World Cup Short Track Team comes close—but no medals

Seoul, Korea. September 25, 2009.

Team USA did everything they could to medal at the ISU World Cup 2 for short track speedskating in Seoul, Korea during Saturday’s races, but just couldn’t pull it off. 

The ladies did a great job skating the 1500m quarterfinals with U.S. Short Track Champion Katherine Reutter (Champaign, IL) and Olympians Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, PA) and Kimberly Derrick (Memphis, TN) advancing to the semifinals. Baver and Derrick finished third and fourth respectively in their heats, earning spots in the B Final. Reutter took second place her semi-final race to advance to the A Final.

In the Ladies 1500m B Final, Derrick and Baver skated a fast race to grab third and fourth place finishes. And in the 1500m A Final, Reutter was in second place, battling for first with two laps to go when she tangled with Eun-Byul Lee of Korea and fell, finishing in sixth place. Lee went on to win the event. After two World Cup events, three U.S. ladies are ranked in the top ten for the 1500m with Reutter in fourth, Derrick in eighth and Baver in ninth.

Alyson Dudek (Hales Corners, WI) was the only U.S. lady to skate the 500m quarterfinals. She made it through to advance to the semis and ended up in the B Final. Dudek put in a great performance to finish second in the B Final. After two World Cup events, Dudek is ranked ninth in overall classification.

In a very competitive Men’s 1500m quarterfinals, Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, WA) and Jeff Simon (Las Vegas, NV) skated to first place wins in their heats while Jordan Malone (Denton, TX) finished in third but was advanced to the semi. 

During the 1500m semifinals, the top three athletes in each heat advanced to the A Final. Ohno took third in his race, advancing to the A Final along with Simon who finished in fifth but was advanced after Canadian skater Charles Hamelin was disqualified. Malone finished in fourth and ended up winning the B Final. Ohno and Simon skated a highly competitive A Final race but finished just off the medal stand in fourth and fifth. Ho-Suk Lee from Korea took the gold with a time of 2:13.922. Three U.S. men are ranked in the top ten for World Cup classification in the 1500m: Ohno is fourth, Simon is eighth and Malone is ranked tenth. 

The Men’s 500m proved to be exciting as Simon Cho (Laurel, MD) advanced from the quarters to the semis. However, Olympian Anthony Lobello (Tallahassee, FL) and Jeff Simon finished third in their heat and narrowly missed advancing to the semifinals.

Cho fought through the 500m semifinals and ended in second behind Hamelin, moving into the A Final. In a tough race, Cho battled hard but couldn’t get out of the fourth position, missing the bronze medal by a hair. After two World Cups, Jeff Simon is ranked sixth overall in the 500m while Cho is looking strong in eighth. 

Racing concludes on Sunday with the Men’s and Ladies Relay Finals and the 1000m. For complete results, visit www.usspeedskating.org and for up-to-date information, follow US Speedskating on Twitter @USSpeedskating or visit our community web page at www.usspeedskating.com/uptospeed.