ISU World Champ - March 7-9, 2008 Pt 2

[aaosmts19]

Just a shout-out to everyone reminding you that WCSN is broadcasting the meet today and tomorrow on wcsn.com. The home page says it is starting today at noontime. I can't tell if it is free or if you need to 'subscribe' to it with a $4.95 pass for the month....

Enjoy!

[aaosmts19]

Here's the transcript of the Men's 500M, in which Apolo wins gold.
Song, Charles Hamelin, Jeff Simon, AAO


Very important for OH to get some points in this race and not get disqualified;
Song from Korea in the red helmet and leading this competition, Should he win he would really put a strangle hold on this competition just like Meg Wang did; So its very important here for AO to do well.

(Gun)

Is this a must win for AO?
Not necessarily is it a must win but for sure it is a must do well.
And there’s Ohno out in front.
Song behind him.
Here comes Hamelin on the outside.
Ohno doing a nice job of keeping everyone behind him.
And Ohno not going all out right here and going a little slower right now taking it easy.
Interesting type of strategy and these other guys are settling in behind him.
That’s a huge mistake by the other guys in this race.
All 3 competitors getting comfortable
Simon goes up on the inside and bumps Hamelin
(2 laps to go, 24:81)

And here goes Ohno. He’s gonna move out now.
What a great tactical race by Apolo Anton Ohno. (final bell)
He’s lulled these guys into feeling a sense of security.
And now he’s pulling away.
No way there’re going to beat him from here.
He’s skating awfully tight coming out of this turn, and he is going to win this race
(crosses finish line)

That was a masterful piece of racing.by aao.
(pumps fist in the air)
He completely compressed the pack into that corner right there.
Came out and just hit the brakes and forced them to all come together.
They didn’t know what to make of it. It is definitely not what they expected out of aao and from there he threw on the after burners and made it around in just an incredible time and as you said a masterful victory.

(Replay shows…).
No question about it.
Nice start by Ohno. Song slips a little, Simon slipping all over the place. He was #1 on the line and gets off #4; that’s bad. You can’t be dong that.
Ohno gets in front and slows down; everybody bunches up and here he comes out of that last corner. Boy he knows it right there that he’s got that race.


But Ohno skated a tactical race that you don’t see happen too often in a 500m where people go slow like that; the other skates behind him lulled into a sense of security and Ohno was gone.
Those were brilliant tactics by AAO. Big win for Ohno; he needed those points.
Also Song, we’ll have to see if he finishes 2nd or 3rd. That’s going to be very important too for this overall.
Here are the official results it will be Ohno, followed by Hamelin and Song, Jeff Simon in 4th.

[aaosmts19]

Here is the transcript from the Men's 1500M, in which Apolo was dq'd:



1500m
Song, Leveille, Lee, Monette, Lee, Ohno, Zhang

--------------

This will be the 1500M finals. The men are up first and then of course we’ll see the ladies.
In this men’s finals, from the USA we will see Charles Ryan Leveille and Apolo Anton Ohno.
(Commentator reads banner) “Our Dreams Come True 2018 Winter Olympics”; the city has been bit on the Winter Olympics games for a long time now.

(racers announced)

This is an absolutely difficult race you have 3 Koreans, 2 Americans, Canadian, Chinese, the best skaters in the world.
And look for much of what we’ve seen here so far: skaters trying to be up in front, in control of this race. We’ll see if the Korean skaters work together a little bit…very possible.

(Gun)
Now not only Andy are they looking for the gold in these individual events but they’re accumulating the points for the overall. That’s even more important. Now the winner of this race will be the 1500m World Champion BUT absolutely this is an overall competition in which they’re looking for the overall points so they’re trying not to get disqualified and its important to try to take these points and get the most you can. You know you live to see the next day and the next 500M, 1000 M and 3000M so there is a lot of racing to go. This is just 1 of 4 races that provide points.
Or course more prestigious, I would imagine, the Overall World Title of this event?
Without any question.
There’s Ho Suk Lee moving to the front of this pack.
AO in 2nd place doing a nice job of staying in front and staying out of trouble.
You’re going to see a lot of passes in this race.
Here comes Song in front now. Ho-Suk Lee in 2nd, Apolo in 3rd; Mark Monette in 4th; Seung Lee in 5th; Ryan Leveille in 6th and Zhang in 7th.
Now that’s going to change awfully quick because there’s going to be a lot of passing and here we go.
Ohno in first, Korea in 2nd, China in 3rd. and here comes Zhang to the front nice move.

I would continue to look to the skaters in the back moving to the front; you don’t want to get caught back there when this thing starts going fast. This is a very good pace right now.
(6 laps to go, 1:27:24)
Ice seems to be holding up well, nobody’s slipping or sliding around too much.
I would expect one of these Koreans to get to the front here very soon.
Monette looks like he’s setting up a pass here…there he comes.
Ohno sitting in perfect position in 2nd place.
Ohno moving to the front.
(4 laps to go, 1:47:85)
Nicely done. He knows the Koreans are coming any time soon and he’s waiting for them.
Zhang in 2nd.. And here comes Song moving into first place. Here’s AO in 2nd. Here comes ho-Suk Lee moving into 2nd place now trying to get around Ohno. Little bit of a bump right there. Ho-Suk Lee goes wide. Ho-Suk Lee in 2nd. Here comes Apolo on the inside trying to make a move. Oh! And he bumps into Song that could be a problem for Apolo Anton Ohno
(crosses finish line)

What a great race by all of these skaters. We definitely had some jostling and moving around.
Ohno making a little bump there. We’ll see what the referees call in that situation.
Song going crazy thinking he has this thing won.
He could have leaned in on Ohno as well so we’re going to have to see what the referees are going to decide to do in this race. Its going to be awfully close but what a fantastic finish.
Right now Song celebrating like he has the victory. Difficult expression on the face of AAO. Judges discussing it right now. Andy what is your experience and gut tell you has happened right here.
Well a lot of times when you get a skater who’s up on the inside and makes the pass and the skater gets bumped very wide like that as you see right here, that’s probably going to be a call on AO for impeding. Its up to the skater who’s making the pass to make it clean.

(Looking at reruns)
And there’s Song…look at how close that finish is between Song and AO, but Song does get him at the finish. Ohno in 2nd but Ohno’s probably going to get disqualified here for that pass, and rightfully so. He did bump into him, moved him wide; but look at that, there’s 5 skaters right there and they’re all within a couple hundredths of a second.
You can see by the look oh Ohno’s face that he’s not sure what’s going to happen.
And you can tell by the crowd right there.
Let’s see what they put up on the board.
AO has been disqualified. Ohno doesn’t get disqualified too often. The Korean did lean on him a little bit but it is up to Ohno to make that pass clean.
AO disqualification in the 1500…that’s important because he does not get those final points and its important to stay consistent in all of those distances.
SO Ohno’s got his work cut out for him to come back into this event.
He’s certainly capable of doing it I can promise you that.
Yeah with the loss here early on is he still set up to chase down the overall title?
He’s definitely not out of it by any stretch and it also depends on what these other skaters do you know there are other chances and they may get disqualified or fall or not be in the final. It’s important to advance and to be as consistent as you possibly can and there it is.
AO is dq’d.
So its Song, Lee (ho-Suk), Leveille from the United States, a great race by him; overshadowed a little bit by Ohno but a terrific job by Charles Ryan Leveille to get on the podium., Lee, Zhang, Monette

[aaosmts19]

Transcript of the Men’s 1000 M Final
Song, Charles Hamelin, Ho-Suk Lee, Ohno

=================
We get set for the 1000M men’s final.
Overall, who is your favorite in this one?
Well AO is the favorite in my opinion but this is a very, very strong race.
You’ve got Song with the red helmet on there signifying that he’s in the overall lead right now. Ho-suk Lee, who’s had some great performances so far; didn’t get in the 500 but had a great showing in the 1500; Hamelin, gold medal last year at the championships and of course for Apolo Ohno, this is a very, very difficult final and you don’t want to get disqualified.

(GUN)
You want to keep getting those points and give yourself a shot at that 3000M to win this overall title.
What is the minimum that AAO has to do to compete for the title? Well its going to depend on what the other guys do. He certainly needs to come in first or 2nd; but if he’s in anything lower than 2nd its not going to give him many points; 34 points for first, 21 for 2nd. Those are big points and it drops off after that to 13 points for third.
So we’ll see, but as long as he doesn’t get disqualified and it also depends on what the other skaters do.

(6 laps)
If Song from Korea who is leading this thing ends up 4th then it changes things so it depends, but he has got to have a feeling of relief knowing that ….worse than 2nd place to give himself a chance at the 3000m.
Charles Hamelin doing a nice job of leading this race outright. He likes to be up front.
The pack is going to come soon its just a matter of when.
Hamelin setting the pace. AAO looking for that move on the outside. He will…give him an inch and he’ll take a mile. Look for him to…
Oooh, chance on the inside right there he maybe missed a little bit.
The Korean will make a move to the outside.
Lee is moving into the front; Song with a nice pass into 2nd..
Hamelin all the way down into 4th.
What a pass by Ohno on the inside to move into 2nd.
Give him an inch and he’ll take mile and he took it right there.
Hamelin was leading much of this race has fallen back to 4th.
Ohno in second. Out in front Ho-Suk Lee.

(finish line)
And I believe that AAO has crossed in 2nd.
We will see Ho-Suk lee from Korea with a great pass by Hamelin and will move into first. Hamelin falls to 4th. Song who was the overall leader coming into the event looks as if he finishes in third.

Here’s another look.
There you see Ho-Suk lee go on the outside. Song goes on the insde and Hamelin didn’t know what happened right there. Very surprising to get passed like that.
Ohno got stuck in back and by the time he was able to get by Song with a great pass on the inside, Ho-Suk Lee was too far ahead and wins that race.
This is going to set it up incredibly close for this 3000M final. We’ll get into that when we get there, but what a great race by Ho-Suk Lee to win that…. incredibly important for him to win that race.
Apolo Ohno doing a nice job of getting silver.
Ohno in 2nd, Song in 3rd, Hamlin falls from grace from 1st to 4th and it is now a neck and neck battle for the Overall title between Apolo Anton Ohno and Ho-Suk Lee.

[aaosmts19]

Transcript of the 3000M Superfinal

Seung-Hoon Lee
Charles Hamelin
Zhang
Song
Charles Ryna Leveille
Jeff Simon
Ho-Suk Lee
AAO


It is the 3000M superfinal for the men.
We’re getting a look at these athletes now getting warmed up and this should be a pretty good event as well with names such as AAO, Charles Hamelin, and Jeff Simon also from the US in this one.

Well this is the first time the US has had 3 men in the 3000M final ever. Shows you just how strong the men’s team is for the US. Now this is going to be a very, very interesting race between AAO and Ho-Suk Lee and Song. The reason being that Song is in first place overall with 60 points, he’s got the red helmet cover on.

Lee and AAO are tied for 2nd right now with 55 points. Winner of the 3000M gets 34 points, 2nd place 21 points, third place 13 points, 8 points, 5, 3, 2 and 1 down the road so essentially, whoever wins this race, between Lee, Song or AAO, will be the overall World Champion. Now should 2 skaters tie, whoever finished in front of them in the 3000M would be declared the winners and the 3000M overrides that.

So the 3 people to watch are AAO, Lee and Song. So the race within the race basically breaks down to this. It needs to be AAO ahead of Lee and Song, no matter where those three finish within this pack, it has to be AAO in front of them.
Well actually it has to be 3rd place or better because the way those points spread out.

(GUN)

For example, if AAO gets 4th, its only going to be 5 points…not going to be enough points to overtake that so he’s gotta place third or better. Ohno or Ho-Suk Lee third or better assuming those others skaters there….

Here we go! Seong-who Lee takes off right from the gun, Charles Ryan Leveille goes with him, and this already changes the dynamics of this race.
They’re going to try to lap the pack.
Now again, what you were just asking really falls into play here now. If they lap the pack, those first and 2nd place points have now been taken by these 2 athletes.
So the field sprint…whoever wins that field sprint between AAO, Ho-Suk Lee and Song will be the overall World Champion.
Here’s the question within the question…. Is that a strategic move by AAO’s teammate Charles Ryan Leveille. No, it’s a strategic move by Song’s teammate Lee to get out there and take those points away.

Now, Leveille is staying with him, no question, to help AO, no question about it. But really, in reality, that’s why Leveille is not leading any laps right now. No question the strategy has to be, okay, if someone from Korea goes, you gotta go with him and make sure that Ho-Suk Lee or Song do not get those 2nd place points.

(19 laps to go, 1:24:50)

So now, there’s your leader Seung-Hoon Lee from Korea sitting in first. He’s 7th in the pack, but he’s first in the race.
Leveille from the US 2nd right now. So you see 18 laps to go on your screen, that’s 18 laps to go for Seung-Hoon Lee and Leveille. So they come around right now and the lap counter is going to say 17 laps to go, but the pack actually has 18 laps to go.

What a very interesting move this was right here and strategy oh-so-important coming into play. What team move as well by the American Charles Ryan Leveille.
Some trickery, if you will,, by Seung-Hoon Lee of Korea to get out in front to take away those first place points. AAO a threat no doubt and Charles Ryan Leveille, taking 1 for the team, makes that move early on to stay with Seung-Hoon Lee.

And there js Jeff Simons in front now leading this pack. Now remember AAO is going to have to win this field sprint to win this championship, assuming Song finishes right behind him. Let me ask you this now…Is Simon doing a strategic move to help out Ohno? Well Simon is just keeping his pace going forward its really, at this stage of the game, not going to help or hurt Ohno at this pace. If he were to take off and try to lap the pack that would hurt Ohno, because that would take away the third place points, would not allow Ohno to get third place…therefore Ohno could not be the World Champion here. So he’s not going to go anywhere right now.

Would you see anything like that happen? No.

11 laps to go.
All skaters are out there racing for themselves but certainly teammates are going to help each other. Now team skating is illegal in the rulebook but impossible to enforce, impossible even to know its happening. How is that even proved? Exactly, that’s the point. You can’t prove it. How do you know that skaters are working together or not. It’s a crazy rule to have in the book, but it is there.

There’s no way that Jeff Simons is going to move away from this pack but he does want to keep the pace honest. Apolo is so very strong, Athletes are tucked in very nicely here.
Seung-Hoon Lee assured first place here unless he falls or something crazy happens. Charles Ryan Leveille is assured 2nd spot. Both those skaters doing a nice job to lap the pack. It happens on occasion.

And here comes Seung-Hoon Lee and Leveille again moving up forward into this race. Not only have they lapped the pack, but Seung-Hoon Lee has gone all the way to the front. Seung-Hoon Lee might try to help out his teammate. You’ve got to pay close attention as to what’s going on here.

Hamelin moving into 2nd.place right now. Zhang from China moving into 2nd place in this pack. Now remember now that Seung-Hoon Lee’s in first place. He’s got 5 laps to go, Leveille’s got 5 laps to go, the pack has 6 laps to go.

Things are definitely getting interesting here, certainly a game within a game and DOWN goes the Chinese Zhang. He went down hard, he fell and he’s out of it.

So pay attention here, here’s Lee on the outside, Simon going up on the inside and here comes Song with the red helmet cover on and OH HE GOES DOWN. He tripped over the skates of his teammate…that’s unbelievable that Song goes down. Apolo Ohno’s going to see that. Here comes Ohno going up on the inside. Ohno’s right behind Hamelin. Ohno coming around.

There’s 1 lap to go for Leveille and Seung-Hoon Lee and there’re 2 laps to go for the field sprint. As you can see Ohno’s in front of the field spring right now. He’s got 1 lap to go. This race is between Ohno and Ho-Suk Lee. Whichever one of those skaters comes across here will be the World Champion, and it is APOLO ANTON OHNO winning the World Championships.

WoW What a victory for Apolo Anton Ohno. There you see it, the excitement on his face. He is your 2008 World Champion! Apolo Anton Ohno! He edges out Ho-Suk Lee by 4.101 in the 3000M superfinal. What a victory right there! Apolo Anton Ohno is absolutely thrilled. That is a huge victory for him. What strategic skating by the Americans.

That was absolutely phenomenal. Here’s you see right now Song just gets caught up under his teammate’s skates and goes down. Song had that race played out perfectly; So di Ho-suk Lee. So did Apolo Ohno. He wins the field sprint, comes across the line first. He knew exactly what he needed. He knew exactly where the points were.

Absolutely brilliant skating and you see Apolo Anton Ohno has won everything you can possibly win now in the sport of short track speedskating. And there are the three teammates, obviously they worked together, allowed Ohno to get that victory. They skated brilliantly, all 3 of them, and there is your 2008 World Champion Apolo Anton Ohno.

Unbelievable. Ohno with the gold in the 500m, a silver in the 1000M, needed points here in this 3000M superfinal; takes away a bronze, edges out Ho-Suk Lee by .101 in this 3000M super final to become the overall 2008 ISU World Short Track Speedskating Champion and an incredible victory here for the American-famed skater Apolo Anton Ohno. What a terrific job. Absolutely.

[sk8on]

I subscribed to WCSN.com and ripped Apolo's races from all three days of the World Championships (including the men's relays). Unfortunately, they did not broadcast the award ceremonies . I remember there being some discussion here regarding the Korean and American strategy in the men's 3,000m super final--interesting analysis of that by the commentators (Gabel and Gismondi) during the race.
The video is a little over an hour long, so the WMV file is pretty big--454 MB (but that is under the size limit for free megaupload use--500 MB--so anyone interested should be able to download it).

www.megaupload.com/?d=YN9DBRUB

[tdav]

Thank you for that, Sk8on!

[wags]

Thanks sk8on. I was going to subscribe and watch them this weekend. Now I have them to watch any time I choose. That was very kind.

[skaterswaltz]

Thank you, sk8on!

[newbie]

Thanks so much Sk8on! I'm from Canada and so WSCN had blackout restrictions and I couldn't access it from here.

[number1fan]

Mar 23, 2008 20:06:04 GMT -5 aaosmts19 said:

Transcript of the 3000M Superfinal

i have goosebumps!!! ...just finished reading the transcripts for the superfinal.
can't wait to watch the video tonight! *karma to you*

Mar 25, 2008 21:20:46 GMT -5 sk8on said:

I remember there being some discussion here regarding the Korean and American strategy in the men's 3,000m super final--interesting analysis of that by the commentators (Gabel and Gismondi) during the race.
The video is a little over an hour long, so the WMV file is pretty big--454 MB (but that is under the size limit for free megaupload use--500 MB--so anyone interested should be able to download it).

www.megaupload.com/?d=YN9DBRUB

sk8on...you're the best! ...now i can watch it at my leisure
karma to ya!

[Casper]

sk8on said:

I remember there being some discussion here regarding the Korean and American strategy in the men's 3,000m super final--interesting analysis of that by the commentators (Gabel and Gismondi) during the race.

Thanks for sharing this sk8on. I was the one speculating on whether the Korean's strategy was deliberate and whether coach Jae had responded to it. It was interesting to hear the commentators' take on it. Karma to you for your generosity in sharing this and all your other great finds.

[linmiste]

Aaosmts19, thank you so much for posting the transcripts of these races. It was great to read how it all went down... it gave me a good picture of how the races went, the strategy, the drama, the glory, the pain. I'm so proud of our American men! Karma to you!

[mtnme]

;DThanks aaosmts19 for all the transcripts,
;Dand Thanks to Sk8on for ripping the video....(now I just have to find time to download it!)
You guys are THE BEST

casper said:

sk8on said:

I remember there being some discussion here regarding the Korean and American strategy in the men's 3,000m super final--interesting analysis of that by the commentators (Gabel and Gismondi) during the race.

Thanks for sharing this sk8on. I was the one speculating on whether the Korean's strategy was deliberate and whether coach Jae had responded to it. It was interesting to hear the commentators' take on it. Karma to you for your generosity in sharing this and all your other great finds.

Hi Casper,
I was just thinking while I was reading about the strategy in the transcripts, that you really 'called it' on what was going on with the 'race rabbits' lapping the pack.

I'm still so impressed with (Charles) Ryan that he really pulled it off and kept up with the Korean, not only earning a silver for himself, but also helping Apolo win that elusive World Championship in the process. Pretty impressive.

and very impressive of you for not only catching on to the strategy, but sharing your insights with us as well.

[angelina]

Thank you sk8on and aaosmts! You're awesome!