Sunday, December 9, 2001
Golden harvest
It's another bumper crop of medals for dominant Canadian team
By ANDREW SMITH -- Calgary Sun
Considering the depth of the Canadian team, the question wasn't would Canada medal, it was how many medals would they win at yesterday's World Cup speed skating races?
By early afternoon, the answer from the Olympic Oval was clear: Five medals for the Maple Leaf -- three gold, one silver and one bronze.
And the winners were the usual suspects.
Catriona Le May Doan would take gold in the women's 500m and silver in the 1,000m, while Jeremy Wotherspoon won gold in the men's 500m and Mike Ireland earned gold in the 1,000m and bronze in the 500m.
While it was a great day for national pride to shine, the sparkle twinkled brightest on Le May Doan, who tied her own world record time of 37.29 in the 500m.
"I know when I'm thinking about a race that I'm on a good one," said Le May Doan.
"This week's been so draining, I kind of wound myself up. But (her husband) Bart told me just to go out and enjoy the race."
While she failed to break her own world record, Le May Doan was most satisfied that her margin of victory in the race was quite substantial.
Silver medallist Svetlana Zhurova of Russia finished more than a half-second behind Le May Doan, a country mile by 500m standards. In fact, Le May Doan is so dominant in the 500m the fastest eight times ever registered by a women in the distance all belong to her.
Half-way through the women's 1,000m, Le May Doan looked good to add a second gold when she passed the 600m interval .34 seconds faster than eventual winner Sabine Volker of Germany.
But Le May Doan -- forced to skate her race alone after American Chris Witty withdrew -- faded over the final 200 metres to finish .14 seconds behind Volker.
Even so, Le May Doan was very satisfied with her time.
"It was better than my time (last week) in Salt Lake City and it was my best 1,000 metre this year by three-tenths," said Le May Doan.
"Generally, my first lap is what I have to work on and keeping it up at the end will come."
Shortly after Le May Doan electrified the Oval crowd, the focus shifted to Wotherspoon and his attempt to break his world record.
While he would fall short, he would nip friend and training partner Casey Fitzrandolph of the U.S. at the line, finishing in a time of 34.68 seconds with Ireland third, .25 seconds behind Wotherspoon.
Admittedly, it was an off day for Wotherspoon, who finished fourth in the 1,000m.
"The 500 was solid, I felt really good, but there's still lots I feel I can improve on," said Wotherspoon.
"My 1,000 wasn't there, but to see Mike win is really big. If I'm not satisfied, I want to see someone I train with have a good race."
Ireland saw a couple of barriers fall by the wayside.
Personally, he skated a new best with a time of one minute, 07.99 seconds, his first sub-1:08 time.
He also skated the fastest 600m ever at the Oval, but it was only after the race that Ireland revealed his performance nearly ended in disaster.
"I almost went down in the last corner," said Ireland.
"I heard about my 600 time from the announcer, so I put 100 per cent into going for a world record. The slip cost me about two- or three-tenths of a second, but the race gives me good confidence for the rest of the season."
Oddly enough, Ireland was somewhat ill-prepared for the race, when he wrongly assumed there would be an ice flood between the men's and women's 1,000m.
Figuring he had the time, Ireland ate a sandwich before his start time, a move that goes against a racer's routine.
Coming out late, Ireland left himself little time to prepare before blazing around the Oval ice.
Fitzrandolph -- who trains in Calgary and won a bronze and a silver yesterday -- said the move was typical of Ireland.
"Mike's a funny guy," joked Fitzrandolph. "The more down on himself he is before a race, the more you have to watch out for him.
"When he found out there was no flood, he was totally going to blow off the race."
No word yet as to whether roast beef sandwiches will become part of the Canadian pre-race routine.
Team Canada goes for more hardware today starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Oval.
There will be a 500m for both men and women, followed by a 1,500m race where Canadian Cindy Klassen will look to make her second podium finish after winning a bronze two weeks ago.
2002 Games Long Track Speed Skating Coverage
