Last week, Park City held the Ski Jump Trials. From what I read in the newspaper, more than 5000 folks attended -- overwhelmed the available parking, but people parked over a mile away and trekked up the mountain to see the event. Park City's own Jessica Jerome will represent the US.
At the same time, the Nordic Trials were being held in Heber UT.
This week are the speed skating trials. The Long Track trials were held earlier this week at the Olympic Oval in Kearns. Unfortunately, I had to work and missed them. But Thurs, the short track trials began. I watched the 1500m on Friday at home but am lucky enough to attend the fast-n-furious 500m today!!
The doors opened at 9am and when I got there a little after 9 (could've got there faster but we had an unexpected 2in of snow last night and the roads weren't the prettiest), the parking lot was about full. I got inside and walked to get my seat (its all general admission). I placed my coat down dead center ice 8 rows up on the starting line (only 2 rows above me and they all had blankets covering the bleachers - reserving them).
Then I went to check out the stadium -- nothing too exciting but what was cool is the fact that the athletes were out on the track (surrounding the ice) warming up --- jogging, stretching, doing exercises with their coaches. I walked among world-class athletes today -- even moving out of their way :) Didn't talk to them because I know the pre-game warmup routine can be sacred to an athlete and today, was a day these athletes worked for many, many years - I'm not breaking the Mojo.
The day was divided into semis/quarters/finals (in A, B, C, D groups --- the groups are based on who won the heats and times). And then it was repeated again in the afternoon. So basically, each skater skates 6 times. They get points for finishing and placement. Can't say I understand it -- but at the end of the day, I know who (man and woman) will be skating the 500m for the US - the rest of the points determine who else makes the team. The US is taking 5 men and only 3 women (the women's relay team got disqualified in the World Championships which means no Olympics relay for them).
The races were amazing. This wasn't the very slow pace and jockeying that's usually the Olympics in this event -- these athletes were travelling fast!! (Thought I heard someone say 35-40mph!) And powerfully!
The amazing passes got "ooohs" and "cheers" from the crowd. And the crashes (yes, there were a few) and slips got loud moans. Thank goodness there's a heavily padded wall to slide into --- but those athletes were visibly stunned afterwards.
At the start, they asked everyone to be quiet so the athletes can hear the gun.
JR Celski (he was a bronze medal winner in Vancouver) just blew the field away -- did the same yesterday's in the 1500m. Eddy Alvarez (definitely a crowd favorite) did really well too in fact he clinched a spot (along with JR) on the Olympic Team today.
The women were dominated by Jessica Smith and Emily Scott. Jessica won both finals followed by Emily Scott literally right on her hit (think they finished the same in the 1500m yesterday). Both have secured a spot on the team. Alyson Dudek and Sarah Chen (18yrs old) also made both finals.
(I actually had Sarah's coach and family behind me - 17yr old sister Jaqueline also skated today. Sarah is still fighting for that 3 women's spot and needs to beat Alyson on Sunday to make the team --- otherwise, its training for 2018).
It was a fun day (packed house) -- kinda hard to root for someone -- I guess I was rooting for the top qualifier -- since they have the best shot at the medal (and they were easy to find as they were wearing red helmets). But I was rooting for all of them as they made huge life commitments to this sport for this one moment in time.
Go USA!!
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