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Tuesday December 13, 8:55 AMOhno Off to Quick Start in Short Track
Apolo Anton Ohno was a bit nervous about the make-or-break nature of the U.S. short track championships. Not to worry. Scooting around an indoor hockey rink in Michigan's frigid Upper Peninsula _ his famous soul patch nearly scraping the ice _ Ohno had the fastest time in the 1,000-meter trial at the national championships Monday night, the first step toward making the American Olympic team. Ohno clocked a nine-lap time of 1 minute, 25.114 seconds, nearly catching the skater he was paired with and putting him more than 2 seconds ahead of the next-fastest finisher. "You've got to be consistent and safe," Ohno said. "My goal is to qualify for every single event in the Games. If I do that, I'll be happy." The real racing begins Tuesday night, when the top 16 finishers from the time trials move on to three days of precarious, head-to-head heats that will determine the U.S. team for Turin. Shani Davis _ next to Ohno, the most compelling story at these championships _ got off to a disappointing start in his bid to pull off a historic double. He wants to be the first American to skate on both the long- and short-track teams at the same Olympics, but managed only the seventh-best time, 1:28.505. Afterward, Davis stormed past reporters without commenting, sending word that he wouldn't talk with the media until Friday _ the final day of the meet. "He's a little upset," said Davis' coach, Bob Fenn. The idea of Ohno not being at the Olympics seems rather farfetched after his breakthrough performance at the 2002 Games. The swath of hair beneath his lower lip spawned a fashion craze in Salt Lake City _ especially after he won gold and silver medals in dramatic fashion. He still has the flowing brown locks, which elicit squeals from his young female fans and are held in place with a variety of exotic bandannas. Several Olympic sports, including speedskating's long-track cousin, have revised the way their teams are picked so that a wider range of performances factor into the decision. Not short track, which uses its four-day national championships to decide the team. Given the random nature of the sport, which features plenty of falls and frequent disqualifications, no one can take an Olympic spot for granted. Ohno admitted to being somewhat jittery about the process. "Sure, a little bit," he said. "Anything can happen. You've just got to be ready for it." While saying he was a bit disappointed with his performance, Ohno breezed through the time trial. Alex Izykowski was the next-fastest skater at 1:27.427, followed by two-time Olympian Rusty Smith (1:27.539) and J.P. Kepka (1:27.887), trying to make his second straight Olympic team. Farther back was Davis, one of the world's best in traditional speedskating but more of a long shot in short track. At 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, he hardly has the prototype build for the tight turns and frequent passing. Ohno, for instance, is just 5-8 _ barely coming to Davis' shoulders when the close friends stand side by side. Shorter skaters can get lower to the ice and pass more easily in the tight confines of the 200-foot-long rink. Davis started well but fell off by nearly four-tenths of a second in his later laps. On the women's side, rising star Kim Hyo-jung took the top spot in the 1,000 time trial at 1:32.155. The 17-year-old, who was born in the short track hotbed of South Korea but now lives in Southern California, edged another top hopeful for the U.S. team, Allison Baver (1:32.330). Then there's Amy Peterson, coming out of retirement at 34 in an attempt to make her sixth Olympic team. She was 10th-fastest at 1:37.727, but that wasn't too bad considering she decided in April to start skating again. "It wasn't a great race," Peterson said. "Hopefully I'll get better as the days go on." |
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