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≡ THE ROSEN REPORT ≡
MILAN, Italy – Soft ice led to some hard falls by short track speed skaters, with three by American medal contender Corinne Stoddard.
She was eliminated from the 500 meters and the second of her two falls in the rounds of the Mixed Team Relay knocked the U.S. out of a chance for the A final.
Stoddard wasn’t alone, however, in her misery. Xandra Velzeboer also fell in the Mixed Team Relay semifinals, costing the Netherlands a medal. The Dutch, who already held the Olympic record, lowered it in the B final. However, a rule change prevents B final teams from earning a medal.
Julie Letai replaced Stoddard in the B final and she fell, too. The fifth-ranked U.S. team wound up in eighth place overall.
Andrew Heo of the U.S. said the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena is “definitely kind of softer than what we’re used to. I think it’s just the amount of people that are in the arena right now and it’s pretty hot.”
The 9,700-seat arena was nearly full.
Heo said softer ice doesn’t allow skaters to push into it. “It just kind of breaks out from under you,” he said.
American skater Brandon Kim wondered if sharing the arena with figure skating made a difference in the make-up of the ice.
“It was a little bit hard to stay on your feet,” he said, “but I guess we did the best we could given the circumstances.”
Stoddard’s very bad day began barely six minutes into the Short Track competition at the Milan Cortina Games. In heat three of the women’s 500 meters, she went out aggressively and was leading the 4 1/2-lap race when China’s Xinran Wang overtook her.
Stoddard, ranked No. 3 in the world, responded by moving inside, briefly edged into the lead and promptly wiped out with two laps to go.
The American’s crash into the boards also took out Rika Kanai of Japan and Arianna Sighel of Italy while Wang cruised alone to the finish line. In Short Track parlance, this is known as “chaos.”
Kanai recovered for second, but Stoddard slipped again as she tried to restart her race and eventually finished fourth.
“You could see that she had an insane amount of speed,” Letai said. “She potentially has the highest speed out of anyone out here right now, so if her main problem is having too much speed, that’s a good problem to have and hopefully that’s something we’ll be able to fix.”
A glum Stoddard walked through the mixed zone without speaking to reporters after stopping for NBC Sports. A spokesperson for US Speedskating said her ankle is a “little bit swollen.”
“Ice is different at every venue,” Letai said. “It’s also different we have a lot of people in the crowds now, the temperature is up. It was already kind of a soft-ice situation, so now it’s even softer and I think that’s why multiple races… a lot of ruts in the ice. And then we’re going at these top speeds and you need something to hold you, so if it’s too soft, it’s not there.”
“Everyone’s on the same ice,” she added. “We’ll figure it out.”
Stoddard’s chance for redemption in the Mixed Team Relay took another unfortunate turn when she fell in the quarterfinals, but still managed to tag teammate Kristen Santos-Griswold.
Team USA advanced to the semifinals when disaster struck again. This time, Stoddard started on the outside and skated cleanly in her first leg. The U.S. was in second place when Stoddard began her second leg. As soon as she surged into first place, she fell again, tripping the South Korean skater behind her.
Stoddard would not return to the ice. The U.S. team substituted Letai, who crashed into the padding on the second of her two outings.
“Out of nowhere I just didn’t adjust to the ice conditions properly and I think you’e seen, the more speed that you have on the ice right now, the harder it is to keep it together,” Letai said.
Italy did keep it together for the gold in the A final as star Arianna Fontana won her 12th medal, third gold, in her sixth Olympics.
But the Netherlands had the faster time. “It’s tough to take,” said Jens Van’t Wout. “The record doesn’t mean anything; we had it already. We showed we were the fastest, but you don’t buy anything with that.”
He said he has been having blade troubles and called the ice “really tricky right now.”
“There have been some weird falls and people slipping around,” he said. “I don’t know if the ice is a little dirty.”
Stoddard will return for the 1,000, 1,500 and 3,000-meter relay.
“We’re all proud of Corie,” Letai said. “I think she’s handling everything the best that she can. Everyone knows she’s super strong; this isn’t going to change anything like that. She’s still a super intimidating competitor. She still knows what she can do. She knows that she’s one of the best out there, so I’m excited she has another chance to show that early this week.”
Four years ago at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, Stoddard also fell in her first race. She crashed so hard into the boards during the 500 that her knee hit her face, breaking her nose. She was medically cleared to continue skating.
This time, “At least she didn’t break her nose,” Heo said, “so we’re all happy about that.”
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