Since my article on Jessica Smith’s injury at the World Championships, many people have emailed me personally to see how Jess was doing. I tried to reach her but with her surgery, traveling and training she had been a little hard to find.
Well today I caught up with her and got to watch her skate her 500-meter and her 1500-meter. But the best part was having a quick moment to talk to her about her surgery.
Jessica had 7 pins and a “blue” plate put in her shoulder. She made sure that I knew that it was “blue” for the state of Michigan! Her scar appears to be about 6 inches long. And of course she allowed me to take a photo!! The other two photos are of Jess being her GOOFY self! She skated great today and the girls posted the following times:
500-Meter - WORLD RECORD - 37.04 - Jenny Wolf - GER
Today 17 women competed in 9 pairs
1st - Elli Ochowicz USA 38.94
2nd - Claudia Pechstein GER 40.05 (but does not count towards USA World Qualifier)
3rd TIE - Jessica Smith USA 40.39
3rd TIE - Lauren Cholewinski USA 40.39 (Still of Junior WC age)
500-Meter - WORLD RECORD - 34.25 - Kang-Seok Lee - ROK
Today 48 men competed in 25 pairs
1st - Tucker Fredricks - USA 35.31
2nd - Kip Carpenter - USA 35.47
3rd - Brent Aussprung USA 35.83
More information to follow..... Linda
