World Cup #2 - Sept. 24-27, 2009 - Seoul, S. Korea

[dopeyrn]

d**n! I thought Canada had it! Good try guys!

[number1fan]

WOW!!! ho-suk just took that last 1/2 lap away from canada....he is one bad skata

[bubblebuttsbabe]

Men - 5000m - Semifinals - Results

Heat 1 [Splits]
Place Start Pos. Relay Team ISU Member Results Qual.
1 4 ITALY [BEAN, CONFORTOLA, RODIGARI, SERRA] ITA 6:52.024 QA
2 2 CHINA [HAN, SONG, LIU, LIANG] CHN 6:52.172 QA
3 3 NETHERLANDS [KERSTHOLT, KNEGT, BREEUWSMA, VAN DER WART] NED 6:52.451 QB
4 1 GERMANY [HERRMANN, PRAUS, HEUNG, SEIFERT] GER 6:52.577 QB

Heat 2 [Splits]
Place Start Pos. Relay Team ISU Member Results Qual.
1 1 CANADA [HAMELIN, HAMELIN, JEAN, TREMBLAY] CAN 6:57.74 QA
2 3 KOREA [LEE, LEE, KIM, KWAK] KOR 6:57.861 QA
3 2 UNITED STATES [MALONE, JAYNER, OHNO, CHO] USA 6:59.431 QB
4 4 JAPAN [SAKAcrapA, KAKUBARI, ITO, FUJIMOTO] JPN 7:00.435 QB

[dopeyrn]

Was stressful but fun...bidding ya'll goodnight. I am really glad my kids are now gone...need to sleep to go back to work tomorrow night!

That sounded terrible LOL. What I meant was I do not have anyone to take care of tomorrow so I can sleep and go back to work again tomorrow night...am tired

[bubblebuttsbabe]

Sept 27, 2009 3:59:30 GMT -5 tdav said:

Did a fall happen in the Women's A final? Because how did the Japanese get so...good?

USA fell. :/

[number1fan]

exciting as always....outcome could've been far better for the U.S.

congrats to Jordan Malone....SILVER in the 1000M!

thanks for the company everyone...g'night!

[bubblebuttsbabe]

Women - 3000m - Final B -Results

Heat 1 [Splits]
Place Start Pos. Relay Team ISU Member Results Qual.
1 1 KOREA [CHO, PARK, LEE, KIM] KOR 4:14.487
2 2 HUNGARY [HUSZAR, DARAZS, HEIDUM, KESZLER] HUN 4:22.753
3 4 BULGARIA [RADANOVA, GEORGIEVA-NIKOLOVA, VUTEVA, PATSOVA] BUL 4:23.349
4 3 GREAT BRITAIN [LINDSAY, CHRISTIE, WHELBOURNE, GILMARTIN] GBR 4:24.192

- - - - - -

Women - 3000m - Final A - Results

Heat 1 [Splits]
Place Start Pos. Relay Team ISU Member Results Qual.
1 1 CHINA [WANG, LIU, ZHANG, SUN] CHN 4:15.864 GOLD
2 4 JAPAN [SAKURAI, ITO, SAKAI, SADAKANE] JPN 4:19.614 SILVER
3 2 CANADA [VICENT, ST-GELAIS, ROBERGE, GREGG] CAN 4:30.910 BRONZE
4 3 UNITED STATES [REUTTER, BAVER, DERRICK, DUDEK] USA 4:37.801

[bubblebuttsbabe]

Men - 5000m - Final B - Results

Heat 1 [Splits]
Place Start Pos. Relay Team ISU Member Results Qual.
1 3 UNITED STATES [MALONE, JAYNER, OHNO, CHO] USA 6:58.610
2 2 GERMANY [HERRMANN, PRAUS, HEUNG, SEIFERT] GER 6:58.989
3 1 NETHERLANDS [KERSTHOLT, KNEGT, BREEUWSMA, VAN RIEL] NED 7:03.882
DQ 4 JAPAN [TAKAMIDO, KAKUBARI, ITO, FUJIMOTO] JPN DQ

- - - - - -

Men - 5000m - Final A - Results

Heat 1 [Splits]
Place Start Pos. Relay Team ISU Member Results Qual.
1 4 KOREA [LEE, LEE, KIM, KWAK] KOR 6:53.199 GOLD
2 3 CANADA [HAMELIN, HAMELIN, JEAN, TREMBLAY] CAN 6:53.441 SILVER
3 2 CHINA [HAN, SONG, LIU, LIANG] CHN 6:58.631 BRONZE
4 1 ITALY [BEAN, CONFORTOLA, RINALDI, RODIGARI] ITA 7:07.848

[aaosmts19]

Sept 27, 2009 3:34:35 GMT -5 mtnme said:

I'll be willing to bet that team USA is just tired. Three weeks of competing in a row, and one of 'em oly trials has gotta knock the wind out of their sails after a certain point. And Apolo sick to boot. It's WC 3 and 4 that are important anyway.

Safe travels home and a much needed rest to TEAm USA.

I'm hoping that this is playing a big part. Our guys n gals have been gearing up emotionally and physically to be at peak for the trials.

THen a long trip to the other side of the world...jet lag. Can't imagine that there wouldn't be some emotional and physicl let down, even if it wasn't intentional.

That, coupled with the fact that Korea and China are playing in their own back yard, and it's the first of compeition for them of the year.

We also have to remember that the other countries aren't standing still and not improving....the sport as a whole is growing technically. Nutrition, training on ice and off, mental preparation...all different than it was 7 years ago.

And when it comes down to it, we are just human beings.

At least this sounds good and this is what I've been telling myself!

We don't know what the plan was...whether it was to play it safe and stay out of harm's way during WC1 and 2. If that was the plan, then we succeeded.

If it wasn't the plan, then at least there were no more injuries!

I'm just glad there weren't any more injuries!

Safe travels home and stay away from the Peking Duck....go to the Korean department store and gorge yourselves, isntead!

[tdav]

Well, in my opinion, we need to fully adopt the Korean training system, and should have a long time ago. I speficically remember Ahn saying after Torino that they trained for at least 12 hours a day for about 6 months to prepare. The same for Canada too. If something doesn't change, the sport will be fully dominated and monpolized by 3 countries: Korea, China, and Japan, because in Sochi, Japan will most likely be on the same level as the Chinese men (if not better); they're obviously doing something right.

I just feel like these Cups set the image of how a team will (and are expected) to perform in Vancouver and it's completely unrealistic to say that. *sigh* Things just didn't start right and I think it set a bad air around the team, starting specifically with J.R. getting hurt. (I just can't get over how poorly strategized that relay semifinal was; getting caught in the back knowing full well that Korea and Canada are in it?)

[tdav]

World Cup Classification


Valid: 09/27/09~11/05/09

[bubblebuttsbabe]

Sept 27, 2009 7:58:02 GMT -5 aaosmts19 said:

We also have to remember that the other countries aren't standing still and not improving....the sport as a whole is growing technically. Nutrition, training on ice and off, mental preparation...all different than it was 7 years ago.

I was just thinking of last year - we were doing so well, but the I know some of the guys (like Apolo) won't peak for another couple months. Because 7 years ago the only men that would have had a chance to get on that podium would have been Apolo and Rusty - we have come a long way, I know.

[sk8er]

Ted and I walked to Berkeley for lunch today. We walked by a small shop hair cutting shop. There was no one there, but an Asian woman was on hand, just in case. My experience living in a very diverse area (the Bay Area) is that most Asian people have a terrific work ethic. Americans work longer hours than the Europeans by far, but Asians are just off the charts. That brings up an old topic among the ST fans....how much is too much training? Or is this obssessiveness? over the top? just plain crazy? 12 hours a day?? Is this even healthy? It seems to me that with a few exceptions the Koreans literally burn through their skaters; there are plenty more where those young folks came from. Are the Canadians working 12 hours a day? I think our people did well coming off Trials. Look who the men were paired against in the 5000m semifinals. Korean and Canada! No the Japanese aren't that strong. The 2nd semi had China and a lot of other less skilled racers. NO FAIR! (That's ST). I think Allison Baver is amazing. I think Apolo is too thin and has lost those powerful thighs! I think Jordan Malone is utterly fearless and has crazy speed. I hope JR Celski is as mentally strong as Allison Baver. I think Apolo is deeply wise to realize that every event in our lives comes as a lesson.

[tdav]

I don't think the "power" of Apolo's legs are a factor. Ahn and Lee can skate just as fast as Apolo and they're like 130-40! Let's face it, the problem isn't about strength, it's about strategy. Oh, well. I think we should stop harping on this (especially me! LOL). It's only October and I'm already worried about how they will perform in Vancouver. I just have to learn to let it go. I just hope they do better in the last Cups, and, even though it's pretty likely we'll qualify the maximum number of skaters, as well as for the relay, I would just rather them be safer and sorry. That 5th rank in the relay just bothers me. Watch! I'm going to be posting scenarios pretty soon! LOL

Oh, and congratulations, Jordan! We really needed those points.

number1fan: Yes. Lee is one cute, bad skata! LOL

[number1fan]

love the avi tdav ;D ...he deserves being shown off right now