U.S. Jr. Skaters Finish Strong in Belgrade

BELGRADE, Serbia & Montenegro (Jan. 9) – After three days of competition at the World Junior Short Track Championships, the U.S. speedskaters finished “strong and skated their best,” said U.S. Speedskating coach, Adam Riedy.

In the ladies’ 1000-meters, all three Americans advanced to the quarterfinals where they ultimately met their match. Carly Wilson (Jefferson City, MO) finished third in her heat in 1:36.742. Jade Wheeler (Los Alamitos, Calif.) also finished third in her quarterfinal heat in 1:40.977. Teammate Maria Garcia (Carson, Calif.) finished fourth in her quarterfinal heat with a finish time of 1:43.341. Ji-Soo Jeon (KOR) won the 1000-meters event with a 1:35.691 finish time, followed by Kalyna Roberge of Canada.

Jeon and her teammates went on to sweep the ladies 1500-meters super final. Jeon finished second while teammate Sun-Young Park finished first followed by Eun-Ju Jung, finishing third.

The U.S.A. ladies competed in the 2000-meters relay finals. About 10 laps into the race, Wilson, who was coming up into second place, took a spill on a corner turn thus pushing her team into a fourth place finish.

On the men’s side, Jordan Hinke (Waukesha, Wis.) set a personal best in the 1000-meters with a 1:32.647 finish time in his heat. He advanced to the quarterfinals. Teammates Joey Lindsey (Long Beach, Calif.) and Kyle Carr (Marquette, Mich.) were disqualified in their respective heats thus ending their 1000-meters advancement possibilities.

All three USA female skaters finished in the top 20 overall classification. Garcia finished 11^th, followed by Wheeler (13^th) and Wilson (15^th).

“The ladies skated remarkably well and they are definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future,” Riedy said.

Sunday’s Results: (courtesy of www.isu.org)

Ladies’ 1000-meters:

1	JEON , Ji-Soo	KOR	1:35.691
2	ROBERGE , Kalyna	CAN	1:35.813
3	OZAWA , Mika	JPN	1:37.263
DNF	JUNG , Eun-Ju	KOR	DNF

Americans: 9. Wheeler 1:40.977; 11. Wilson 1:36.742; 14. Garcia 1:40.591

Ladies’ 1500-meters Super Final:

1	PARK , Sun-Young	KOR	2:24.000
2	JEON , Ji-Soo	KOR	2:24.381
3	JUNG , Eun-Ju	KOR	2:24.534
4	GREGG , Jessica	CAN	2:29.998
5	OZAWA , Mika	JPN	2:31.035
DNF	ROBERGE , Kalyna	CAN	DNF

Ladies’ 2000-meters Relay:

1	KOREA	2:58.759
2	CHINA	2:59.975
3	CANADA	3:02.168
4	UNITED STATES	3:09.411

Men’s 1000-meters:

1	KIM , Hyun-Kon	KOR	1:29.467
2	KWAK , Yoon-Gy	KOR	1:29.567
3	LEE , Ho-Suk	KOR	1:30.066
4	GUILLAUME , Bastille	CAN	1:30.897

Americans: 13. Hinke 1:32.647; 40. Carr 1:38.020; 41. Lindsey 1:39.793

Men’s 1500-Meters Super Final:

1	KIM , Hyun-Kon	KOR	2:20.475
2	LEE , Ho-Suk	KOR	2:20.492
3	KWAK , Yoon-Gy	KOR	2:20.589
4	GIROUX , Mathieu	CAN	2:20.959
5	CUI , Liang	CHN	2:22.477
6	ZHAO , Quinyu	CHN	2:23.052

Men’s 2000-meters Relay:

1	KOREA	2:50.110
2	CHINA	2:50.189
3	CANADA	2:50.267
4	JAPAN	3:01.677

6. USA

Ladies’ Overall Classification:

Rank	Name	ISU Member	Comined Dist. Ranking	Points
1	PARK , Sun-Young	KOR		89
2	JEON , Ji-Soo	KOR		76
3	ROBERGE , Kalyna	CAN		63
4	JUNG , Eun-Ju	KOR		26
5	GREGG , Jessica	CAN		21
6	OZAWA , Mika	JPN		18
7	GRASSOW , Tina	GER		8
8	SUN , LinLin	CHN		5
9	BORRELLO , Catia	ITA		3
10	YAO , Yao	CHN	23	(264)
11	GARCIA , Maria	USA	28	(241)
12	FENG , Xue	CHN	34	(215)
13	WHEELER , Jade	USA	36	(170)
14	REGUCKA , Karolina	POL	40	(152)
15	WILSON , Carly	USA	43	(152)
16	FONTANA , Arianna	ITA	55	(176)
17	ITO , Ayuko	JPN	55	(149)
18	BLONDIN , Ivanie	CAN	58	(149)
19	MALISZEWSKA , Patrysia	POL	59	(123)
20	LAJTOS , Szandra	HUN	60	(118)
21	DARAZS , Rozsa	HUN	60	(94)
22	HEIDUM , Bernadett	HUN	61	(97)
23	SAKAI , Yui	JPN	66	(100)
24	MUXEL , Selina	GER	72	(84)
25	KRIEVANE , Evita	LAT	79	(102)
26	ZOUTENDIJK , Anouk	NED	84	(84)
27	SCHMID , Karin	SUI	88	(81)
28	PRIBYSH , Elena	ISR	88	(74)
29	STUKANOV , Ekaterina	ISR	88	(73)
30	VAN KERKHOF , Sanne