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Briefs | Short track: Celski places 3rd, Ohno is 4th in race at worldsShort-track speedskatingCelski is 3rd, one place ahead of Ohno, in 1,500-meter final at world championships: J.R. Celski of Federal Way placed third in the 1,500-meter final Friday at the world short-track speedskating championships in Vienna, Austria.
Five-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno, 26, of Seattle was fourth in the final, won by Lee Ho-suk of South Korea in 2 minutes, 20.967 seconds.
Kwak Yoon-gy of South Korea was second in 2:21.078 and the 18-year-old Celski's time was 2:21.133.
PICTURE:
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LINK:
blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/olympics/2009/03/06/deneen_wins_moguls_worlds_cels.html- - - - - -
Deneen wins moguls Worlds; Celski grabs short track bronzeMarch 6, 2009 11:57 PM
Posted by Ron Judd
Both were considered up-and-coming stars in their sport. And both arrived a little bit ahead of schedule today at separate world championship events on the other side of the globe.
Washington winter sports athletes don't have many days like this one. Less than 24 hours apart, mogul skier Patrick Deneen of Cle Elum shocked the ski world with a gold medal at the Freestyle World Championships in Japan. And short-track speedskater
J.R. Celski of Federal Way claimed his own world championship medal -- a bronze in the 1,500 meters in Vienna.
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Celski gets a win -- and beats his hero -- in ViennaJ.R. Celski, 18, grew up idolizing five-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno. Today in Vienna, he beat out his hero at the World Championships, claiming a bronze medal in the 1,500 meters -- a race in which Ohno finished fourth.
Celski, a Federal Way native who, like Ohno, got his start as an inline skater, was fresh off a multiple-medal performance (two golds and a bronze) at the Junior World Championships in Quebec when in January. He and Ohno both raced their way to the 1,500-meter world championship final.
Celski led for much of the race, with Ohno on his hip. On the final lap, both were passed by Korea's Ho-Suk Lee and Yoon-Gy Kwak.
"I looked back to see where Apolo was and didn't realize Ho-Sok and Yoon-Gy were passing me," Celski told reporters. "I felt really good today and I'm very surprised on the results."
Racing continues on Saturday, with the men's and women's 500 meters and the men's 5,000-meter relay semifinals.
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LINK:
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Canada stumbles at world short-track championshipsSEAN GORDON
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
March 6, 2009 at 11:57 PM EST
There was a plan, and this wasn't it.
The first day of the world short-track speed skating championships will not be remembered fondly by Canada's athletes, who mustered just one top-10 result in the opening events.
Granted, the races Canadians will excel in will be held later in this weekend's competition in Vienna, but results from the men's and women's 1,500-metre race will nevertheless be hard to stomach for a team that has high hopes for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Women's star Kalyna Roberge of Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon, Que., who is expected to contend for several medals in Vancouver, only barely failed to advance from a heat that included the reigning world champion and eventual silver medalist.
She finished in 10th place. Teammates Valerie Maltais and Jessica Gregg, meanwhile, finished 11th and 17th respectively. South Korean skater Min-Jung Kim won gold.
On the men's side, the best finisher was Alma, Que., skater François-Louis Tremblay in ninth, well behind eventual champion Ho-Suk Lee of South Korea.
Olivier Jean of Lachenaie, Que., a 1,500-metre specialist who has podium ambitions in Vancouver, suffered a dubious disqualification in the semi-finals after brushing a Japanese skater on the inside.
"This is the kind of disqualification we must eliminate from our sport. … We understand we could have done better, but we're not about to panic," Yves Hamelin, Canada's short-track national program director, told a conference call from Vienna.
World and Olympic medalist Charles Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que., was also disqualified after he knocked eventual bronze winner J.R. Celski of the United States to the ice.
Hamelin said afterward, "I can't really complain."
"I was disqualified on the opening rounds in each of the last two world championships. In one case I won and in the other I got silver, so I'm not going to worry too much," he said, chalking the incident up to impatience.
The good news for the Canadians is that the 500-metre race will be held Saturday and they're aiming to sweep the podium.
"We always do," Yves Hamelin said.
The world championships end tomorrow. If any Canadian skater cracks the top three in the overall competition, he or she will earn automatic qualification for the Olympics.
...bittersweet indeed.
) Susie, 
... Katherine, JR, Jessica and Jeff...