Team USA continues to advance at World Cup events in Montreal

Fans enjoyed some great skating as the ISU Short Track World Cup which resumed today at the Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal, Canada. Strong performances allowed U.S. speedskating athletes to advance through preliminary races in the Men's and Ladies' 1000m, the Ladies' 3000m Relay and the Men's 5000m Relay.

In the Men's 1000m preliminaries, Olympian Anthony Lobello (Tallahassee, FL), Travis Jayner (Midland, MI) and two-time Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle,WA) advanced through two rounds of competition to qualify for Sunday's races. 

For the ladies, three-time U.S. Champion Katherine Reutter (Champaign, IL), along with Olympians Kimberly Derrick (Memphis, TN) and Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, PA) skated in the Ladies 1000m preliminaries. Reutter and Derrick utilized some great strategy and advanced to Sunday's quarterfinals but Baver finished 4th in her second round of competition, failing to qualify for the next round.

In relay action, the U.S. Men's team consisting of Ohno, Jayner, Simon Cho (Laurel, MD) and Jeff Simon (Las Vegas, NV) dominated the qualifying round, finishing ahead of Germany, France and Kazakhstan. The Men's relay team will compete in Sunday's semifinal round where they will skate against teams from Germany, Korea and Great Britain.

"We showed great teamwork and good communication on the ice," said Simon after the team's winning race. "We showed how hard we've been training and what the other teams can expect in the next round of competition."

In the Ladies 3000m relay, the U.S. Team composed of Reutter, Derrick, Baver and Jessica Smith (Melvindale, MI) competed against teams from Hungary and Great Britain. Skaters from both Hungary and Great Britain fell, and Great Britain was disqualified. Team USA finished first in their race to advance to Sunday's semifinals where they will compete against China, the Netherlands and Hungary.

Racing continues tomorrow with the Men's and Ladies' 500m and 1500m events. For complete results, visit the US Speedskating Results Page at www.usspeedskating.org. Follow USS on Twitter @usspeedskating for trackside updates.