| Nagano WSD - 500m men |
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| Thursday, 06 March 2008 | |
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In the draw we see that it's exactly as we wrote before: No Zhongqi Zhang or Ermanno Ioriatti, but Pasi Koskela instead, and a third US skater, not Shani Davis, who is busy enough, but Chris Needham. It's a pity that the Chinese as well as the best Lees have drawn to skate in one pair, and the final pair is Wotherspoon - Lobkov. On its way! Draw first 500m: 2. Christopher Needham (USA) - Nico Ihle (GER). Ihle opens 10.14, 10.18 Needham. But Ihle almost falls in the final turn, the point of his blade seems to go into the ice, but he manages to stay on his legs. However, he goes through most of the turn on two feet, and finishes in 38.49. 3. Vincent Labrie (CAN) - Tadashi Obara (JPN). After a short break to repair the ice in the turn, these men start. Obara moves and gets a false. Opening 9.88 and 9.86. Close to the blocks, Obara, and he wins here with 35.67. Labrie finishes in 35.92. 4. Jacques de Koning (NED) - Maciej Ustynowicz (POL). De Koning puts up his hand when his name is mentioned. The starter waits long. De Koning gets a false start. Nerves? He has many missers, at the start, opening for both 9.87, and a bit of trouble in the first turn. He equals Obara, 35.67. Ustynowicz wins, 35.62. 6. Weijiang An (CHN) - Fengtong Yu (CHN). Opening 100m: Weijiang An with his point in the ice, and he falls flat on his stomach and glides over the straight. Yu opens 9.67. He finishes in 35.60. All improvements of times seem to be in hundredths today. An finishes, but his hips seem to hurt him. During the ice repair, we hear some corrected times: Obara .66, Labrie .87, Ihle .46, Ustynowicz .61. 7. Jan Smeekens (NED) - Keiichiro Nagshima (JPN), After some waiting: 9.55 for Nagashima, 9.77 Smeekens. Finish Nagashima 35.36. Smeekens 35.78, behind De Koning. 9. Mika Poutala (FIN) - Joji Kato (JPN). Opening 9.68 for both. Kato skates his last inner wide. He ends up through the blocks into the lane of Poutala, who can see him right before him. Kato takes the pair in 35.26, Poutala 35.40. Kato apologizes to Mika after the race. 10. Joon Mun (KOR) - Tucker Fredricks (USA). Fredricks opens 9.80, Mun 9.88. Mun has a strong lap, 35.14 brings him ahead of Kato. Fredricks 35.77. 11. Kyou-Hyuk Lee (KOR) - Kang-Seok Lee (KOR). Lee opens in 9.71, Lee in 9.67. The finish is for Kyou-Hyuk, who has a 5.4 lap: 35.12, the new leader. Kang-Seok 35.50: not possible to make up. 12. Jeremy Wotherspoon (CAN) - Dmitry Lobkov (RUS), opening 9.69 Wotherspoon is not the fastest, Lobkov 9.73, but Wotherspoon can do a 25.1 lap. 34,81 is his new Track record (old: Nagashima, 34.91). The time for Lobkov is 35.22, it brings him to fourth place and he has some podium chances. Corrections we hear: Kato 35.25, Poutala 35.35. Wotherspoon 35.78, Kyou-Hyuk Lee 35.11, Lobkov .21, Smeekens .77, |