Ben skated a 36.98 in the 500m, finishing 24th in the men's B division. Ben backed up later to skate a smooth 1000m to finish in a time of 1:12.63, placing him in 26th position in the B division. This was Ben’s first long track world cup, and after only a few months of transitioning from short track to long track, this was a nice first day effort before his 1500m tomorrow. The rest of the team shouted support from the stands during Ben's racing, and in between, took time to respond to their fan mail.
Ben had a day’s break today and trained early before cheering on Sophie and Josh on their first day of racing for this world cup.
7/11/2009 - Sophie was first up in the 500m in her first world cup, skating in the first pair. Sophie skated a 40.24, just .06 off her own national record set on fast ice in Calgary in March, proving that she has moved forward from last season. This saw her finish a strong 14th in a field of 26 in the ladies B group.
After a very strong first 100m (PB), the first corner saw her have a small slip which no doubt cost her lowering the national record again. In her own self assessment, she says she can improve in a few areas, and there is no doubt that very soon she will go under the 40sec mark, and definately has the ability to head under 39 sec, sooner rather than later. Don't be surprised to see news of a new national record tomorrow when she skates her second 500m.
The 1000m saw Sophie skate a season best 1:20.45 to finish in 22nd place in the ladies B division. After seeing Sophie's suffering first hand, there can be no doubting that she gave her all in that 1000m.
In between Sophie's two races, Josh stepped up for his 5000m hit out, skating a very solid 6:44.24, his 2nd fastest ever 5000m, 3 secs shy of his national record skated in Calgary earlier this year. Both he and Desly believe there are many areas for him to work on and both expect big improvements and big time cuts throughout the world cup season. It can be said though, that he is a consistant and smooth skater and throughout most of the race, his laptimes were within .2 of a second. Josh placed 20th in B division which was highly competitive, with the top 2 skaters posting times that would have seen them top 10 in A division, and in the process setting new national records for their countries.
Tomorrow will see Sophie and Ben skate their 2nd 500m event, with Ben also skating in what is probably his strongest distance at present, the 1500m. I know Sophie's legs felt a bit heavy after the 1000m, but personally, I think there is potential for her own national record to be lowered tomorrow.
So far, all the Aussie skaters have put in good performances, skating nice races to build that experience which is world standard speed skating. As their experience grows, don't be surprised to see some great results.
KIWI NEWS
Shane Dobbin today skated a new NZ National record in the 5000m, smashing his previous personal best and national record by almost 8 secs, skating a 6:24.88, finishing on the podium in the men's B division.
This time would have seen him finish in the top 10 of A division, with a time marginally quicker than superstar Shani Davis.
This result will see Shane promoted to the A division for next week's world cup in Heerenveen.
Shane will also be competing in the 1500m tomorrow.
I have managed to get a fair amount of video of the Aussie skaters, but I am unable to process or edit it at the moment, but will post some up at the first opportunity.
Many thanks for this blog; I shall be following it closely to get an independent view of the Australian skaters' progress.
ReplyDelete