China - Résultats du 1500m et du 500m - Chine

L'Équipe de développemnt est toujours en Chine pour une 2e semaine de compétition. Voici les résultats.
Women 500 Final A
4 Chinese

Jess Hewitt - 4th in semi
Marie-Andree Mendès-Campeau - 4th in semi
Nita Avrith 3rd in qfinal
Marianne St-Gelais out in heat, asleep at the finishline.

500m - Men Final A
1. Corey Rasmussen
2. Michael Gilday
3. Guillaume Bastille
4. Liam McFarlane

Alex Boisvert-Lacroix out in the heat, lots of cross-tracking and team skating in front of him - 500m in 9.5
Remi Beaulieu was taken out while passing on the inside in his heat. He has a bruise on his knee and is finished for the weekend.

1500m - Women Final A
1. Qichao Zhao
2. Mile Zhu
3. Nita Avrith
4. Jessica Hewitt
5. Cuijia Liu
6. Marianne St-Gelais
7. Linlin Sun

1500m - Men Final A
1. Michael Gilday
2. Guillaume Bastille
3. Chn
4. Chn
5. Chn
6. Remi Beaulieu
7. Chn

CHAMPIONNAT DU MONDE - 1500m

Domination coréenne
Radio-Canada - 7 mars 2008
Aucune médaille en courte piste
RDS - 7 mars 2008
Kalyna Roberge a obtenu le meilleur résultat canadien avec une 5e place au 1500 mètres.
Marc-André Monette a terminé la course en sixième position.

« J’ai manqué d’énergie. Je n’ai pas eu suffisamment de temps pour récupérer entre la demi-finale et la finale », a expliqué ce jeune homme relativement satisfait puisqu’il s’agissait de sa première participation à une épreuve individuelle aux championnats du monde.

Charles Hamelin, grand leader de l’équipe canadienne, a vécu une amère déception pour une deuxième année de suite aux championnats du monde. À l’instar de l’an dernier en Italie, le patineur de Sainte-Julie a été éliminé dès le premier tour de la course de 1500 mètres en raison d’une disqualification. « Il a eu besoin d’un bon bout de temps pour retrouver le sourire », a indiqué le père de Charles, Yves Hamelin, qui est aussi le directeur de programme de l’équipe nationale de courte piste.


Site de Yahoo ... en Coréen mais y'a des photos.

Et plein de photos sur Getty Images dont celle-ci avec Jeff Simon et François Hamelin

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D'autres photos sur le site de ISU
Chez les dames
1 WANG Meng CHN 2:22.819
2 YANG Shin-Young KOR 2:22.904
3 ZHOU Yang CHN 2:23.191
4 REUTTER Katherine USA 2:23.212
5 ROBERGE Kalyna CAN 2:23.960
6 LIU Qiuhong CHN 2:25.928
7 JUNG Eun-Ju KOR 2:33.236

Tania a terminé son parcours en quart et Amanda en demi. Kalyna a été avancée en finale.
Au 3000m relais, le Canada s'est classé pour la finale où elles retrouveront la Corée, la Chine et l'Italie.

Chez les hommes
1 SONG Kyung-Taek KOR 2:18.916
2 LEE Ho-Suk KOR 2:18.971
3 LEVEILLE Charles Ryan USA 2:19.066
4 LEE Seung-Hoon KOR 2:19.127
5 ZHANG Zhiqiang CHN 2:19.561
6 MONETTE Marc-Andre CAN 2:19.952
DQ OHNO Apolo Anton USA DQ

S. Korea, China split golds in short track speed skating
Yonhap News
The reigning United States champion, Apolo Anton Ohno, competed with Song near the finish line and appeared to have come second, but was later disqualified for pushing a rival.

KIM JAE-HWAN/AFP/Getty Images
Autres photos sur Yahoo
Cest du «déjà vu» pour Charles qui se retrouve exactement à la même place que l'an dernier après la 1ère distance, soit disqualifié dans la dernière vague des qualifications du 1500m. La suite s'est beaucoup mieux déroulée.
François a été disqualifié dans sa vague de demi finale.

Championnat du monde 2008 - les équipes à surveiller

L'Équipe du Canada
ROBERGE Kalyna (4 médailles en Coupe du Monde, Championne du monde au 500m en 2007)
VICENT Tania
OVERLAND Amanda (1 médaille en CM)

HAMELIN Charles (9 médailles en CM, Champion du monde au 500m en 2007 et Vice-champion mondial 2007)
MONETTE Marc-Andre (1 médaille en CM)
HAMELIN Francois (1 médaille en CM)

L'Équipe de Corée
La meilleure Jin Sun-Yu est blessée, mais les autres sont les suivantes au classement des médailles en Coupe du Monde.
JUNG Eun-Ju (4 médailles en CM)
YANG Shin-Young (7 médailles en CM)
PARK Seung-Hi (5 médailles en CM)

Blessé, Ahn Hyun-Soo est absent et Sung Si Bak, celui qui a remporté le plus de médailles individuelles en Coupe du Monde cette année, soit 11 médailles en 12 présences, n'y est pas non plus. Pourtant, il n'est pas blessé.... La Corée n'a pas ses meilleurs hommes à ce Mondial, mais en ont-ils besoin?
SONG Kyung-Taek (5 médailles en CM)
LEE Ho-Suk (9 médailles en CM)
LEE Seung-Hoon (4 médailles en CM)

L'Équipe de Chine
LIU Qiuhong (4 médailles en CM)
ZHOU Yang (6 médailles en CM et 4e au classement général)
WANG Meng (10 médailles cette saison en CM, imbattable au 500m, n'était pas présente au dernier Mondial)

Pas beaucoup de profondeur chez les Chinois et que 2 patineurs, Li Ye étant absent.
SONG Weilong
ZHANG Zhiqiang (1 médaille en CM)

L'Équipe des États-Unis
Les 2 meilleures filles cette année chez nos voisins du sud.
REUTTER Katherine (4 médailles en CM, certainement la révélation chez les États-Uniens)
BAVER Allison (2 médailles en CM)

Et le meilleur chez leurs hommes demeure Apolo; Malone absent)
OHNO Apolo Anton (3e au classement mondial en 2007, n'a participé qu'à 2 CM et rapporté 2 médailles)
SIMON Jeff
LEVEILLE Charles Ryan

World Short Track Speed Skating Championships

Sung, Ohno Highlights Short Track Worlds
Kim Tong-hyung - The Korea Times - 3 mars 2008
South Korean Sung Si-bak and American Apolo Anton Ohno are among the biggest names participating [...] South Korea, a perennial powerhouse in the sport, is fielding arguably the strongest team in the men's competition, despite the void left by Olympic champion Ahn Hyun soo, who is recovering from knee surgery.
Lire plus »»»

Korea to host world short track speed skating championship
Korea.net
Lire plus »»»

Last day of competition in Harbin, China

Another good day at the races here in Harbin, with some pretty wild stuff in a couple of the men's races.
Women
1. Hui Zhang
2. Linlin Sun
3. Xin Ma
4. Marie-Andrée Mendès-Campeau
Marie skated well to get to the final, finishing 3rd in her semi but going through on time (1+2). She had a couple of bad slips though mid-race that took her out of contention.

Others:
6. Valerie Maltais (3rd in the other semi)
9. Marianne St-Gelais (quarters, just missed the semis on time)
12. Gabrielle Waddell
13. Nita Avrith
Val missed the cash bonus for fastest time by 0.009 (1:33.873). She skated a great quarter, leading the whole race. Jess Hewitt made the B group final in the morning but was DQ'd. Not the best weekend for her - 3x dq.

The girls finished 2nd in a close relay with a team from Beijing featuring Linlin Sun. The lineup was: St-Gelais, Maltais, Waddell, Avrith.

Men
1. Remi Beaulieu
2. Michael Gilday
3. Guillaume Bastille
Quite a tame race compared to some of the earlier ones. Michael's semi was a classic and he fought hard against 3 Chinese skaters who were talking openly during the race. He wasn't the only skater this weekend who was nearly rubbed out along the boards exiting the turns while going by on the outside. Some pretty extreme stuff... Michael (and Michael Friesen) grabbed the cash bonus in their heat (1:28.090)

Others:
6. Michael Friesen
9. Alex Boisvert-Lacroix
14. Richard Shoebridge
16. Liam McFarlane
17. Tyler Derraugh (won B group in the morning)
28. Corey Rasmussen -dq in heat

The oval men (Friesen. Derraugh, Van Drecht, Miller) looked like they were in for the win in the relay final but a fall with 8 to go dashed their hopes.
Next competition on Fri-Sat.

L'Équipe canadienne en route pour le Championnat du Monde

Marc-André Monette pique un somme au milieu de la place et surprend les Asiatiques.


Au Centre d'achat Hyundai, l'Équipe se porte plutôt bien.

Su l'heure du diner, au resto

Marc-André est maintenant bien éveillé...

Suite à venir....

Competition in China - 500 meters

The 500m races were today as well as the relay semis. Again, the 1+ qualification criteria made some interesting races.
Girls
1. Marianne St-Gelais
2. Mile Zhu
3. Wei Wang
4. Wenwen Li
Marianne was strong each round, winning the start and skating out front. In the final, Zhu beat her off the start and skated all over the place at 9.8. Marianne tried inside a couple of times (first straight and later) but couldn't get by. She had the last laugh though by blowing by Zhu on the outside on the last lap. Zhu tried hard to get her though with some traditional Chinese cross-tracking.
Marianne had the fastest time of the day too, so she's 1600 yuan richer ($250 cad).

Others:
6. Valérie Maltais (2nd in semi but not fast enough)
12. Nita Avrith (quarters)
17. Gabrielle Waddell (won quarter but was dq)
20. Marie-Andrée Mendès-Campeau (heat - barely missed on time)

In the B group, Liz Dier was the only skater to make the final but she didn't win.

The girls won their relay semi. (Maltais, St-Gelais, Mendes-Campeau, Waddell)

Men
1. Michael Gilday
2. Hongyang Wang
3. Alex Boisvert-Lacroix
4. Liam McFarlane dq

Liam was dq'd on Alex early in the race. The Chinese skater stole the start and that made for a hectic race. Michael went by Alex and Liam when the two of them bumped. Alex passed was at the back but came back strong, passing Liam and Wang on the bell. But he hit a block and went down. Before he hit the 'pads', he put his hands up but that only made things worse as his hand smashed into his face on impact. Eventually, you will all see pictures of the nice black eye he's going to have. He had enough awareness though to finish the race and claim 3rd. So Michael grabbed 1000 yuan as did Alex (400 for 3rd and 600 for fastest time - 42.2 - in the semi).
Alex went to the hospital for his orbital bone around his right eye but came back with the green light for tomorrow. Somehow, he managed to get pass the eye chart in Chinese characters. 象形字

Liam skated 8 500m races today, winning the B group in the morning and going all the way to the final in the afternoon.

Others:
5. Friesen (semi)
6. Guillaume Bastille (semi)
11. Remi Beaulieu (quarter)
17. Richard Shoebridge (heat)
24. Corey Rasmusssen (heat - should have been advanced after getting slammed around a few times)

In the relay, the Oval team finished 1st in their semi and the SSC team (Gilday, Beaulieu, Bastille, McFarlane) was DQ'ed.

Remi fell right before an exchange. Liam forgot to look both ways and collided with an oncoming Chinese skater, resulting in the DQ. The guys responded well and came back to finish 2nd but the DQ rules them out of the final.
Guillaume was almost rubbed out on the boards by another skater in the last two laps. The guy saw him coming by on the outside and just started going wider and wider, hoping that Guillaume would eventually hit the wall.


At least we are taking all their money!

Conematic 1500 mètres

Groupe B en matinée - 1500 mètres
1- Gabrielle Waddell monte dans le groupe 1

Liam McFarlane a terminé au second rang et Jessica Hewitt s'est vu dq en demi-finale. Les 2 ne devraient pas avoir de problème à se hisser dans le 1er groupe demain.

The other interesting thing this weekend is the qualifications from round to round. Today, it was 1+12 from the heats and 1+3 from semi to final. The fastest times had to be from 2nd-3rd-4th place skaters.
Tomorrow, it's the same thing except that it's the 2nd and 3rd place skaters who can get through on time.

GROUPE 1 FINAL A
1. Remi Beaulieu
2. Michael Gilday
3. Xin Chen
4. Yongjun Yu
5. Lei Sun
6. Zhiyu Wang
7. Guillaume Bastille DQ
Remi and Michael were out in front in the final laps by a good 5-10m with Remi passing Michael on the last lap by the outside for the win.
Guillaume was in the race for the win until about 3 to go, when he clashed blades in the straight with one of the Chinese skaters and lost the edge on his right skate. He sort of gave up but seeing that he still had a chance for 3rd, he got going again. On the last straight he was trying to negotiate a path through a couple of swerving Chinese skaters and wound up sending one of them into the boards.
Michael almost missed his race and in his haste to get ready snapped a lace in the heat box. Remi won Price money winners: 1000 chinese yuan (approx. $150cad), Michael 600 and Guillaume 600 for having the fastest time of the day (semi).

Others:
11. Michael Friesen (semi)
13. Richard Shoebridge (semi)
16. Alex Boisvert-Lacroix (semi)
19. Cory Rasmussen (heat)

Women A Group final results
1. Linlin Sun
2. Xiaowan Sun
3. Xue Feng
4. Valerie Maltais
5. Qichao Zhang
6. Nita Avrith DQ
7. Cuijia Liu DQ
Val was in the lead with about 6 to go. Linlin Sun went by with 1.5-2 to go by the outside and was home free for the win. Zhang passed Val on the bell lap by the inside but it was a very close pass. Val tried to pass her back on the inside but Nita was coming through too and there was a little bit of contact between the two (Nita was dq'd here).
There was a mad scramble on the last half lap with lots of traffic and a bit of bumping.

Others:
21. Marianne St. Gelais (heat)
25. Marie-Andrée Mendes-Campeau (heat)
28. Gabrielle Waddell (heat)
Marianne was in one of the first heats and her race wasn't fast enough (finished 3rd).
Marie-Andrée was going well but got bumped around a little and wound up getting stuck on the outside for 2-3 laps (finished 5th).
Gabrielle was in the last heat, which was very fast as all the skaters knew the time to beat to qualify for the semis. Four 1500m races were enough for her today. She'll be in the A group for the rest of the competition.

Both men's relay teams (oval and SSC) qualified easily for the semis as did the women's team from SSC.
Lineups: Gilday, Beaulieu, Shoebridge, Boisvert-Lacroix; St. Gelais, Maltais, Mendes-Campeau, Avrith.

At one point I thought there might be a rain delay. The roof has a lot of leaks and there is water dripping everywhere, especially on the ice.
There are brown spots and little holes melting into the ice. See picture.

The ice isn't particularly fast either.
The 500m and relay semis are tomorrow. The 500m heats are drawn from the Chinese National Cup circuit so ALL of our skaters have 3 or 4 on the start line in their heats tomorrow since they are new to the circuit.

Conematic en Chine

Suite aux poursuites qui déterminaient les groupes, seules les 4 filles du Québec (Valérie Maltais, Marie-Andrée Mendès-Campeau, Nita Avrith et Marianne St-Gelais) se sont hissées dans le 1er groupe de 30 patineuses. Les autres dont Jessica Hewitt et Gabrielle Waddell devront terminer au 1er rang du 2e groupe (compétition en avant-midi) pour avoir une seconde chance de compétitionner dans le groupe 1(compétition en après-midi). Une seule pourra monter dans le groupe 1 à chacune des distances.
Temps officiel de la poursuite 777 mètres.
3. Valérie Maltais 1:12.492
10. Marianne St-Gelais 1:13.214
25. Marie-Andrée Mendès-Campeau 1:15.095
27. Nita Avrith 1:15.181

Chez les gars, Liam devra terminer premier du 1500m en avant-midi pour se hisser dans le 1er groupe. Rémi et Michael étaient en pair de même que Alex et Liam (dernière paire).
66 patineurs en tout.
Le groupe 1 sera formé des 30 premiers à la poursuite et à chaque distance, le gagnant du groupe 2 montera dans le groupe 1.

Résultats de la poursuite 777 mètres.

1.Rémi Beaulieu 1:07.7412.
2.Michael Gilday 1:07.7523.
3.Cory Rasmussen 1:08.0055.
5.Richard Shoebridge 1:08.1918.
8.Guillaume Bastille 1:08.61529.
29.Michael Friesen 1:09.63930.
30.Alex Boisvert-Lacroix 1:09.67831.

31.Liam McFarlane 1:09.694

Olympic Gold Medallists to Miss Short Track Worlds

Sang-hee Han - The Korea Times - 29 février 2008


South Korea's short track speed skating stars, Ahn Hyun-soo and Jin Sun-yu will not make the short track world championships held here due to injuries, causing the team worries. [...]

"He had a reexamination, but the doctors said that it would be difficult for him (Ahn) to compete,'' IB Sports said. " [...] "Jin injured her ankle during a rather aggressive match with the Chinese players at the World Cup Short Track this month. She returned home in a wheel chair and wasn't even able to put her skates on," Song Jae-geun, the team's coach said to Yonhap News Agency.

[...] Meanwhile, Apolo Anton Ohno, who stunned the nation with his ``Hollywood action'' at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, will return to Seoul as a member of the United States team. [...] It will be his first visit for a tournament in 29 months, following the 2005-2006 International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track.