WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008 Gijion, SPAIN from CALIFORNIA

I never thought I would be able to write anything about World's this year since I would be staying home in California, USA. But, thanks to many people and the use of 8 web cams, I was able to watch the 300-meter finals. I must admit that it's not the same as sitting in the crowd or being in the Press Area or down with the athletes coaching, but I am so thankful that I can watch at all!!!

(PHOTO ON RIGHT, COURTESY OF PETER DOUCET - CANADA-VISIT HIS SITE BY CLICKING HERE!!!)


Today's 300-meter finals brought some surprises, at least in my eyes. They have been saying the track is so tight all week long. Not just Team USA but anybody who has commented at all has mentioned that fact. I am not sure if some of the mistakes     that I saw were due to the shape of the track (it seems like the straightaways are longer and the corners are sharper than most of the other tracks, which obviously changes the way a skater enters and exits the corners) or if it was nerves or that the skaters had so much speed that they just weren't used to going that fast.

I wish I had some photos to go with my comments.... who knows, maybe someone from Team USA will let me borrow some of theirs!! (hint..hint). The Junior Ladies skated an incredible final event. For the most part, every skater took 1 to 3 tenths of a second off of their original time. With a few placements changing in the mix, Carolina Magana from Colombia moved up from 2nd to take the overall win with a 27.128 over the Korean, whose front foot rolled over the line, which probably started her clock. Of course I am watching this on a small window and the streaming isn't flowing but I thought for sure they would have called her back... but in my OPINION that was the difference between 1st and 2nd was her front foot rolling. Otherwise she skated a great line and posted a 27.15 for 2nd.

Our own Team USA did a great job. New comer Erin Jackson looked nervous as she approached the line, but took a couple of deep breaths and when she got to the "set" position, it was on from there. Erin went into the finals in 11th and bettered her placement by one. She finished 10th with a time of 28.338. I expect we will be seeing so much more from this young lady! Next up was Mariah Richardson who went into the final in 9th place. I believe that this was the very best that I have ever seen Mariah skate. She skated a great line, never stopped stepping and you could see her really trying to turn her feet over and yet use her power on every push. Another thing that was impressive, was her knee bend! WOW.. again another factor that helped Mariah drop 3/10's off of her original time and to move up from 9th to 5th overall!!!! Congratulations ladies!!

Junior Men would prove a little different. Kevin Quandt skated this morning (their time) and finished just out of moving on to the finals. Kevin skated a respectable 13th place with a time of 26.369, with CHILE beating him out for the last spot to the final with a time of 26.360. That is only 9/1000's of a second. Not even a blink of an eye... great job Kevin. Keith Carroll however would slip into the final in a good spot in 8th place. Keith would watch skater after skater make huge mistakes. The skater from Australia had a great line going but coming into turn 2, it looked like he set his left foot down on the boot when they played it back in slow motion. This caused his momentum to obviously slow way down and his upper body wasn't ready for that, which in turn caused his feet to go in many different directions before he hit the ground. It was a pretty good fall... he got up by himself, but rolled to the middle of the track and did not post a time. The BELGIUM skater also had a big mishap in the first turn. It appeared that when he transitioned into the first turn, his upper body did not ease into the transition but that it just flopped forward, putting him on his toes and almost on his NOSE. He saved the fall but his time would drop him to 10th. The Junior Men just appeared to be nervous if you will. Many skaters seem to hawk "backwards". I know your asking how can someone hawk backwards??? Well the Hawk was designed to thrust your front foot forward in a quick, jab-like manner to get your foot across the line before your competitors. In my opinion it should never be used against the clock. You should skate through the line for your best time. But back to the hawk... once the skater decides to use the hawk, the back leg/foot goes back first, with the front foot on it's way to moving out from UNDER the body.... most of the skaters today, just stretched the back foot REALLY far back and did nothing with the front foot. So to me, they hawked "backwards". They never worked at getting the front foot out there..... Then there were a couple of skaters who hawked too early. Once again, you cannot out-run time.... don't hawk. One skater in the World Class Men's division hawked AT LEAST 15 to 20 feet BEFORE the finish line. Why does that matter?? Well obviously once you stop skating to hawk, you are no longer GAINING speed, which is the whole point of Time Trials and on top of not GAINING speed, you have friction going on with the wheels all on the ground and pressure being pushed into the ground, which slows you down even more!!!!!!!! Of course... this is only my opinion!

Back to the Junior guys... Keith finished with a super time of 25.692 for 5th overall. I just had to peek and see where he would have finished in with the World Class Men with that time... he would have finished 18th!! Wow... Keith you are on your way.

Senior Ladies.... WHAT CAN I SAY?????????????????????????????????? USA you ROCK! Sara has been dubbed the "Pocket Rocket" at these World Championships and rightfully so!! Her final was beautiful!! She had some of the best form and tightest track patterns out there and she broke Brittany's World Record (set in the elimination round) and skated a 26.672! But even more fun was to watch her jump into Wouter's arms and get a congratulatory kiss! But the competition wasn't over yet. The Colombian would be up next. In the heat the Jercy Puelo would beat Sara by 4/10's of a second. That's a HUGE amount.... most of the other girls had improved their times and Jercy is not new to this. In fact I was hoping that Britt could hold her off. Jercy came to the line and the camera zoomed in on her face... I could actually see the nerves on her face. While she didn't have any major mistakes, she had one hesitation in the corner and as we know that's all it takes and she crossed the line with a 26.706. Sara was still in first. Brittany came to the line, and she too looked a bit nervous. She took a couple of deep breaths before she stepped to the line. One thing that drives me nuts about Brittany's start is that she is there and gone before you even realize what happened! Today would be no different. The only skater in the Championship 300-meter Finals, Men or Women, to do a side start, Brittany barely came to a stop before she was off and gone. Brittany's strength and power were incredible. But I noticed a change in her technique. I'm not sure if anyone purposely changed it but she has always been shy skating on a right-outside edge and her knee collapses in when she does skate on her right foot, causing her to skate more on a flat instead of an edge. But not this race.... she nailed it. And she did so in ANOTHER World Record time of 26.611. Congratulations goes out to Brittany for breaking the World Record this morning. To Sara for breaking the World Record this evening and for Brittany breaking the World Record one more time for the win. Team USA finished 1st and 2nd in the Women's 300-Meter.

Onto the World Class Men. Team USA's Dane Lewis posted a great time of 25.499 and finished just out of the last qualifying spot for 13th. Argentina beat Dane out with a time of 25.486, which was only 14/100's of a second. Joey would sit in 7th with a time of 25.274. I know people in the US are asking, "What happened to Joey?" Nothing happened. He skated a great time and he is skating against the best in the World!! Korea who was in 1st at this point was only 3/10ths of a second ahead.... think about that for a moment... times up, that's how much of a difference there was..... Anything can happen in the final. And it did!!!

This would be the final event where the skater hawked 15-20 feet before the finish line, where the skaters before and after him coasted in the 3rd turn. I was starting to wonder if there was a problem with the track... but then I thought back to the World Class Women and they hadn't had these problems.... ahhh it must be the testosterone!! LOL They are allowed.. it is the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!! The next skater was on a great run when he went to hawk (I don't understand why!!!!!!!!!) and he hawked backwards for a slower time than he had posted in the heat. Colombia who was in 8th skated next and while he did coast once it was just for a short moment... unfortunately long enough to knock him out of the medals and finish 4th overall. That dreaded 4th place!!! Joey Mantia was up next. Joey came to the line and looked as he always does.... he took his time on his start and he was off. I thought Joey skated one of his best 300-meters ever. He never stopped stepping and every cross in the turn was a powerful cross. Typically he has to coast through the turns or feather his steps in Colorado, but not here. Skating through the line he would post a time of 25.199. I really believe he LOOKED faster than that, but again I was watching through the QuickTime screen. Although better than his heat time of 25.274, he would remain in the 7th spot for his overall finish.

Gregory Duggento went into the finals in the 5th spot. I was surprised as I had been hearing so much on the BONT board about how good he looked, maybe he had had a small mistake, maybe something else had happened, but time would tell. The Italian approached the start line and looked confident as he set up for his start. For me, Duggento could use just a little more flexibility. He is very stiff.... I know he has been the fastest man in the world... but times are changing and if it didn't work this year, and you want a different outcome next year, you must go home and change what you are doing. If you are satisfied with what you have... then there is no need to improve. Don't get me wrong... he is an incredible skater, but he could shave a few hundredths of a second off easily with his start alone. Gregory had two major issues that usually don't affect his performance, but this year it did. He coasted MAJOR TIME through turn 2 and then did it again and even a bit longer (and these are short corners) in turn 3! He really needs to learn to turn... he could avoid having to coast with some simple basics... he finished tied for 8th with the Venezuelan who did a beautiful long hawk. (Please do not think that I am putting anyone down.... I respect every single skater and know most of them, along with their coaches and all of the parents. I know the sacrifice and dedication it takes for a family to get that far!! I am just giving my opinion and that's all it is.)

On to the final four. Kalon Dobbin from New Zealand and Wouter Hebbrecht from Belgium have to be my favorite two guys out there besides Team USA of course. If we can't win, then I am ALWAYS pulling for these two. Kalon would go into the final in the 4 spot, followed by Nicolas Pelloquin from France in 3rd, Wouter in 2nd and a surprise to me, Kyung Tae Kang from Korea holding all of the money. The Koreans have worked long and hard and deserve to be where they are at, but sitting in the top spot??!! Wow this guy must be great and I couldn't wait to see him skate. Only 15/100th's of a second separated the top 4 spots. I can't even fathom that!!!!!!!!!! It could be anyone's game.

Kalon came to the line and almost like Brittany, set up and seemed to "rush-off" the line. But whistles started blowing and Kalon shut down only 2 or 3 steps into the start. The cameras followed Dobbin around the track as he had his head down and coasting and slight pushes all the way around the track. I was surprised that the officials allowed him this courtesy as there had been several other skaters called back and the officials whistled for them to return immediately to the start box. At this point I thought maybe it was a computer error. But as Kalon approached the starting official, the official put his feet on the line to show Kalon what he did wrong. It appeared that the official might have told him that his front foot started ON the line?? I am not sure.... but Kalon looked a little rattled. He took a deep breath and set his feet up. This time looking down before he started. Now I felt he wasn't rushing any more. He EXPLODED off that line like little Ms Pocket Rocket, Sara Sayasane, and never looked back. As he approached the 2nd turn he came in low and stopped skating.... oh no.... he was coasting........ but before I could yell go (from 5000 miles away-lol) he was crossing out of the turn and driving his knees forward into the final turn, turn number 3. Once again he set up his turn so that he came rather low and once again coasted, powering out of the turn and all the way THROUGH the line. There was no hawk... just plain power. My heart sank for him... he had made it through having to start twice and skated great on the straightaways, but those darn corners!! Then the crowd erupted......... the cameras still had not shown his time....... 24.739. He had beaten the Korean's original time from the heat by 2/10ths of a second and had bettered his own time by 3/10ths of a second. He still had 3 very fast men left. He wasn't guaranteed a medal and yet he had just done everything he was supposed to do. Now all Kalon could do was wait!

Next up was the French man, Nicolas Pelloquin. His original time was 25.042. I had heard the French team had really picked up their game and I was looking forward to watching this guy run. Nicolas stepped up to the start and appeared confident. His start seemed to be ok, but he might have broken the beam and he had a stumble in one of the turns. But for me, his final mistake was that long, dreaded, hawk that happens too early that hurt him. Nicolas would fall from the 3 spot into the 11th spot with a time of 25.491. I do not know Nicolas, however he looks young and possibly it was just nerves that got him today. I look forward to watching him skate more this week.

Well now Kalon KNEW no matter what happened he had a bronze medal..... but Kalon doesn't like bronze. He'll TAKE bronze, but he prefers GOLD! Wouter was up next. I could hear Team USA and Sara Sayasane screaming at the top of her lungs all through Wouter's race. It made me smile to know that they support each other so much. They are such a cute couple! Back to Wouter.... Again I don't know if the track conditions changed or if when you hit those speeds the dynamics of how you approach the turns and skate the turns change. I haven't had an opportunity to be there and actually watch in person to form an opinion... but Wouter would fall to that deadly, "power the straightaways" and coast all the way through the turns... or so it felt. In both turn 2 and 3 there were major delays..... and coming to the line, Wouter almost looked confused on what to do. I can't imagine what is going through a skaters mind at this point, should I hawk, should I jab, do I skate???? What do I do??? Wouter appeared to hawk and it appeared to be to soon. I could see his disappointment immediately after he crossed the finish line. Up went his time of 24.960. Absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. He had improved on his original time by almost 5/10ths of a second... they always say you must be on the brink of being out-of-control in order to be the fastest you can!! I think Wouter did that today and that's all you can ask from your athlete! There was one skater left... the Korean.

If their placements in the Junior Ladies 300-meter (2nd and 3rd), the Junior Men 300-meter (2nd) and World Class Ladies (5th) had any indication... this guy was going to medal!!! Kyung Tae Kang stepped to the start line. Shaking each leg out one last time.... he looked down and shook his right foot again. And again. He rolled back from the line. You could see a little panic starting to settle in (no duh). He rolled to the referee and pointed to his skate. Now I could see panic in his eyes. Were they going to let him fix whatever his problem was? It is the skaters responsibility to be prepared. The coach came right over... a moment of speaking, although I wonder if it was the same language... although panic is panic in any language!! The skater yelled to someone in the stands who immediately produced a wheel tool. His frame appeared to have come loose in the back. You could see that there was room to tighten the bolt. With the wheel off he kept hitting the back wheel against the ground trying to make sure it was tight. He put his wheel back in and tightened it down and rolled a moment, still shaking the right foot. A skater can feel when their equipment isn't right. I wondered had he been able to keep his frame in the same spot that he was used to or did it move that fraction of millimeter that could cause the skater discomfort as he skated? Wow.. the referee motioned him to the line. No more time. Kyung Tae stepped up to the line again. Deep breaths.... followed by the "set" position and he was off and gone. I swear I saw him hesitate on his third cross into the corner, but maybe not..... he too had so much speed that he hesitated and coasted in turn three. He raced to the line with everything he had.... would it be enough for the win? NO.... but it would be enough for 2nd place!! After his equipment ordeal, I have to hand it to him, he is a true champion with his 24.934 time. But the win would go to Kalon Dobbin of New Zealand with a time of 24.739.

I have been on my computer for 6 hours. Originally just wanting to watch my own sons race with no luck. For some reason all of the links would not work until the 300-meter races came up. When I finally got results from Josh's race, they only posted the top 5 skaters for the 10K Points/Elimination race. Josh and Michael had not placed top 5. But as usual, I got into the moment when I started watching the 300's and figured why not write about what I was seeing. There are some people who have to work and maybe just one parent will know how their skater did, who couldn't watch.

In the meantime, Josh called.... He told me he was tied for 2nd with 8 points, with the winner of the race who is from France, Yann Guyader. And with 8 laps to go, the Korean skaters hit one of the small cones and fell. Josh made it over the skater, but not over the cone. He fell to the ground. Back up and chasing the pack he was unable to catch them. He kept saying to me, "I felt so good... I really felt good, I KNOW I could have gotten at least a silver."

I have seen so many of our skaters and skaters from other countries, skate so well and something unexpected happens. Something out of their control. It's just the way it is. It hurts and it's even devastating at the time. But we have to pick up our marbles for the day, go home and figure out how we can play the game better tomorrow. I hope that all of the skaters who's dreams did not come true today, go back to their hotel and take a moment to reacess their plan of attack!

KICK A$$ Team USA---- I miss you all! Linda
p.s. I apologize for any misspelled words or names.....