Team USA continues to advance at World Cup 2

Seoul, Korea - It was another great day of qualifying rounds for U.S. short track speedskaters in Seoul, Korea during the second day of skating at the ISU World Cup 2. All three men and ladies advanced through three rounds of skating to qualify for the quarter-finals in the Men’s and Ladies 1000m to be skated on Sunday, September 27.

 

During the Men’s 1000m preliminaries, both Jordan Malone (Denton, TX) and Travis Jayner (Midland, MI) finished first in their heat while 2006 Olympian Anthony Lobello (Tallahassee, FL) finished in second, just behind Charles Hamelin of Canada. In the next round of heats, Jayner and Lobello finished in second place while Malone took first in his event. All three skaters advance to the quarter-finals.

 

The Ladies 1000m preliminaries found World Cup gold-medalist Katherine Reutter (Champaign, IL) and 2006 Olympian Kimberly Derrick (Memphis, TN) in first place following their heats with two-time Olympian Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, PA) taking the second spot in her race. During the next round, Reutter finished second, just behind Meng Wang of China. Derrick also took second in her heat against Korean skater Seung-Hi Park. Baver finished in third in her race, but was still able to advance to the quarter-final round.

 

Both the Men’s and Ladies Relay teams qualified for the semi-finals on Sunday with the men advancing through two rounds of skating. In the first heat, Malone, Jayner, two-time Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, WA) and Simon Cho (Laurel, MD) skated against teams from Japan and Ukraine, finishing in second place and advancing to the quarter-finals. Lobello replaced Malone in the quarter-final relay event as the team came in second, right behind the Canadian team. The men face some tough opponents on Sunday as they skate against Canada, Korea and Italy in the relay semi-finals.

 

Baver, Derrick, Lana Gehring (Glenview, IL) and Alyson Dudek (Hales Corners, WI) skated the relay quarter-final heat battling to the first place position against Great Britain, Poland and Italy. The Ladies Relay team will meet up with teams from Korea, Japan and Bulgaria in their semi-final round on Sunday.

 

Skating continues on Saturday at the Mokdong Ice Rink with finals in the Men’s and Ladies 1500m and 500m events.