SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING: The third World Cup of the 2013/14 short track speed skating season has kicked off in Torino, Italy on Thursday. The event is one of two Olympic Qualifying events, with skaters from across the globe chasing top results to secure their spots at the Sochi Games.
SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING: The third World Cup of the 2013/14 short track speed skating season has kicked off in Torino, Italy today. The event is one of two Olympic Qualifying events, with skaters from across the globe chasing top results to secure their spots at the Sochi Games.
Day 3
On the third day of racing at the short track speed skating world cup in Torino, Italy, Australia had two athletes in action.
An in-form Deanna Lockett was up first in the ladies' 1500m quarter-finals. Racing in the second of four races, Lockett was unlucky to just miss the opportunity to progress, finishing fourth in 2:24.680.
The 1500m was eventually won by Suk-Hee Shim of Korea, which allows her to move into first place of the World Cup distance classification. This win was not going to be easy, with seven skaters at the start and other distance specialists to contend with. Second-place finisher was Seung-Hi Park of Korea, who moved up from fourth place on the last lap. Yang Zhou of China finished in third, narrowly edging out Italian skater Arianna Fontana.
Melbourne's Andy Jung was also up in the eighth-finals of the men's 500m. One of the fastest improvers in short track in Australia at the moment, Jung excelled just to reach this stage, but was unable to progress, finishing fourth in 43.528.
The 500m final saw two Canadian skaters and two Russian skaters at the start line. Despite controlling the race from start, Charles Hamelin’s win needed to be confirmed through a photo-finish review; he finished less than a blade’s length ahead of Victor An of Russia. Olivier Jean of Canada finished third. Hamelin is having a strong season thus far, as he takes over the lead of the World Cup classification for the distance from Vladimir Grigorev of Russia, who finished fourth.
Day 2
After making the quarter-finals of the 1500m on day 1, teenager Deanna Lockett looked to be in good form again on day 2. She progressed through two races of the 1000m, before unluckily drawing a penalty in the heat. The penalty meant that she would go no further in the distance, and that Elena Viviani who was the affected athlete, would advance. Alix-Myra Anderson did not progress pas the preliminary round.
Pierre Boda showed improvements in his 1000m racing, skating through both the pre-preliminary and preliminary rounds in order to make the heats. Boda was a little unlucky to draw a fast heat, with current World Cup overall leader Charles Hamelin (CAN). Hamelin took out the race and Boda was fourth in 1:28.730 - a time that could have seen him go through in other heats,
The team of Boda, Nate Henry, Andy Jung and Armstrong Lazenby were third in their heat of the men's 5000m relay - behing the Netherlands and Great Britain, just missing the opportunity of a quarter-finals berth.
Competition continues on Day 3 with Lockett in the quarter-final of the 1500m and Jung in the eighth-final of the 500m.
Follow live results here>>>
Day 1
Racing over her favoured distance of 1500m, Deanna Lockett cruised through the preliminaries, placing second in a time of 2:34.205.
In the seventh and final heat, the 17-year-old was third but progressed on time with the six fastest thirds qualifying. She will now race the quarter-final on Saturday at 9.35am local time (7.35pm AEST).
Lockett's teammate Alix-Myra Anderson just missed a heats berth, placing third in the preliminary.
Twenty-year-old Pierre Boda qualifed through from his preliminary 1500m race, finishing third in 2:31.053 to make the heats. Boda was unable to grab the top-three spot in the heat that he needed to get through to the quarter-finals, finishing fifth in 2:27.104.
His fellow Aussies Nate Henry and Andy Jung did not progress past preliminaries.
The short and fast 500m sprint races followed, with Lockett and Anderson both unable to progress for their first races.
In the men's, both Boda and Jung through the pre-preliminaries and preliminaries to gain heats berths. Boda was fourth so will not progress but 16-year-old Jung from Melbourne finished second behind Canada's Olivier Jean to secure his spot in Saturday's eighth-final.
Competition continues with men's and ladies' 1000m and the men's 5000m relay next up.
