World Cup 2 - Seoul, S. Korea (Sept 24-27, 2009)

[Laura (Lori)]

I'm glad that some of y'all were able to make the live video work.

Here's how our team fared last night:

1500M
REUTTER - 6th in A Final (as stated above, she had a fall)
DERRICK - 3rd in B Final
BAVER - 4th in B Final

OHNO - 4th in A Final
SIMON - 5th in A Final
MALONE - 1st in B Final

500M
DUDEK - 2nd in B Final
GEHRING and SMITH were eliminated in earlier rounds

CHO - 4th in A Final
SIMON - 3rd in QF
LOBELLO - 3rd in QF

Good luck tonight, y'all!

[Laura (Lori)]

JORDAN MALONE GOT THE SILVER MEDAL IN THE 1000M!

The individual events are over, but the final rounds of the relays are coming up.

[Deleted]

The Lone Ranger leads the Korean Posse. Smart race for Jordan.

[Laura (Lori)]

RELAY:

Ladies - 4th Place in Final A
Men - 1st Place in Final B

I really hated the way the Men's Semifinals were set up. We were in the same Semifinal heat as Canada and Korea - how did that happen???

[aaosmts19]

www.usspeedskating.org/uptospeed/posts/jordan_wins_a_silver.php

Jordan wins a silver!!


posted by pkinder - Sep. 27, 2009 09:20 AM
After a demanding four-day competition at the ISU World Cup 2 for short track speedskating, Jordan Malone (Denton, TX) skated off with the only medal won by the U.S. team during the event. His exemplary strategic performance against three Korean skaters in the Men’s 1000m A Final, earned him a second-place finish—and a silver medal. Ho-Suk Lee of Korea topped the podium for the gold medal.



Malone is ranked fifth for World Cup overall 1000m classification following these first two World Cup events. 2006 Olympian Anthony Lobello (Tallahassee, FL) demonstrated his skating skill during the Men’s 1000m B Final, coming away with a fourth-place finish. Travis Jayner (Midland, MI) skated in the Men’s 1000m semifinals but fell and was not able to advance. For overall World Cup 1000m classification, Jayner sits in eighth place with Lobello in 11th.



In the Ladies 1000m quarterfinals, Katherine Reutter (Champaign, IL) advances to the semis but teammates Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, PA) and Kimberly Derrick (Memphis, TN) finish fourth in their heats and do not move on. During the 1000m semifinals, Reutter just couldn’t pass Meng Wang of China or Korean Ha-Ri Cho and finished in third place to earn a spot in the B Final. Reutter won the B Final, leaving her in fifth overall for the event but still in first place for overall World Cup classification in the 1000m.


The relay events proved to be some tough skating for both the U.S. Men’s and Ladies teams. The men faced some strong opponents in their semifinal and just couldn’t overtake teams from Canada and Korea. They finished third and took a spot in the B Final. But the team, consisting of two-time Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, WA), Malone, Jayner and Simon Cho (Laurel, MD) tore it up in the B Final to take first place and fifth overall. The men’s team is also ranked in fifth place in overall World Cup classification for the relay.


For the ladies, some fantastic strategy paid off in the relay event for Team USA as they made it through the semifinals to qualify for the A Final. Skating well, Reutter, Baver, Derrick and Alyson Dudek (Hales Corner, WI) were in a solid second place behind China when the team fell and had to settle for fourth place. They are ranked in third place for overall World Cup classification in the relay.


After three tough competitions in a row, Team USA heads back to Salt Lake City, UT to continue training for World Cups 3 and 4 to be held in November.

[aaosmts19]

www.usspeedskating.org/uptospeed/posts/so_close--but_no_medals_today.php

So Close--but no medals today

posted by pkinder - Sep. 26, 2009 10:26 AM


Seoul, Korea. September 25, 2009.

Team USA did everything they could to medal at the ISU World Cup 2 for short track speedskating in Seoul, Korea during Saturday’s races, but just couldn’t pull it off.

The ladies did a great job skating the 1500m quarterfinals with U.S. Short Track Champion Katherine Reutter (Champaign, IL) and Olympians Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, PA) and Kimberly Derrick (Memphis, TN) advancing to the semifinals. Baver and Derrick finished third and fourth respectively in their heats, earning spots in the B Final. Reutter took second place her semi-final race to advance to the A Final.

In the Ladies 1500m B Final, Derrick and Baver skated a fast race to grab third and fourth place finishes. And in the 1500m A Final, Reutter was in second place, battling for first with two laps to go when she tangled with Eun-Byul Lee of Korea and fell, finishing in sixth place. Lee went on to win the event. After two World Cup events, three U.S. ladies are ranked in the top ten for the 1500m with Reutter in fourth, Derrick in eighth and Baver in ninth.

Alyson Dudek (Hales Corners, WI) was the only U.S. lady to skate the 500m quarterfinals. She made it through to advance to the semis and ended up in the B Final. Dudek put in a great performance to finish second in the B Final. After two World Cup events, Dudek is ranked ninth in overall classification.

In a very competitive Men’s 1500m quarterfinals, Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, WA) and Jeff Simon (Las Vegas, NV) skated to first place wins in their heats while Jordan Malone (Denton, TX) finished in third but was advanced to the semi.

During the 1500m semifinals, the top three athletes in each heat advanced to the A Final. Ohno took third in his race, advancing to the A Final along with Simon who finished in fifth but was advanced after Canadian skater Charles Hamelin was disqualified. Malone finished in fourth and ended up winning the B Final. Ohno and Simon skated a highly competitive A Final race but finished just off the medal stand in fourth and fifth. Ho-Suk Lee from Korea took the gold with a time of 2:13.922. Three U.S. men are ranked in the top ten for World Cup classification in the 1500m: Ohno is fourth, Simon is eighth and Malone is ranked tenth.

The Men’s 500m proved to be exciting as Simon Cho (Laurel, MD) advanced from the quarters to the semis. However, Olympian Anthony Lobello (Tallahassee, FL) and Jeff Simon finished third in their heat and narrowly missed advancing to the semifinals.

Cho fought through the 500m semifinals and ended in second behind Hamelin, moving into the A Final. In a tough race, Cho battled hard but couldn’t get out of the fourth position, missing the bronze medal by a hair. After two World Cups, Jeff Simon is ranked sixth overall in the 500m while Cho is looking strong in eighth.

Racing concludes on Sunday with the Men’s and Ladies Relay Finals and the 1000m.

[aaosmts19]

www.usspeedskating.org/uptospeed/posts/go_team_usa.php

Go Team USA!!

posted by pkinder - Sep. 25, 2009 10:43 AM

It was another great day of qualifying rounds for U.S. short track speedskaters in Seoul, Korea during the second day of skating at the ISU World Cup 2. All three men and ladies advanced through three rounds of skating to qualify for the quarter-finals in the Men’s and Ladies 1000m to be skated on Sunday, September 27.


During the Men’s 1000m preliminaries, both Jordan Malone (Denton, TX) and Travis Jayner (Midland, MI) finished first in their heat while 2006 Olympian Anthony Lobello (Tallahassee, FL) finished in second, just behind Charles Hamelin of Canada. In the next round of heats, Jayner and Lobello finished in second place while Malone took first in his event. All three skaters advance to the quarter-finals.

The Ladies 1000m preliminaries found World Cup gold-medalist Katherine Reutter (Champaign, IL) and 2006 Olympian Kimberly Derrick (Memphis, TN) in first place following their heats with two-time Olympian Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, PA) taking the second spot in her race. During the next round, Reutter finished second, just behind Meng Wang of China. Derrick also took second in her heat against Korean skater Seung-Hi Park. Baver finished in third in her race, but was still able to advance to the quarter-final round.

Both the Men’s and Ladies Relay teams qualified for the semi-finals on Sunday with the men advancing through two rounds of skating. In the first heat, Malone, Jayner, two-time Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, WA) and Simon Cho (Laurel, MD) skated against teams from Japan and Ukraine, finishing in second place and advancing to the quarter-finals. Lobello replaced Malone in the quarter-final relay event as the team came in second, right behind the Canadian team. The men face some tough opponents on Sunday as they skate against Canada, Korea and Italy in the relay semi-finals.

Baver, Derrick, Lana Gehring (Glenview, IL) and Alyson Dudek (Hales Corners, WI) skated the relay quarter-final heat battling to the first place position against Great Britain, Poland and Italy. The Ladies Relay team will meet up with teams from Korea, Japan and Bulgaria in their semi-final round on Sunday.

Skating continues on Saturday at the Mokdong Ice Rink with finals in the Men’s and Ladies 1500m and 500m events. .

[Laura (Lori)]

Thanks, aaosmts19 - I do like the way Peri keeps the updates coming!

If any of y'all are curious about how our team's rankings in World Cups 1 & 2 would translate into Olympic slots if we were to do the exact same thing in World Cups 3 & 4, check out the Olympic Team Selection Process thread (scroll down to Reply #12).

therockerforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=trips&action=display&thread=411

I played with it a bit this afternoon, and if I'm understanding the process right, we would have accomplished everything we want - 1) a full team at the Olympics AND 2) the max of 3 skaters in every individual distance... ;D