Zen and the Art of Speedskating

World record for Meng Wang of China in the Women’s 500m. It was very impressive, powerful skating.

There was a stain on this record though, there were 3 Chinese skaters on the start line, and one Canadian, Jessica Gregg.

Off the start, Jessica slotted into 3rd place, and then the Chinese skater in 4th clearly bumped Jessica out halfway through the race. It was a professional tap, not enough to make her crash, but enough to take away any chance of winning.

Maybe team skating is part of the deal at the upper levels of the sport, but this unfortunate moment marred some beautiful & powerful skating by Meng.

The most dominant country in the whole meet was obviously Korea. There were 8 final races, with 24 individual medals on the line. Korea won 11 of them.

I wonder who this young fan was cheering for, but the energy he put into his banner shows the deep passion Korea has for short track. Anyone out there read Korean?

Here is one of their outstanding athletes, Si-Bak Sung driving out of the first corner on his way to winning the Men’s 500m. Canada’s best sprinter Charles Hamelin in tow.

These guys are getting so much straightaway compression, they look like long trackers.

There is a lot more going on at a world cup than just races. Here is Bruce Kohen, measuring out a pair of boots before molding a customer. For some reason, I think Bruce looks best in black & white.

Bruce had a good day of business, and started his long trip home with a trunkfull of feet. Well, at least the molds of feet.

National Team Long tracker Paul Dyrud had a busy day chasing blocks. Like many American long trackers, Paul is also an accomplished short track skater & will be racing the America’s cup later this year.

Chasing blocks at an event like this is very intense, as the athletes are doing 8 second laps. You only have a few moments to grab an errant block. How do they do it safely? I asked Anthony Bartell, and he said “Well, just make sure you are smarter than the blocks!”.

In many short track events, the final showdown is the Relays. The Chinese ran away with the Women’s relay early on, but the Men’s relay was a nail biter the whole way.

The Koreans set an intense pace, with the Canadians on them like glue. The USA Yo-yo’ed in and out of contact most of the race.

A world-class short track relay that comes down to the wire is one of the most exciting things you will ever see in sports. It’s like a goal line stand in the Super Bowl, or bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th.

Canada passed into the lead with 10 to go. Then Korea passed them back with 7. Canada took the lead back with 5 laps to go. Korea passed again a half lap later-

& made a small gap on US & Canada. At the bell for 1 lap to go, Ohno passed Hamelin, and the USA took second to Korea.

(amazing compression here through the lactic firestorm at the end of a relay)

All 3 teams were under the previous world record, with Korea setting the new mark. Wow….

Oh yeah, no baby news yet. Jess is still waiting, & waiting.

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