Kearns, Day 5: A good day for hyphenated skaters

It was another day at the office for the world's fastest woman on blades, only this office had five interlocking rings in this particular oval.

This, on a night when America's only double medalist from the last Olympics, fighting mononucleosis was, at far less than 100 perceent strength, still a half-second faster than her countrywomen, who were skating like they were mired in quicksand.

Canada's Catriona Lemay Doan had a lot of company Wednesday in the 37-second club, as all but one of the top 10 broke the once-unbreakable barrier.

It was the third race in a row where there had been no world records set, which didn't figure to be the case, as the sprint records fell like a wind blowing on a house of cards both in last March's World Single Distance Championships and December's World Cup in Kearns.

A streak since women's speedskating was welcomed into the Olympic family in 1960 will end tomorrow, and it's not one the home team will hang its hat on.

For the first time in the Games' history, there will be no American in the top 10 of a women's 500.

Here are the results:

1. Catriona Lemay Doan (CAN) 37.30 (Olympic record)

2. Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt (GER) 37.34

3. Andrea Nuyt (NED) 37.54

4. Svetlana Zhurova (RUS) 37.55

5. Sabine Volker (GER) 37.62

6. Anzhelika Kotjoega (BLS) 37.73

7. Tomomi Okazaki (JPN) 37.77

8. Sayuri Osuga (JPN) 37.82

9. Yukari Watanabe (JPN) 37.98

10. Svetlana Kaikan (RUS) 38.05

11. Manli Wang (CHN) 38.20

12. Eriko Sanmiya (JPN) 38.25

13. Marianne Timmer (NED) 38.30

14. Marieke Wijsman (NED) 38.31 tie Seung-Yong Choi (KOR) 38.31

16. Jenny Wolf (GER) 38.36

17. Chris Witty (USA) 38.37

18. Chihara Simionato (ITA) 38.45

19. Marion Wohlrab (GER) 38.66

20. Susan Auch (CAN) 38.84

21. Elli Ochowicz (USA) 38.85

22. Amy Sannes (USA) 38.86

23. Becky Sundstrom (USA) 38.89

24. Hua Jin (CHN) 39.06

25. Seon-Yeon Cho (KOR) 39.31

26. Emese Hunyady (AUT) 39.38

27. Kristina Egyed (HUN) 39.47

28. Yong-Joo Lee (KOR) 39.72

29. Chunyuan Yang (CHN) 39.56

30. Svetlana Radkevitsj (BLS) 39.84

31. Aihua Xing (CHN) 64.62 (fall)

To that end, here are the pairings for tomorrow's concluding women's 500:

1. Xing (alone)

2. Radkevitsj -Lee

3. Hunyady - Yang

4. Sundstrom - Egyed

5. Sannes - Cho

6. Ochowicz - Jin

7. Witty - Auch

8. Wolf - Wohlrab (ice preparation intermission)

9. Choi - Simionato

10. Kaikan - Wijsman

11. Watanabe - Timmer

12. Okazaki - Sanmiya

13. Valker - Wang

14. Zhurova - Osuga

15. Nuyt - Kotyuga

16. Lemay Doan - Garbrecht

In short track news, that sport kicked off its Olympic schedule Wednesday with Apolo Ohno making the quarterfinals of the men's 1,000 meters, while Eun-Kyung Choi of South Korea set a new world record in the short track women's 1,500 meter semifinals of two minutes, 21.069 seconds.

It erased the last short track world record of the 1900's, 2:21.844, set by South Korea's Kim Moon-Yung on January 17, 1999 at Montreal.

But it was her teammate Gi-Hyun Ko who won the gold, with Choi getting the silver and Evgenia Radanova of Bulgaria mining bronze.

The heavily favored Chinese Yangs, Yang A. and Yang S. Yang (not related) finished fourth and disqualified, respectively.

In the semifinals on the men's relay, Canada set a new Olympic record, while the other semi was marred by a frightful crash between the Koreans and Italians, who got the silver medallist Koreans (from Nagano) disqualified and the race re-run.

The Canadians will be joined on the relay final by the USA, China and Italy.

The Americans will almost surely get a medal now that the Koreans will not skate in the final later this weekend.

Amy Petersen was the only American to qualify for the 1,500m semis, where she was eliminated.

By the time you read this Thursday morning, you should know one way or the other whether Witty will skate the concluding race of the women's 500. In an interview, she told NBC television and the Associated Press that a decision will be made Thursday morning on whether to scratch from the event and concentrate on Sunday's 1,000, where she will join Jennifer Rodriguez, the national record holder.

What Others Are Saying:

"Suspending all objectivity for the moment, wouldn't the Olympic speedskating score Tuesday be Wisconsin 2, World 1?

"Finding two native sons standing together on an international podium is beyond strange, and we expect the International Skating Union to be by any day to conduct soil tests.

"Casey FitzRandolph, gold medalist in the 500 meters Tuesday, is free to spend his summers in Canada if he likes, but Verona saw him first. Bronze medalist Kip Carpenter is as Brookfield as Bishop's Woods. The parade will commence at the mall and finish southwest of Bascomb Hill."

--Dale Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

"The fastest competitor in the second and final race of the men's 500-meter event didn't rank among the top 35 finishers. And the best the fastest American could manage was a third place. They became footnotes to history yesterday when Casey FitzRandolph, in a matter of seconds, justified more than two decades of preparation by winning his and his country's first speedskating gold medal of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

"Not since Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair triumphed at Lillehammer in 1994 had the U.S. won a gold medal in the sport. And it had been 22 years, corresponding with Eric Heiden's unforgettable sweep of all five men's races at Lake Placid, since an American finished first in the men's sprint. That was of particular significance to FitzRandolph, who grew up in the vicinity of Heiden's home in Madison, Wisc., and traces his interest in speedskating to Heiden's unprecedented Olympic performance. He was 5 at the time."

-- Joe Gergen, New York Newsday