Canadian trio dash to short track semis

 

Marianne St-Gelais led the trio of Canadian short-track women to the 500m speed skating semifinals as she won her heat at the Pacific Coliseum Wednesday night.

The Olympic rookie won her heat in a time of 44.316 seconds to qualify for the next round.

Kalyna Roberge came second in her heat, clocking in at a time of 44.143 seconds. Katherine Reutter of the U.S. won the heat and skated 43.834 seconds to set an Olympic record.

Edmonton native Jessica Gregg, had the most suspenseful heat again as the race had to restart twice due to constant falls, with the second start leading to the disqualification of Great Britain’s Sarah Lindsay for instigating the tumble.

Gregg finished second in her heat and skated 43.956 seconds, while defending Olympic champion Wang Meng of China won the heat and broke Reutter’s Olympic Record.

 

 

Gregg, St-Gelais advance to short track finals

Canadians Jessica Gregg and Marianne St-Gelais qualified for the ladies’ 500m short track finals Wednesday night.

Gregg won her semifinal heat and St-Gelais finished second behind defending Olympic champion Wang Meng, who yet again broke her Olympic Record with a time of 42.985 seconds.

Wang, the heavy favourite, is now skating for her fourth career Olympic medal.

Unfortunately, Quebec native Kalyna Roberge failed to qualify for the finals after placing third right behind her partner St-Gelais and will now race in final B.

Katherine Reutter of the U.S also fell short in qualifying after setting the first Olympic Record of the night in the quarterfinals.

Italy’s Arianna Fontana rounds off the final four that will be competing in the medal race.

The final is scheduled to start at 10:07 p.m. ET.

 

 

 

About this article

By: Nadine Liverpool
Posted: Feb 19 2010 9:28 pm
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Filed under: Winter Games
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