This Mighty Casey Didn't Strike Out....

This past weekend, as the Essent ISU World Cup tour came to the 2002 Olympic speedskating venue in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns, Utah, the following message was sent from the home country to skaters from the Netherlands, Canada and Germany in particular.

Namely, that it will not be a cakewalk for any of your skaters at the Utah Olympic Oval in February 2002.

Spurred on by Casey Fitzrandolph's three silver medals, including a brief time in which he set the first world record of his career on the men's 1,000 and Jennifer Rodriguez's first-ever World Cup win on the women's kilometer, Saturday may have been the single best day of American speedskating success in nearly a decade.

The afternoon began with the women's 500 meters, in which national record holder Rodriguez of Miami, was in the sixth of 21 pairings. She took the lead with a time just .05 of a second off the American mark. The lead held up for nine more pairs and she wound up with the best U.S. finish of that race, in ninth.

Catriona Lemay Doan of Canada kicked off the defense of her world cup points title with leisurely 37.55 and 37.40 second clockings on Saturday and Sunday, easily turning back the challenges of German Sabine Volker (37.84 Saturday, 37.64 Sunday) and surprise bronze medallist Sayuri Osuga of Japan (37.93 and 37.78)

Osuga, who last month in that country's world cup qualification races in Nagano emerged as the top female sprinter there, beating out Eriko Sanmiya and Tomomi Okazaki. On Saturday, Russia's Svetlana Zhurova (37.98) and Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt of Germany (38.01) rounded out the top five. Sunday, Garbrecht-Enfeldt was fourth and Anzhelika Kotyuga from the former Soviet republic of Belarus was fifth.

Other Americans who competed were Chris Witty (17th on Saturday, 13th on Sunday), Elli Ochowicz (20th and 24th), Amy Sannes (21st both days) and Becky Sundstrom (17th on Sunday only). Rodriguez did not partake in Sunday's 500 in order to try to break the world record later on that day on the 1,000.

Lemay Doan assumes her usual spot on top of the 500m points table (200) with Volker (160) and Osuga (140) in hot pursuit. Garbrecht-Enfeldt is in fourth with 110 points, and Kotyuga resides in fifth (86). There will be eight more 500m races this season for both the men and women.

The men's 500 on Saturday followed. The last time Fitzrandolph skated on this ice, he picked up a bronze medal in March's World Single Distance 500m championship. After a nightmarish 1998-99 season, he took a bold gamble. In June 1999, he decided to eschew training in the United States and instead moved to Calgary and the Olympic Oval, where he has been living and training ever since. He trains regularly with Canadian national teammates Jeremy Wotherspoon and Mike Ireland, the defending World Sprints champion. They are good friends, as Wotherspoon will serve as best man at Fitzrandolph's wedding next year.

Eric Brisson of Canada's opening time of 35.45 lasted through the next 12 pairs; then after four lead changes, it was Fitzrandolph's turn on the 21st of 25 pairs. He was the first skater to go under 35 seconds with 34.89, slightly off his U.S. record.

Wotherspoon followed the pair after next. His pairing, Toyoki Takeda of Japan, who was considered one of the favorites to challenge the 'Spoon -- Hiroyasu Shimizu monopoly on the podium kicked off his season in less than memorable style by getting disqualified for two false starts. So Wotherspoon had to skate alone -- and posted a 34.85 time to take the lead with two pairs left.

Ireland and defending Olympic, world cup and world single distance 500m champion Shimizu towed the line. Shockingly, Ireland leads from wire to wire as the explosive Japanese speedster's bad back hampered him greatly. He's third behind Fitzrandolph (34.95) and that's how it ended. Finland's Janne Hanninen (35 flat) and Korean Kyu-Hyuk Lee's 35.10 rounded out the top five. Shimizu finished 25th out of 50 skaters.

Other Americans who competed were Kip Carpenter (11th), Joe Cheek (18th), Marc Pelchat and Nick Pearson (39th and 40th, respectively).

(Sunday yielded the same top three, with Manabu Horii of Japan and the Netherlands' Gerard van Velde rounding out the top five. Fitzrandolph and Wotherspoon were paired together, and the Canadian eeked out a .05 margin of victory in what is shaping up to be one of the most eagerly awaited rivalries of the season. Carpenter and Pelchat broke the top 20 (16th and 19th), and Pearson slightly improved to 35th.)

Wotherspoon leads the 500m points standings 200-160 over Fitzrandolph, as Ireland (140) holds third place comfortably over Horii (80), with van Velde just 2 points behind in fifth.

Eyebrows were raised last March on the women's 1,000 at World Single Distances when Rodriguez motored to a personal best (at the time) of one minute, 15.44 seconds. She was in that neighborhood when it came time to qualify for the World Cup season at the end of October. But, how would she do in a World Cup setting? Those in attendance would soon find out. Saturday, at the halfway point of the first day's 1,000, Annamarie Thomas of the Netherlands was in front. In contrast, there was only one lead change as Rodriguez toed the line in the 16th of 19 pairs, with the heavy hitters Volker, Garbecht and Lemay Doan still on deck.

It took but 74.61 seconds to send a shockwave throughout the oval. Rodriguez was in the lead by more than a second over her next closest challenger. Then the countdown began. Volker skated next, but was .2 (1:14.81) shy of the lead. Then 1998 World Junior champion Aki Tonoike of Japan and Chris Witty went at it. Neither could budge the former inline skater from Miami. So it came down to Garbrecht, the defending 1,000m World Single Distance champion vs. Lemay Doan. The German's time -- 1:14.80.

Rodriguez had her first career World Cup victory, on home ice, just three months shy of the Olympic speedskating competition which will be held at that very same oval in Kearns. Lemay Doan and Tonoike rounded out the top five. Other Americans were Sannes in eighth, Witty in 9th, Sundstrom (13th) and Ann Driscoll (29th).

The men's 1,000 ended Saturday's racing. Michael Kunzel of Germany led at the halfway point of the 25-pairing event. Six pairs remained as Fitzrandolph went to the line with 1996 World Sprints champion Sergei Klevchenja of Russia. When it was over, the crowd, nor Fitzrandolph himself, could believe the time -- 1:08.06.

Fitzrandolph had become the first American male skater to break a world record on any distance since March 15, 1997 in Calgary, when KC Boutiette became the first skater to set a world record on klapskates in a 1500 meter race. But, there were five pairs left, including in the next to last pair, the man whose record he erased. The best man at his upcoming wedding.

The next two pairs failed to dislodge the Verona, Wisconsin native from the top spot. Wotherspoon was next, who skated against Kyu Hyuk-Lee of Korea. In the opening 200 meters, the Canadian was .12 ahead of Fitzrandolph; with a lap to go, he increased the lead to .39. The final lap times of the two were nearly equal, but the damage was done -- Wotherspoon won back the world record in 1:07.72, the first human to break 68 seconds on a one-kilometer race. Ireland captured the bronze medal (1:08.31). Hanninen and Erben Wennemars rounded out the top 5. As for Fitz's teammates, Cheek was eighth, Derek Parra was 15th, Carpenter was 18th and Pearson 26th.

What had happened until then turned out to be just the appetizer; the main course was still to come.

The women's final race on Sunday was the 1,000 meters. It was at Kearns on March 10 where Sabine Volker had the highest of highs and the lowest of the low, all in a 10-minute span. She had just broken Chris Witty's then-world record in the World Single Distance championships on the Kearns oval, only to see her teammate, Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt, skating one pair later, win the title, and break Volker's minutes-old standard -- by one one-hundredth of a second.

Now, 8-12 months later, she would face the woman she originally wrested the world record from -- Witty, with Garbrecht waiting in the wings on the final pair. Witty is still not up to her top form of yet, a conscious decision to try not to peak too early; it was a different story with Volker, who led from wire to wire and when it was over, saw a 1:14.06 on the screen.

World record. By 7/100ths of a second. Ye,t would history repeat itself?

Garbrecht-Enfeldt, the four-time defending world sprint champion ended the women's competition against Rodriguez. The German built up a .09 lead on Volker's world record. But, in the middle lap, the American rallied and were only 4/100ths apart from each other. Garbrecht-Enfeldt, however, lost valuable time on Volker, almost .7 of it. When she came home, the outcome was not in doubt -- for Volker.

Rodriguez held off Garbrecht-Enfeldt in the last lap for the silver (1:14.71 vs. 1:14.97). There would be no swiping of defeat from the jaws of victory this time. Witty improved on the prior day's ranking to finish fourth and Lemay Doan took fifth. Sannes was 10th, Sundstrom 13th and Driscoll's 31st to round out the rest of the American contingent.

Volker's win set for her a new world record in the sprint samalog, a combination of times from two 500 and two 1,000 meter races plunging the mark to below 150.000 for the first time ever (149.915, better than Lemay Doan's old mark of 150.070.).

With the 1,000m silver, J-Rod, for the first time in her career, is atop a world cup points ranking. Her 180 points is 10 better than Volker (2nd) and 30 ahead of Garbrecht-Enfeldt (3rd). Lemay Doan and Witty round out the top five. Each gender will have seven 1,000m races this season.

The men's 1,000 would close the competition. The groom-to-be and the best man would be paired again in the final heat. But, there would be considerable heat generated before they even took the ice. It started six pairs out, with Jan Bos of the Netherlands the first skater to go under 1:09. The pair after next, Adne Sondral of Norway took the time down to 1:08.15, just .06 off Fitzrandolph's silver from the day before. When the next pair couldn't come close to that, it was Bos's teammate, Erben Wennemars who tossed the gauntlet down at the collective feet of the final pair with his 1:07.88.

Then it was time for the best friends to end the weekend's races. Fitzrandolph gave it his best, but Wotherspoon was just a bit too much this time, as he won the race in 1:07.83, just .11 above the world record. Wennemars got the silver, Sondral the bronze, Ireland fourth, Bos fifth and Fitzrandolph in sixth.

What was amazing was that every American skater who started this race wound up in the top 20 out of the 46 men who raced. Cheek was just one spot behind in seventh, Parra tied for 11th, Pearson 13th and Carpenter 16th. As a result, Wotherspoon leads the 1,000m points standings with 200 points, while Wennemars and Ireland are tied for second with 130, Fitzrandolph just five points behind them, and 10 ahead of Sondral.

The Canadians look to be a formidable foe this season on the sprint -- with their triple threat of Wotherspoon, Ireland and Lemay Doan, they won six of the eight races this weekend, with America and Germany splitting the other two. But, for the Americans to win five medals -- three silvers by Fitzrandolph, two for Rodriguez, and to do it on the home ice which will hopefully serve them well beginning February 9th, it was as spectacular a start to the sprinters' season as can be hoped for.

The next world cup is in Calgary, which has its work cut out for it to reclaim the title of world's fastest speedskating oval. There will be a 1,500 meter race added to the schedule at the expense of taking away one of the two 1,000m races. It should be a hum-dinger, as this will be the final World Cup of 2001 leading into the all-important Olympic Trials that America and Canada (and others around the world) will stage in the weeks to come.