Strong showing in first day of World Cup 2

Seoul, Korea - Fast short track speedskating from the U.S. team dominated the first day of competition at the ISU World Cup 2 in Seoul, Korea. Nine skaters from Team USA will be skating in 10 spots during the Men’s and Ladies 500m and 1500m quarter-finals on Saturday, 26 at the Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul.

Jeff Simon (Las Vegas, NV) showed up to skate when he hit the ice at the event, earning the fastest time in the Men’s 500m. His time of 41.982 was fast enough to put him at the top of the distance classification and move him into the quarter-finals. 2006 Olympian Anthony Lobello (Tallahassee, FL) and Simon Cho (Laurel, MD) both won their 500m heats and will also skate in the quarters on Saturday.

Not to be outdone, Alyson Dudek (Hales Corners, WI) made it out of the Ladies 500m preliminaries and heats to win a spot in the quarter-finals. She will be skating against Xinyue Wang, Seung,-Hi Park and Kalyna Roberge in her 500m quarter-final on Saturday. Lana Gehring (Glenview, IL) made it through the preliminaries but did not advance in her heat. Jessica Smith (Melvindale, MI), who also skated the 500m, fell during her race and did not make it out of the preliminaries.

Katherine Reutter, who won a 1000m gold medal in last weekend’s World Cup competition, topped the Ladies 1500m distance classification following the preliminaries and heats with a time of 2:25.632. Her fast time puts her in the 1500m quarter-finals along with two-time Olympian Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, PA) and 2006 Olympian Kimberly Derrick.

All the U.S. men participating in the Men’s 1500m advanced to the quarter-final rounds. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno, Jeff Simon and Jordan Malone (Denton, TX) each won their heats to move on in the event.

Racing continues Friday, September 25 with the 1000m preliminaries and heats, and the Men’s and Ladies Relay quarter-finals. The Ladies brought home a silver medal in the relay following the competition last week in Beijing, China and both the Men’s and Ladies Relay teams are looking for gold at this event.

For complete results, visit the US Speedskating Results Page at www.usspeedskating.org or follow US Speedskating on Twitter @usspeedskating for competition updates and results. The US Speedskating Community page, Up to Speed, also carries results, photos and information.

Tags: Apolo Anton Ohno, Catherine Raney, J.R. Celski, Seoul, Korea, Short Track Speed Skating, USA Speed Skating, USOC, Vancouver 2010