World Cup 1
VIDEO FROM CCTV-5 is UP
9/20/2009 3:41am PST
WOOO! I just saw some
exciting racing. Katherine Reutter wins
the women’s 1000m Final! Lee Jung-Su
wins the men’s 1000m final! Korea
showcased their dominance in the men’s and women’s relay!
Women’s 1000m A Final
Katherine Reutter USA 1:31.047
Lee Eun-Byul KOR 1:32.156
Jessica Smith USA 1:34.165
Wang Meng CHN 2:18.764
Men’s 1000m A Final
Lee Jung-Su KOR 1:25.630
Charles Hamelin CAN 1:25.767
Kim Seuong II KOR 1:25.868
Francois Hamelin CAN 1:25.929
Women’s Relay Final
Korea (Cho Ha-Ri, Park Seung-Hi, Lee Eun-Byul, Kim
Min-Jung) 4:13.531
United States (Katherine Reutter, Allison Baver,
Kimberly Derrick, Alyson Dudek) 4:15.204
Canada (Tania Vicent, Marianne St-Gelais, Jessica Gregg, Valerie Maltais)
4:17.495
China (Wang Meng, Zhou Yang, Liu Quihong, Zhang Hui) 4:22.134
Men’s Relay Final
Korea (Lee Ho-Suk, Lee Jung-Su, Kim Seoung Il, Kwak
Yoon-Gy) 6:51.371
China (Sui Bao Ku, Han Jialiang, Song Weilong, Liu Xianwei) 6:51.926
Canada (Charles Hamelin, Francois Hamelin, Olivier Jean,
Francois-Louis Tremblay) 6:51.972
Italy (Nicholas Bean, Yuri Confortola,
Nicola Rodigari, Robert Serra) 6:53.168
Women’s 1000m A Final – the race included Wang Meng
of China, Katherine Reutter and Jessica Smith of the United States, and Lee Eun-Byul of South Korea.
After the gun went, Wang Meng tries to do the
same exact thing every time and that’s to try to take the lead to control the
race. But Jessica Smith wasn’t having
any of that. She takes the lead away
from Wang Meng.
Both Americans are separating the Chinese and the Korean. Smith was leading for most of the race, then Eun-Byul, Reutter and Wang Meng. Reutter goes to the front with Wang Meng in last. With
two laps to go (I think it’s two laps), Wang Meng starts building an insane
amount of speed to try to pass both Reutter and Eun-Byul on the outside only to
BOOT OUT on her left, then crash to the boards.
I’ve seen Wang Meng race for the LONGEST time
and I’ve NEVER seen her fall until now!
Trust me even the best sometimes boot out unexpectedly. Wang Meng was
leaning so far in the corner that she simply did not pay attention to her left
skate when she landed it and tried to push.
Katherine Reutter holds off Lee Eun-Byul for
the win with Jessica Smith coming in third.
NOT the best start for Wang Meng in the
1000m.
Men’s 1000m A Final
– two Koreans (Lee Jung-Su + Kim Seuong Il) and two
Canadians (the Hamelin brothers). Gun
goes with Francois taking the lead. The
Koreans were not going to let the Canadians skate together. Charles Hamelin tried to take second but
Jung-Su was not interested. Lee Jung-Su
then takes the lead by making this small sidestep type jump on the inside with
Francois and Charles hot on his trails.
Lee Jung-Su wins the 1000m Final and then the Hamelin brothers
right behind.
Women’s 3000m Relay Final – After the first gun went, China took
the lead, then Korea, USA, and Canada. At the apex, Korea falls and takes out China,
and then USA + Canada goes down with them!
Nothing like starting out a relay final with a four
skater pile up down the track! The
race was finally restarted and the entire race was between Korea and
China. The Korean women kept on
pressuring the Chinese for the lead. It
was back and forth between those two countries.
I don’t know what Canada was going but they literally were left in the
dust. Kim Min-Jung of South Korea made
this thrilling outside pass on the Chinese to take the lead towards the last
laps. Zhou Yang of China made an exchange
but pushed her teammate so hard that she ran into the Koreans and fell. It’s important for a skater making the push
to pay attention to what’s ahead.
Sometimes, if you push too hard, the push can either cause a crash (like
I saw here) or making a bad pass towards a DQ.
The most important thing here is to still be IN the race instead of
being taken OUT of the race. The
allowed the Americans to slip in for second and Canada with third. Clearly the Korean women have stepped up
their game to get ready for Vancouver.
Men’s 5000m Relay Final – the race started out with the Chinese
taking the lead for a good number of laps followed by Korea, Canada and
Italy. The pace was easy and it looked
like the skaters were trying to get a feel for the ice…UNTIL Charles Hamelin
made this kick ass outside pass on the whole pack to get the lead. Canada then lead for a little bit and then
the Chinese took it back with an inside pass only to
have Canada pass them back on the inside in the next corner! Korea meanwhile was laying in the cut and
reading their opponents. They sat in
third most of the time. I must say the
Chinese men picked up their game and are looking awesome. Lee Jung-Su then takes the lead from third
place, and then Canada takes it back.
Towards the end of the race, everyone was trying to pass everybody….WITH
the exception of Italy. They just sat in
fourth the entire time and didn’t even bother attempting to make a pass. Canada was deep tracking against the Chinese. Kwak Yoon-Gy decided to take a chance to make an inside pass and man
did it work. Once Kwak
made that pass, the Koreans straight up switched ON and started hauling ass so
FAST. The built such a gap on the
Canadians and the Chinese and took the win easily! China comes in second by beating Canada at
the line. I’m very impressed by the way
the Chinese men skated.
This concludes World Cup 1 in Beijing. World Cup 2 in Seoul starts next Thursday,
September 24th. Watch out for
the Korean broadcasts. They broadcast in
HD and always provide kick ass programming for short track.
9/19/2009
How to watch
World Cup 1 on CCTV-5
The competition heats up with World Cup 1 in Beijing. THIRTY world teams are in the house trying to
show others what they’ve got. So far the
races have been very interesting and we’re getting close to Olympic Qualifiers.
Some interesting tidbits:
·
·
The Aussies have a men’s relay team as well!
·
Some other countries are in attendance including Hong Kong, Bosnia
& Herzegovina, Mongolia, and Republic of Kazakhstan.
One of the things I don’t like about World Cup broadcasts is that
they do not show all the prelims and the heats.
They usually just show either quarterfinals or semi-finals and up. Sure, I understand they have limited air time
but I like watching all the races.
Day 3 racing included the 1500m and the 500m. I must say that the women from China
definitely look strong with this first World Cup for these distances. The Korean men also showed up with some
dominance as well. One thing viewers
need to take note is the fact that there is NO REPECHAGE rounds at this year’s
World Cups. Either you make it to the
next round, or you DON’T.
In the women’s 1500m A Final, Zhou Yang of China once again
displayed her shear strength and endurance by passing not ONE, but TWO Koreans
on the outside to take the lead AND to take the WIN with a decent gap. The Korean women clearly have their work cut
out for them as some of the veteran 1500m skaters like Jung Eun-Ju
and Shin Sae-Bom didn’t make the Korean Olympic
Team. Lee Eun-Byul
of South Korea came in second and Katherine Reutter came out with bronze. Not bad to pull this off literally right
after US Trials the week prior.
For the men’s 1500m A Final, the Korean men finished one, two, and
three. Olivier Jean and Charles Hamelin
of Canada did their best to try to separate all three Koreans during racing but
they simply couldn’t hold them off. Sung
Si-Bak took first from Lee Ho-Suk
at the line, with Lee Jung-Su right behind them.
In the Women’s 500m A Final, we have two Chinese (Wang Meng + Zhao Nannan) and two
Canadians (Jessica Gregg + Marianne St. Gelais). We can all admit that when Wang Meng of China is at the starting line, you’re racing for
second. No doubt about that. Her starts are insane and she simply can’t be
touched because she is literally FLYING down the track building such a
considerable gap. After the first lap,
it looks like both Zhao Nannan of China and Marianne
St. Gelais of Canada toed into the ice. Zhao looked like she did but I’m not so sure
about St. Gelais.
This allowed Jessica Gregg to take the second spot with no way of
catching up to Wang Meng. Wang Meng came in
first (no surprise here) with Jessica Gregg second and St. Gelais
third. I don’t know why Wang Meng stopped skating and started celebrating so early! She quite possibly could have broken her own
World Record in the 500m! I guess she
wasn’t concerned with that.
For the men’s 500m A Final, the Korean men showcased once again
their strength not only in the long distance, but in the short ones as
well. Koreans skaters included Sung Si-Bak, Kwak Yoon-Gy, and Lee Seung-Jae. Francis Louis Tremblay of Canada plus Jeff
Simon of USA were on the line as well.
Sung Si-Bak had the lead most of the way with
Tremblay behind. Jeff Simon made a great
pass on Tremblay but in the end Kwak Yoon-Gy came with the speed and the quickness to move all the
way to the front to get first! Sung Si-Bak came in second and Jeff Simon came in third.
The last day of racing concludes today with the 1000m and the
relays. After Beijing, the skaters move
onto Seoul, South Korea for World Cup 2.
