The 2009-2010 ISU World Cup Short Track season opened this weekend in Beijing, China at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium. With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on the calendar this season, only four World Cup stops are scheduled and each World Cup expected to be as exciting as the other.
New this year is the format of the World Cups in comparison to the format of the past three seasons. The four-day format allows accommodating the increased number of registered skaters, which means two days of qualification instead of one. Gone this season are the repechage rounds therefore athletes do not have a second chance in a distance.
The Korea team had a strong start to the season with an impressive tally of 11 medals. The Canadian and American teams showed their competitive form as well, by earning 5 medals each. The other country to also earn medals this weekend was China whose skaters were surely motivated skating on home ice.
On Saturday, Meng Wang, 2008-09 World Cup 500m Champion, started this season exactly where she left off last season, taking the win in the opening 500m event. The Canadian women were strong in this event as well, with a second place by Jessica Gregg, and third place by Marianne St-Gelais. In the men’s 500m event, it was a one-two finish by the Korean skaters: Yoon-Gy Kwak in first, followed by his teammate Si-Bak Sung. Third place finish went to American Jeff Simon.
The other distance to be raced on Saturday was the ladies and men 1500m Final events. Like her teammate Wang, Yang Zhou began the defense of her World Cup title in this distance by winning the 1500m event, to the contentment of the local supporters. Eun-Byul Lee (Korea) and Katherine Reutter (USA) finished second and third respectively. The men’s 1500m event was an all Korean affair; all three podium place finishes going to a Korean skater. Si-Bak Sung took the win, ahead of Ho-Suk Lee and Jung-Su Lee. These three skaters were also the ones who dominated the 2008-09 World Cup season in this distance.
On Sunday, it was the 1000m and Relay Finals being disputed for both the ladies and the men. Katherine Reutter (United States) earned a second medal of the weekend by winning the ladies 1000m event. Second place went to Korean Eun-Byul Lee, while third place went to another American skater, Jessica Smith. On the men’s side, the Koreans continued to show their form, with a first and third place finish in the 1000m event. The win was earned by Jung-Su Lee (Korea), while second and third place went to Charles Hamelin (Canada) and Seoung Il Kim (Korea) respectively.
The weekend concluded with the relay events, with both the ladies and men’s event won by the Korean teams. In the ladies 3000ms event, Korea finished ahead of the United States, while Canada took third. In the men’s 5000m relay event, less than six tenths of a second separated the top three teams. Korea finished in front of China (second), and Canada (third).
The next ISU World Cup Short Track event takes place on September 24-27 in Seoul, Korea.
ISU World Cup Short Track–Beijing (CHN)
Top 3 Results by Category
Ladies 500m
|
|
Name |
Nation
|
Time |
|
1 |
WANG, Meng |
CHN |
43.430 |
|
2 |
GREGG, Jessica |
CAN |
44.241 |
|
3 |
ST-GELAIS, Marianne |
CAN |
52.085 |
Men 500m
|
|
|
|
Time |
|
1 |
KWAK, Yoon-Gy |
KOR |
41.526 |
|
2 |
SUNG, Si-Bak |
KOR |
41.544 |
|
3 |
SIMON, Jeff |
USA |
41.665 |
Ladies 1000m
|
|
|
|
Time |
|
1 |
REUTTER, Katherine |
USA |
1:32.047 |
|
2 |
LEE, Eun-Byul |
KOR |
1:32.156 |
|
3 |
SMITH, Jessica |
USA |
1:32.165 |
Men 1000m
|
|
|
|
Time |
|
1 |
LEE, Jung-Su |
KOR |
1:25.630 |
|
2 |
HAMELIN, Charles |
CAN |
1:25.767 |
|
3 |
KIM, Seoung Il |
KOR |
1:25.868 |
Ladies 1500m
|
|
|
|
Time |
|
1 |
ZHOU, Yang |
CHN |
2:28.600 |
|
2 |
LEE, Eun-Byul |
KOR |
2:28.014 |
|
3 |
REUTTER, Katherine |
USA |
2:29.095 |
Men 1500m
|
|
|
|
Time |
|
1 |
SUNG, Si-Bak |
KOR |
2:25.386 |
|
2 |
LEE, Ho-Suk |
KOR |
2:25.395 |
|
3 |
LEE, Jung-Su |
KOR |
2:25.492 |
Ladies Relay
|
|
|
Time |
|
1 |
KOREA |
4:13.531 |
|
2 |
UNITED STATES |
4:15.204 |
|
3 |
CANADA |
4:17.495 |
Men Relay
|
|
|
Time |
|
1 |
KOREA |
6:51.371 |
|
2 |
CHINA |
6:51.926 |
|
3 |
CANADA |
6:51.972 |
