Jan 28 - ISU Speed Skating World Cup

 Sunny day with highs in the low 50s and I'm going to watch day 3 of the Long Track World Cup at the Olympic Oval.

I've seen 3 Short Track Olympic Trail for the US of course but this is my 1st international long track meet. Countries from all over the world, Germany, Norway, Netherlands, Korea, China, Poland, etc with their top athletes; it should be fun.

I arrive and follow 2 Canadian male athletes to the door. These are big guys. Some how I got the impression its a smaller guy sport. And then after walking by male athletes from Norway, Korea, China, nope, this is a big guy sport.

And for the first time, they had metal detector wands checking everyone. Guess with all the world athletes one has to take precautions.

The other thing I was impressed with is how the Oval changes between short and long. So very different.

I got there just before 11am. Just missed the early events - the B athletes. The A athletes didn't start til noon so I walked around the track. It was warm up time so lots of athletes on the ice and I stopped along the way to watch. The only athlete I knew was Erin Jackson a 500/1000m specialist.

I found my see at the start of the final stretch so I didn't see the finishes up-close. But that's OK.

I saw the women's 1000m and the US won Gold! Go Kimi Goetz.

Brittany Bowe finished 4th.

I saw the men's 1000m and US won Gold! Go Jordan Stolz!

Then it was the men's 5000m. This race takes a little over 6 minutes each. Lots of watching. The last 2 races were interesting and where the top 3 came from. The last race was Patrick Roest Norway's record holder and Davide Ghiotoo Italy's record holder. Davide held the lead thru 5 laps (of a 6 lap race). Both men were crushing the top time of the day. Lap 5, Patrick started to catch up and lap 6, well he took the lead and won! So exciting!! No US medals.

I also watch the Women's Mass Start. Very exciting. US had one contender and she finished 6th. But Canada got Gold and Bronze.

And then I watched the mixed relayed. A race with 1 male and 1 female. US got 7th.

The final race of the day was the Men's 5000m B division and it was time to go home.

Fun day! Short track is far more exciting. But it was so cool to be among the top athletes of the world. And not just watch but walk right pass, stand in-line for a snack with, watch them warm-up. I felt that it was very special.

Good day! (Except the Ravens lost to the Chiefs - darn it!)

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