Slow ice conditions meant that many of the skaters in the men’s 1000m “popped” before the finish, and were unable to skate strongly all the way to the finish. The end result though was never in doubt. American Shani Davis emerged victorious and was the only competitor to go under 1:09. In second place...
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The (South) Koreans seem bent on messing up my predictions. Lee Sang Hwa skated brilliantly to hold off a second-race charge from Jenny Wolf who asserted her intentions in the first hundred meters of the second race by opening in a blistering 10.14 seconds (on her world record race on faster ice, she opened...
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A suspenseful running of the men’s 500m concluded yesterday with 21st-birthday-boy Mo Tae Bum being the only person to go under 35 seconds on both runs. After a long delay due to a broken down ice resurfacing machine halfway through the first run, they were finally able to get under way. At the end...
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Yesterday’s women’s 3000m was no surprise at all. Sablikova won the Czech Republic’s first gold medal of the games and made it look easy. Stephanie Beckert of Germany finished in her trademark way, putting the pedal down in the last 100m of the race to pass eventual bronze medalist Kristina Groves of Canada. I...
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There were a few surprises in yesterday’s men’s 5000m. Sven Kramer won in olympic record time, as predicted, but the other podium places were less predictable. Lee Seung-Hoon of Korea took an unlikely silver medal ahead of Ivan Skobrev of Russia who, in turn, beat out Norwegian Håvard Bøkko. Bob de Jong, paired with...
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Predictions for the first half of the speed skating competition. ▶ YouTube - click to watch in HD (I would have had this up much earlier, but it took hours to render then even longer to upload)
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Sven Kramer should win the men’s 5000m today, but Bob de Jong could cause an upset, as might Enrico Fabris. Bob is in the pair after Sven, which could be the crucial difference because he’ll know what schedule he needs to follow to beat Sven. In November, in Heerenveen (which is also low/slow ice)...
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So I’m in Canada and, by the end of this season, will have been here for over three months of the previous twelve. Yet it was only recently that we played our first ever game of ice hockey. Ice hockey is Canada’s biggest sport, and they’re pretty good at it. Wayne Gretzky, the greatest...
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As many of you know, I enjoy taking photos. Some of you even enjoy viewing those photos. Seeing as I do not have any kind of media accreditation for this event, my ability to bring you photos may be somewhat limited because my access to stuff will be somewhat limited. Even so, there’s no doubt...
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