagued him in World Cups 1 and 2.
+ Allison looks great and is skating very well (as results show).
+ Bridie is skating her little heart out, but you can see she's not 100%.

1500 Final - Results from American Cup 1

+ Unfortunately, Maria Garcia fell, which accounts for her last-place finish in the final.
+ Liz reports that skaters are falling all over the place so maybe the ice isn't the best.
+ The men's final was tight. Derek just couldn't get around the skaters in front of him.
+ Misi Toth skated in the B final, where he finished 4th.
+ Alex Izykowski somehow wound up in the D final, which he won handily.

(Thanks to embedded reporter Liz, on the ground in Saratoga Springs!)

Calgary World Cup video
Radio-Canada's Adrénaline program has video highlights of the Calgary World Cup. Caveat: The commentary is entirely in French (bonus: Marc Gagnon is providing analysis!)

Here's the link to watch the clips:
http://radio-canada.ca/Sports/adrenaline/011103.asp

Some highlights to help you find points of interest in the program:

1) Click the link that says "Voir la deuxième partie du reportage" for the following:
+ ladies' 500 qtr final, semi, final
+ at approx. 5:50 into the clip is the men's 500 semifinal
- J-F Monette set a new world record in this race
- See Calgary's famed moveable pads in action during the crash of Jiajun Li

2) Click the link that says "Voir la troisième partie du reportage" for the following:
+ 1500 ladies final (Marc Gagnon in his commentary describes how tough it is for Amélie to get past the 2 Chinese skaters and talks about their team skating techniques, where one always skates an inside track, the other an outside track, to prevent passing)
+ at approx. 2:35 into the clip is the 1000 semifinal with Monette where he stumbles to his knees at the start and recovers beautifully during the race
+ at approx. 5:55 into the clip is AAO's 1000 semifinal
- commentator calls him 'the favorite' in this race; later describes Ohno as 'very strong, very difficult to pass... he also has unbelievable energy, like the Koreans and the Canadians'
+ at approx. 8:06 into the clip is the 1000 final with 'the excellent Apolo Anton Ohno from the United States'... Gagnon talks about how it's a good idea to keep the 2 Korean skaters separated. After the bump between AAO and the Korean skater, he says the judgment could go either way, against AAO or against the Korean skater (as we know, it went against Apolo)
+ Jonathan Guilmette's French is hard for me to understand, but in his post-race interview, he talks about the crazy race, how it started more like a 500 than a 1000, and he seems to suggest that Apolo had shut the door on the Korean but the judge deemed it to be cross-tracking... (or he could be saying the opposite! maybe Mylène can confirm)

3) Click the link that says "Voir la quatrième partie du reportage" for the following:
+ at approx. 2:43 into the clip is 3000 relay (they make much of the fact that the Canadian ladies train in separate locations)
+ ends with the men's 5000 relay final

Thanks to Erina for this:

You can glimpse footage of Yuki and Apolo in Endeavour Productions' demo clip of their documentary on the Utah Olympic legacy - the theme is Olympic Encore Season 2002-03. The footage of Apolo and Yuki is from the Feb 2003 SLC World Cup, and ends with a clip of Apolo's 1000m award ceremony.

The clip can be downloaded at their web site: http://www.endeavorproductions.com/reels.html

Update from Jackie regarding the Oval Inspirations Project:

"I just want to let everyone who participated in the Oval Inspirations Project know that it was given to Apolo Saturday, November 1st. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to the Marquette competition to present it, but Bill Kellick, the PR director of US Speedskating, was nice enough to get it to Apolo for me. I will post anymore updates I have. Thanks to everyone who participated! -- Jackie"

American Cup - U.S. World Cup Team Trials
The American Cup I takes place this weekend in Saratoga Springs, where the U.S. team for the remainder of the World Cup season will be selected. We know that Apolo and Rusty have byes and thus won't be competing, leaving 2 spots open for the men and all 4 for the ladies. This will make for an exciting weekend of racing.

Good luck to all the U.S. athletes competing this weekend!

US Speedskating: Short Track World Cup Roster Spots Up For Grabs This Weekend in Saratoga Springs

Thanks to Corin for these two great shots from Marquette

Fabio, Jo, Apolo

Thanks to Lupe for another great pic from Tantra in Calgary

from the Korea Times:

Short-Tracker Lee Keeps Eyes on Olympic Prize
Are good athletes born or made?... "... Races are often won by the smartest rather than the fastest skater. In that sense, [Seung-Jae] Lee has another competitive edge in his intelligence on top of his hard work,’’ [says Korean national short track coach Kim Ki-hoon].
Read full article

New Canadian Short Track Site
Nouveau site de patinage de vitesse canadien
There's a new short track site in town! It's hard to believe that no fan sites exist for Team Canada, but that's all changing now that Tex has created a blog to keep us informed of all the latest news and happenings with our friends up north.

Il y a un nouveau site de patinage de vitesse en ville. C'est dur à croire, mais aucun site sur l'équipe canadienne n'existe, mais ce temps est révolu. En effet, Tex a créé un site pour nous tenir au courant des dernières nouvelles à propos de nos voisins du nord. C'est à surveiller! (merci Mylène pour la traduction)

Canadian Short Track Enthusiasts

Jennie's Marquette photos are in! Here are 4 to give you the flava. Check out all of them on her site, sk8erboy.net!

Updated: Audio Clips from the MQT Press Conference

Here are the first 2 clips from Apolo's press conference in Marquette last Saturday, the day he won the 500. (Thanks to Liz for lending her digital recorder to the cause!)

Clip 1: Apolo discusses the 500 and the Crowd Support
Clip 2: World Cups vs. Olympic Games
Clip 3: Why the Start in the 500 is Critical
Clip 4: Working on the 500
Clip 5: 'We have fans now'
Clip 6: Chasing the Rabbits

As with video clips, remember to right-click and save target as...

From the Detroit Free-Press:

Doping vigilance increases: Michigan athletes, officials on guard after recent scandal
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University hosted a World Cup competition in short-track speedskating. To welcome athletes from around the world to Marquette, the community assembled gift bags filled with goodies to give to the skaters. But in light of the recent doping scandal plaguing American track and field, [USOEC Director Jeff] Kleinschmidt wanted to make certain the candy bar [in the gift bag] was 100 percent clean. Read more

Here's an awesome series of photos that Sue took in Marquette

Jeff Monette and AAO

Apolo and Misi

USS auctions have resumed! Here's the latest one:

Bonnie Blair Coat and License Plate--SIGNED!!

Reminder: A portion of the proceeds from every auction will be donated to the USS skater of your choice. So far this year, over $500 raised from the auctions has been distributed among 18 different skaters!

More great Marquette photos, courtesy of Yano

From Tex, taken in Calgary Marquette

Apolo adjusts his chin strap before a race

IndyJen and Apolo at Tantra

Interested in travel packages for upcoming short track events?
Message from Julia: "Based upon the success of the "VIP Package" at Marquette, more comprehensive "plans" are being reviewed for future World Cups AND THE OLYMPICS! US Speedskating is looking into the feasibility of an airfare-hotel-tickets package for World Cups and the Olympics.

"My job is to gauge the amount of interests from fellow enthusiasts! How many would be seriously interested in such a plan for World Cups (North America and Abroad) and/or Olympics? Please think carefully about whether or not you can actually travel abroad, so as not to inflate USS expectations."

Please respond directly to JAAgostin@aol.com