U.S. Men's Short Track Speedskating Team Wins World Championship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE U.S. Men's Short Track Speedskating Team Wins World Championship March 16, 2008- Harbin, China. The U.S. Men's Short Track Speedskating Team won the World Championship today at the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Team Championships in Harbin, China. Team members, who include Olympian and newly crowned World Champion, Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, WA), Olympian JP Kepka (Milwaukee, WI) , Olympian and 5th place overall finisher in last week's World Championship, Charles Ryan Leveille (Memphis, TN), as well as newcomers, Jeff Simon (Long Beach, CA) who also placed 7th overall in the World Championship and Jordan Malone (Denton, TX. The overall title race was tight. At one point, the U.S. was tied with the Korean Team; with Team Canada only 2 points behind them. The race came down to the Men's 5000m relay. With the title on the line, Team USA put the pressure on, and skated to a hard earned victory with a blistering time of 6:50.907, overcoming Team Canada who skated a 6:50.996, Team China, 6:51.000 and Team Korea 6:51.080. This is the first time the United States has won a Short Track World Championship. For additional information please contact Kori Novak, Director, PR , Media at 801-746-9930 or media@usspeedskating.org About US Speedskating: US Speedskating is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the national governing body for the sport of Speedskating in the United States. To date, US Speedskating has won a total of 75 Olympic medals, making it the most successful winter sport in the USA. ####