Résultats du 1500m à Harbin - UNIVERSIADES D'HIVER 2009

Tyler Derraugh and Guillaume Bastille were Canada's top skaters in today's 1500m event at the World Winter University Games in Harbin China.

The duo finished 6th and 7th respectively, valiantly fighting against 4 Korean and 1 Chinese skater in the final. Korean skaters swept the podium (China 4, Korea 5). Both were well placed inside the last 5 laps but ran out of steam in soft ice conditions. Bastille's effort was hampered by a minor equipment problem, having clashed with other competitors twice early in the race. Derraugh was skating in his first A final in his career. Both skated strong semis against a field heavily dominated by the asian nations.

Liam McFarlane was eliminated in the semi-finals and Richard Shoebridge in the heats.

1500m Final Men
1 087 LEE SEUNG HOON KOR 02:18.016
2 086 KIM SEOUNG IL KOR 02:18.203
3 089 YUN TAE SIK KOR 02:18.511
4 067 GAO MING CHN 02:19.207
5 088 JANG WON HOON KOR 02:19.927
6 066 DERRAUGH TYLER CAN 02:20.667
7 062 BASTILLE GUILLAUME CAN 02:22.360

On the ladies side, the Chinese skaters dominated with a sweep led by overall 1500m World Cup champion Yang Zhou. Korean skaters placed 4th to 6th in the A final. Three Canadian women were in the semi-finals, each placing 4th in their respective races with Marie-Andree Mendes-Campeau coming closest to breaking through the wall of Asian skaters in her semi. Gabrielle Waddell was eliminated in the heats.

1500m Final Women
1 008 ZHOU YANG CHN 02:31.658
2 011 LIU QIUHONG CHN 02:31.821
3 009 SUN LINLIN CHN 02:32.201
4 026 KIM HYE KYUNG KOR 02:32.548
5 024 YANG SHIN YOUNG KOR 02:32.825
025 JUNG BA RA KOR DQ
Gabrielle Waddell a terminé son parcours en qualification et Nita Avrith et Marie-Andrée en demi-finale.

Tomorrow is the 500m and the women's relay semi-final where Canada will vie with Japan and Great Britain for a place in Monday's final.

On top of soft ice conditions (-6 deg C) the athletes in the final faced a short rest interval to accomodate live television, with only 15 minutes between the semis and finals.
SG