Feb 10

Final Record Breaking Day for U.S. Short Track Speedskating Team

December 10, 2008- Kearns, UT. The U.S. Short Track Team ended the Samsung ISU Short Track World Cup #6 in Salt Lake City at the Utah Olympic Oval breaking records and bringing home several individual medals. Olympian and American Short Track star, Apolo Anton Ohno, (Seattle, WA) skated to the Gold medal spot on the podium winning the Men's 1000m A Final in a thrilling race against Charles Hamelin of Canada, and Lee Seung-Hoon and Lee Ho-Suk both of Korea. In a near photo finish Ohno crossed the line with a time of 1:27.137 with Lee Seung-Hoon right behind him with a time of 1:27.223. Rising star Katherine Reutter (Champaign, IL) brought home the only Ladies event individual medal, earning Silver in the Ladies 1000m. Reutter was 0.186 seconds behind Team China skater Meng Wang, finishing 1:31.266 behind Wang's Gold medal time of 1:31.080. The Ladies 3000m Relay team, which consisted of Reutter, Allison Baver (Sinking Springs, PA), Kimberly Derrick (Memphis, TN) and Carly Wilson (Jefferson City, MO) skated to a Bronze medal finish in the A Final against powerhouse teams, Korea, China and Canada. Team Canada was disqualified for impeding Team China during the race. The Korean Ladies team set a new Ladies 3000m Relay World Record with a time of 4:09.938."It was a strong weekend for our team,"said US Head Coach, Jae Su Chun,"we had some injuries, but will be strong going into the World Championships in Korea."Jeff Simon (Long Beach, CA) broke his collarbone during the 500m semi-final race, when he fell and hit the boards. The US National Short Track World Team will compete March 7-9, at the ISU World Short Track World Speedskating Championship in Korea. For additional information please contact Kori Novak, Director, PR , Media at 801-417-5360 or media@usspeedskating.org About US Speedskating: US Speedskating is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the national governing body for the sport of Speedskating in the United States. To date, US Speedskating has won a total of 75 Olympic medals, making it the most successful winter sport in the USA. ####