vancouver.24hrs.ca/Sports/2008/10/24/7189306-sun.htmlSportsWhat sport is this?By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURSShort-track is so-called because it is - ta-da! - the shorter version of speedskating.
Long-track will be contested at the Richmond Oval's 400 metre track, while this weekend's International Skating Union world cup and the 2010 Games' short-track meet will happen at the Pacific Coliseum on a 111.12 metre course.
Racers go counterclockwise in distances of 500 metres, 1,000 m, 1,500 m and 3,000 m. There are also 3,000 m women's and 5,000 m men's relays. Equipment includes hard-shell bike-style helmets, molded fibreglass boots with long blades, cut-proof suits and gloves and other protection.
It may appear like it's roller derby on ice - and there can be spectacular collisions from time-to-time - but pushing, pulling, elbowing and checking are not allowed.
Gaetan Boucher and Brenda Webster were Canada's first king and queen of the short-track when they dominated the 1977 world championships. The sport debuted at the 1992 Albertville Olympics.
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www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/sports/story.html?id=3649c1b5-89d7-4cca-a4bd-a95b3bd9e8a2&p=1No short track to catching KoreansSouth Korea has owned the podium -- and Canada wants that to changeCam Cole, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, October 22, 2008
All the sports psychologists will tell you it's important to dream big dreams. Even if they're in Technicolour.
So never mind that South Korea's powerhouse short-track speedskating team won 10 medals to Canada's four at the 2006 Turin Olympics, including 6-0 in golds. Or that 21/2 years later, in last weekend's first Samsung ISU World Cup meet of the season at the Utah Olympic Oval near Salt Lake City, the count was South Korea 13 medals, Canada 6 ... and 6-0 in the gold column.
To the untrained eye, it may appear the plucky Canadians are not exactly closing the gap at the sort of rate that would suggest a major boost to the host country's Own The Podium aspirations for the 2010 Olympics.
But mention this theory to the members of the national team -- who have assembled in Vancouver for this weekend's second World Cup at the Pacific Coliseum -- and they look at you like you have three heads.
"What do you have to do between now and 2010 to reach Korea's level?" a reporter asks.
The skaters, the coaches, the team media attache all look vaguely insulted.
"No, but the numbers ...," the reporter begins anew.
They don't want to hear 'em.
"We think we're there," says national team coach Derrick Campbell. "For us, our plan is to get stronger throughout the season and be ready for the world championships this year, which will simulate the Olympic Games timing. We really want to nail down that template this year so that next year we're just making small adjustments.
"But from the program side of things, I prefer not to put a specific number of medals on what we need to do. I know what our group is capable of, we have a history of excellence, and we're confident of what we can do. But the athletes already feel a lot of pressure --pressure on themselves, pressure to perform in front of the Canadian audience, pressure from sponsors and funding partners, and it's a little more intensified because we're in our own country," Campbell said.
That goes for this Friday through Sunday, when they'll play host to the first test event on the reconfigured ice surface at the Coliseum, but especially it goes for the main event, now just 16 months away.
They do not sound, even remotely, like a team that believes it is outclassed.
"Just from our results the last couple of years, we're definitely stepping up to a level close to theirs, if not right in with them," said 20-year-old Jessica Gregg of Edmonton, daughter of former Olympic speedskater Kathy Vogt and Dr. Randy Gregg, the five-time Stanley Cup-winning defenceman with the Oilers, who finished his NHL career in Vancouver.
"I know I've been with them in the 500, and I think as a country we're stepping it up, and it showed last week in the relay. For sure, Korea has always dominated, but we're getting closer and closer."
"When she was 18, she went to her first World Cup," Randy Gregg said Tuesday, from his sports medicine clinic in Edmonton, "and before she left, I said, 'Jess, what would happen if you were on the line against Meng Wang, the world champion and Olympic gold medalist?' And she looked up and said, 'Well, I'm going to try to beat her.' And she did end up on the line against Meng Wang and [Canada's] Kalyna Roberge and won a bronze medal.
"So it's an attitude. Someone once said those who believe they can win and those who believe they can't are both right."
Jessica Gregg finished third in the 500 last weekend.
Montreal's Charles Hamelin, who won nine individual medals last World Cup season and and two silvers at the 2008 world championships, won two more last week and leads a Canadian team here that may be slowed by injuries on the women's side -- including one to Roberge, the team's best -- but will be neck-and-neck with the Chinese in pursuit of the Koreans at the Coliseum.
That's if everything goes according to form ... which almost never happens.
"What's happening right now, I think we are on course for where we have to be in 2010," said Hamelin.
"I definitely think there can be and will be improvement, but in short track, the levels are always changing, and anything can happen in the race," said Gregg. "People fall, people get DQ'd, but strength-wise and conditioning-wise, I think we are pretty close."
ccole@vancouversun.com
ATHLETES TO WATCHAPOLO ANTON OHNO,
U.S.The five-time Olympic medallist and reigning world champion is from Seattle. So even after being lured by Hollywood after winning the fourth season of Dancing With the Stars with partner Julianne Hough, the charismatic Ohno, 26, has decided to skate in at least one more Olympics.
"It would be nice if I could live in this fairy-tale land where I skate and be 21 years old forever and be in great shape and never have an injury. But that's not life."
LEE JUNG-SU,
SOUTH KOREAWith triple Turin gold medallist Ahn Hyun-soo, who broke a kneecap last January, not in Vancouver, the 18-year-old Lee could take centre stage. He was second overall at the 2008 world juniors and won the second 1,500 race in Salt Lake City, holding off Ohno in the process. Lee also finished third in the 1,000 as the Koreans dominated last weekend with 13 podium finishes.
CHARLES HAMELIN,
CANADAA four-time world championship gold medallist, the St. Julie, Que., native, who now lives in Montreal, was second in both the 500-metre and 1,500-metre races at the season-opening World Cup last weekend in Salt Lake City.
WANG MENG,
CHINAAn Olympic gold medallist in Turin, the Harin-born Wang was suspended for the 2007 world championships by the Chinese for criticizing a new coach at that year's Asian Games.
She came back to capture the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 at the 2008 worlds. In Salt Lake City, the 23-year-old won both the 500 and 1,000.
SHIN SAE-BOM,
SOUTH KOREAThe Koreans just keep churning out talent. With Jin Sun-yu, a triple medallist from Turin, not on the North American trip, the 16-year-old Shin is getting her chance to shine. She was second in the 1,000 metres at Salt Lake City and then captured the second of the women's 1,500 metre races.
Picture:
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www.midlandfreepress.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1262906Speed skating stories soughtPosted 11 hours agoCatriona Le May Doan was joined by members of the Canadian National Short Track Team at the Samsung ISU Short Track World Cup at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver to launch the ING Speed Skating Challenge, the second annual search for Canada's Best Speed Skating Story.
"Last season's video stories reminded us that speed skating is more than just a sport. It's a part of what makes us Canadian, it's a part of our community fabric and it's a part of our hearts. This year we're expecting even more great storytelling from young speed skaters across Canada," commented Catriona.
After the success of the inaugural ING Speed Skating Challenge last season -with over 104,000 unique visits and 42,500 votes -organizers have expanded the field for national voting to include Canada's top 16 video stories in anticipation of increased popularity.
The prizing will once again total over $25,000 with the majority going to community clubs to encourage the growth of the sport in Canada. Last season's winner, Alastair Starke of Lloydminster, Alberta, took home prizes and donations totaling over $7,500 for himself and his club, the Lloydminster Border Blades.
The ING Speed Skating Challenge officially launches today, and the deadline for video entries is January 18, 2009. The voting begins February 9, 2009.
ING and Speed Skating Canada partners have provided over $25,000 in prizes for clubs and young skaters to add some additional motivation.
For more information, please visit
www.INGSpeedSkatingChallenge.com.
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vancouver.24hrs.ca/Sports/2008/10/24/7189301-sun.htmlSports'Anything can happen' in short-trackBy BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURSThe golden boy from Seattle who learned to skate in Vancouver, the fiery female from China and the new kid on the block from Langley. Watch them skate around the Pacific Coliseum ice until Sunday at harrowing speeds in the second stop of the 2008-2009 International Skating Union short-track world cup tour.
"Anything can happen, any given Sunday," said American Apolo Anton Ohno, the two-time Olympic gold medalist whose image is on the side of B.C. Ferries' Coastal Renaissance. "Any circumstance, any variable can change. If you ran the same race over three times you'd probably get three different winners."
Wang Meng of Harbin, China, a gold medalist at Torino 2006, is known for a rocky relationship with Chinese media and short-track officials. One of her newest competitors is Jessica Hewitt. Hewitt is the only B.C. skater on Team Canada who qualified for the world cup tour in September trials at the Coliseum.
"My mom's working the meet," Hewitt said with anticipation. "I have a couple grandmas, aunts and uncles and a bunch of friends coming."
VANOC vice-president of sport Tim Gayda said the three-day meet will be a valuable experience to 2010 Games' organizers, who have spent $17 million to expand the Coliseum ice slab, replace the ice plant and seating.
"This is a great opportunity for people who may not be able to get a ticket to the Olympics to come see the same athletes doing the same thing they'll do at the Games in this venue," Gayda said.
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www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=8e66c351-0ce0-403f-9dad-ba3500350dcb&p=1World Cup Races more than athleticsEvent will prepare staff, volunteers, medical professionals and others for 2010 GamesDarah Hansen, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, October 24, 2008
The Pacific Coliseum promises plenty of excitement this weekend as more than 180 of the world's best short-track speed skaters compete for top spot at the Samsung ISU World Cup event, beginning today.
But there's a lot at stake off the ice, too.
The World Cup, which runs through Sunday, marks the first test drive of an official Olympic sports venue ahead of the 2010 Winter Games, and members of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee will be watching closely to see how well operations run.
"It's a big event for us," Tim Gayda, Vanoc's vice-president of sport, said in an interview Wednesday.
"We've all been working and planning, but it's really the crunch time when you get into an event."
More than $20 million has been spent to refit the aging arena, which will host both short-track speed skating and figure skating on alternating nights during the 2010 Games. Modifications included the removal of spectator seats in order to boost the rink size to international standards and the installation of a "boardless" padding system to enclose the short-track ice space during events to help ensure athlete safety.
Ice quality will be the primary focus of Vanoc's testing, Gayda said Wednesday.
"If the athletes are happy at this level of event, that's our No. 1 goal," he said.
But overall venue operations also will be examined in detail -- everything from volunteers, communications, deliveries, medical services, press operations, timing and scoring.
"That's a huge one for us," Gayda said of the latter category, adding staff will be running a shadow system to test the timing and results platform. One system will record results used to determine athletes' times for the World Cup event, while the other will be used solely in a mock Games-time scenario to help ensure accuracy."
About 265 volunteers will be on hand over the weekend to get their feet wet at a major event. Gayda said he'll be looking at how well people perform under stress so "we have the right people in the right places."
A medical services team consisting of three physicians and five sports-related therapists also will be working. This number will increase for the Games in 2010.
Meanwhile, World Cup organizers have accredited more than 35 international media outlets, and 85 individual members of the media, including journalists, photographers and camera operators.
Gayda said he doesn't expect everything will go as it should, nor does he hope that it does.
"It's okay to make mistakes. This is the time to make them and then, basically, learn from them so we can improve on things," he said.
The Coliseum's lower bowl, with 4,500 of the venue's 15,863 newly refurbished seats, will be open for spectators to take in the World Cup action, and Jean Dupre of Speed Skating Canada said he hopes people in Vancouver will take advantage of the opportunity.
"This is a prelude to what will be happening during the 2010 Olympic Games and we hope that you will find our sport as exciting as we all [do]," he said.
More than 180 top athletes representing 25 countries began training at the forum Wednesday in preparation for the weekend event. Competition begins today with women's and men's 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m and relay heats.
A WEEKEND OF RACINGThe schedule of events for the World Cup at the Pacific Coliseum:
Friday8:45 a.m.- Men's and women's 1,500m heats
- Men's and women's 1,000m (1) preliminaries and heats
2 p.m.- Men's and women's 500m preliminaries and heats
- Men's and women's 1,000m (2) preliminaries and heats
- Women's 3,000m relay heats
- Men's 5,000m relay heats
Saturday8:05 a.m.- Men's and women's 1,000m (1) repechage
- Men's and women's 1,500m repechage
2 p.m.,
World Cup Competition- Men's and women's 1,000m (1) quarter-finals
- Men's and women's 1,500m semifinals
- Men's and women's 1,000m (1) semifinals
- Men's and women's 1,500m final B
- Men's and women's 1,500m final A
- Awards Ceremony
- Men's and women's 1,000m (1) final B
- Men's and women's 1,000m (1) final A
- Awards Ceremony
- Women's 3,000m relay semifinals
- Men's 5,000m relay semifinals
Sunday8:05 a.m.- Men's and women's 500m repechage
- Men's and women's 1,000m (2) repechage
2 p.m.,
World Cup Competition- Men's and women's 500m quarter-finals
- Men's and women's 1,000m (2) quarter-finals
- Men's and women's 500m semifinals
- Men's and women's 1,000m (2) semifinals
- Men's and women's 500m final B
- Men's and women's 500m final A
- Awards Ceremony
- Men's and women's 1,000m (2) final B
- Men's and women's 1,000m (2) final A
- Awards Ceremony
- Women's 3,000m relay finals
- Men's 5,000m relay finals
- Awards Ceremony
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canuck-runner.blogspot.com/2008/10/short-track-speed-skating.htmlBlogger:
Short track speed skatingI haven't been doing much running lately because I've been busy volunteering at the Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track speed skating event here in Vancouver. It's the first of a series of pre-Olympics events being staffed by VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games). In one sense, it's a set of trial runs for VANOC in the Olympic venues.
