SHORT-TRACK: Australian skater Deanna Lockett has shown a good level of improvement, after a strong finish to her campaign at the opening event of the new World Cup season by finishing sixth in the 1000 metres in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Olympic Winter Institute of Australia athlete successfully moved through the early qualifying rounds last Friday, and in the quarter finals finished second to progress to the semi-finals, from where the top two from each would make it to the A Final.
Lockett, 18, came up against two dominant Korean skaters in her semi-final and narrowly missed making it to the final having finished a very close third.
The B Final was cancelled after an athlete was advanced to the final and another was disqualified, leaving Lockett officially in sixth place.
"The semi-final was difficult with the two Koreans, as they were looking to block me, but even though it's difficult I have to learn to deal with that,” Lockett said. “I suppose the positive about their tactics is that it shows they are thinking about me now."
"I used too much energy in my quarter finals, which is another thing I have to keep improving – knowing that I can save energy for the semi-final, and hopefully medal final, going forward."
"I am really happy with how my first World Cup of the season went, I have definitely improved but I still have a lot of things I know I need to work on and hopefully I can make further improvements during the season."
In the 1500 metres event, Lockett finished in eight place after she was forced to make her way through the repechage after missing the direct route to finals on the opening qualification day. She started well, reigniting her campaign with a strategic win in the 1500 metre repechage to get her through to the semi-final. A slow time allowed her to conserve energy for her later races.
In the semi-final, the young Australian came up against two Koreans, who set a very fast pace to take the two A Final places, leaving Lockett, who crossed the line third, a place in the B Final.
Lockett produced another good performance there to finish second to Canadian Valerie Matais, to take 8th place overall with a time of two minutes 24.689 seconds.
In the first Men’s 1000 metres event, Pierre Boda, by finishing second, and Andy Jung, with a fast qualifying time, made it through the repechage round to make it back in to the draw. But their run ended in the next round, with Boda securing an overall result of 25th with Jung 30th.
Nathaniel Henry and Armstrong Lazenby were in action in the second 1000 metres event, taking part in the repechage heats. Armstrong was knocked-out, finishing third for an official 32nd place overall. In a promising performance, Henry made it through both the repechage heats and the repechage quarterfinals to finish in 24th place.
Lazenby and Henry did not progress through the 1500 metre repechage, both being knocked out of the competition to claim 33rd and 35th respectively.
Jung was Australia's highest placed athlete in the 500 metre event, with an overall finish of 25th place, with Boda close behind in 33rd.
The men's relay team of Boda, Jung, Lazenby and Henry finished in 13th place.
The next round of the ISU Short Track World Cup will be held in Montreal Canada from November 14-16.
OWIA Release
