SPISSKA NOVA VES, Slovakia (Feb. 11, 2005) – Friday wasn’t the best day for the U.S. Short Track Speedskating team but it wasn’t the worst. After a rocky start in the 500-meters, the U.S. men were able to pull themselves up by the skate-straps and finish the day with an impressive relay performance at the World Cup 6.

 

In a surprising turnaround in the 500-meters event, no U.S. men advanced to the finals.

 

Rusty Smith (Long Beach, Calif.) was the top U.S. man to advance to the semifinals where he finished fifth in his heat in 43.837.

 

Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, Wash.) did not advance out of the heats. He finished third in his heat in 42.664.  Ohno was in second position on the final lap when Belgium’s Wim de Deyne stretched past him to a second place finish.

 

Michael Kooreman (Grand Rapids, Mich.) was disqualified in the preliminaries.

 

Ohno, Smith, Kooreman and Jordan Malone (Denton, Tex.) skated strong in the men’s 5000-meters relay semifinals where they finished second in their heat in 7:00.970, thus advancing to Saturday’s finals. They will face Korea, Canada and Italy in the finals.

 

In the ladies’ 500-meters, Hyo-Jung Kim (Fullerton, Calif.) was the lone U.S. skater to qualify for the finals where she finished fourth in 44.796.  Meng Wang (CHN) won the event in 44.585.

 

Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, Penn.) was disqualified in the preliminaries.

 

Teammate Kristen Biondo (Broadview Heights, Oh.) finished third in her heat in the preliminaries and was not able to advance. Her finish time was 47.176. Biondo finished 29^th overall in the 500-meters.

 

Kim, Baver, Biondo and Kira Fling (Winnetka, Ill.) were disqualified in the ladies’ 3000-meters semifinals Friday.

 

Thus far in the World Cup 6 standings, Kim is still in the top 10 ranking at number six. Baver is currently 24^th and Biondo is 26^th.  On the men’s side, Ohno is currently ranked second, Smith is ranked sixth and Kooreman is in 41^st place.

 

The World Cup 6 concludes Saturday.

 

Results: (courtesy of www.isu.org. For more detailed results, please visit the website.)

 

Ladies’ 500-meters:

Americans: 29. K. Biondo;  DQ. A. Baver

 

Men’s 500-meters: