TEAM USA SPEEDSKATERS IMPRESS AT
INAUGURAL YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES by Anouck St. Gelais
US Speedskating was proud to send three of our out- standing youth athletes to the inaugural Youth Olympic Winter Games (YOG) in Innsbruck Austria in January 2012. Team USA – Clare Jeong (long track) and Thomas Insuk Hong and Sarah Warren (short track), led by U.S. YOG Speedskating Coach and Team Leader Joe Rohraff – had impressive performances on the ice. Hong and Warren skated in the 500m, 1000m and
mixed relay events with the 500m event being the high- light. Hong finished 4th in his 500m (42.782) and War- ren finished 4th in her 500m (47.033). Hong had a great race and crossed the line in 4th with
an impressive time of 42.782. Two skaters from Korea lead the race – Min Yoon Su finished 1th (42.417) and Jun Lim Hyo finished 2th (42.482). Xu Hongzhi (CHI) fin- ished third with a time of 42.637. “I’ve never skated this fast, so I think I did pretty well
as my times show. It was above what I thought I could do,” said Hong aer the 500m men’s final. “It feels great to be here representing Team USA. It’s such a fun ex- perience meeting and racing against new and different people, I just love it,” he added. Warren finished 4th in the ladies 500m, winning her B
final with a time of 47.033. Suck Hee Shim (KOR) took first at 44.122, followed by Aili Xu (CHN) in second with 44.593, and Nicole Martelli (ITA) taking third with 46.390. “I absolutely loved competing, said Warren. “The
crowd really got me pumped up and made the experi- ence so enjoyable! I honestly raced to not try to place in a certain position but enjoy the experience and race because I love skating.” “This is the best experience of my life and I will never
forget it. I have made so many friends that will be life long friends as well as learned lessons here that can help me for the future,” added Warren. Jeong skated the in the 3000m and Mass Start
events, taking 8th in the 3000m with a time of 4:54.04, 16.71 seconds back from Sanneke DeNeeling (NED) winning the distance with 4:37.33. In the Mass Start, Jeong finished 13th with 6:11.73, 10.67 seconds back from DeNeeling (6:01.06). Congratulations Clare, Thomas, Sarah and Coach
Joe. We’re proud to have you represent Team USA. For extended results from the Youth Olympic Games, please visit here. n
www.usspeedskating.org Winter 2012 RACING BLADE 9 Clare Jeong Thomas Insuk Hong
Sarah Warren, Joe Rohraff, Thomas Insuk Hong and Clare Jeong
Sarah Warren
PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES
PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES
PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES
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