#and also italy got two gold medals in like five minutes...

[tripleaxeldiaz]

maybe one day i’ll fly next to you

chapter 5/8

read on ao3

start from the beginning

The Final is a big deal. Even more so this year since it’s the last international competition before the Olympics — the last chance to show the world that you’re worthy of their attention come February. Buck’s been to five of the last eight Finals, and usually all the extra attention from press and fans, even during non-Olympic seasons, make him giddy with excitement, adrenaline pumping through him for almost a solid week before he actually competes.

This time, however, it’s been a week of feeling like he’s going to throw up any second.

It’s not because he’s doing bad at practices — in fact, he’s feeling better than ever, even got to work out his shaky landing on his quad flip that’s been haunting him for weeks. Ice looks the same no matter where you are, so it’s easy for him to get lost in the two hours he’s out there and forget everything and everyone else around him while he works.

When he steps off the ice, though, he’s thrust right back into a world where everyone is keeping an eye on him, watching him to see if he’ll live up to the expectations of being one of the best US skaters a top Olympic hopeful, or if he’ll crumble under the pressure of trying to be the best but always falling a little bit short, especially since the last Games. He’s always viewed it as a redemption — overcoming his injury and clawing his way back to the top — but he can’t control how outsiders view it, has no idea if they feel the same way or have counted him out all together. ESPN can do as many pieces on him as they want, but they can’t guarantee that people are still rooting for him. He’s sure people are talking about him, but he’s steered clear of social media knowing that even if there are nice things about him floating around, it’ll still make him feel worse, crushed by more and more expectations that he’s still not sure he’s going to live up to.

He misses when all that attention would make him feel like he was invincible. 

The biggest thing keeping him sane — despite the 6,000 miles between LA and Turin — is Eddie. They’d seen each other plenty before Buck left, Eddie still coming to the rink every day for PT and light workouts so he could stay in shape while he recovered. It was good, it was normal, even if Eddie wasn’t skating. 

But the night before his flight to Italy, the prospect of being at one of the most important competitions of the season, of his life, without most of his other teammates had hit him hard once again, sucking all the air out of his lungs and making the room spin. 

He called Eddie without even thinking and barely heard him say “Hello?” before he was spilling everything, letting out all the fears and worries he had been trying to keep under control since Bobby told him he was going to the Final. Despite being caught very off guard at 12:30 in the morning, Eddie had listened to it all — really listened, Buck could tell even over the phone. He sympathized with his fears and doubts and didn’t try to downplay them with empty platitudes. And somehow, in those frantic moments, to be heard like that was enough. Enough for the worries in Buck’s head to quiet down and retreat back into the shadows, enough for him to finally be able to breathe. They kept talking afterwards, the smooth timbre of Eddie’s voice making his eyes feel heavier and heavier, until they close and open again to sunlight filtering into his room, his phone on the pillow next to him with a disconnected call and a text that says You’re going to be amazing. Call me whenever you need me.

Buck didn’t think he’d take Eddie up on that, but he’s called him every day since he arrived and every time, no matter what time it is, Eddie picks up and listens to him.

On the last day of practice before short programs, dread settles heavy in Buck’s stomach and doesn’t get any lighter as the day wears on. He skates at the practice rink until his fingers feel numb with cold, and works out after even longer, blasting music in his headphones so he’s not alone with his thoughts for too long. He’s exhausted when he gets back to his room, the quiet that’s become so unfamiliar mixing with the dread and weighing down Buck’s entire body, feeling like it’s trying to push him straight down into the earth. Sinking onto the bed, he dials Eddie’s number.

Five rings, and no answer. He tries again. Nothing.

He tosses his phone to the side and sighs. The dread had lightened ever so slightly at the mere prospect of getting to talk to Eddie, but now it’s back in full force. If he lays here for too long, he’s worried he might melt right into the bedspread.

There’s a knock at the door, and takes every ounce of mental and physical strength he has to get him up. He has a brief, delusional thought that maybe the person on the other side of the door is the same one who didn’t answer his phone, but it’s quickly squashed when there’s another knock, followed by a voice that’s definitely not Eddie’s.

“Buck? I know you’re in there, and I can get my hands on a master key if you don’t let me in right now.”

Hen. 

He opens the door quickly, because he thinks she’s bluffing, but there’s also a very real chance that she’s not. He stands at his full height, pushing back against the dread, and plasters on a smile. “Don’t tell me you have notes 12 hours before the competition starts?”

She looks him up and down, looks through him it seems, judging by the way he suddenly wants to curl in on himself, hide whatever it is she’s looking for. She finds it, he guesses, because she nods decisively and pushes into his room. She grabs his still packed skating bag from the foot of the bed and tosses him his jacket as she goes back into the hallway.

“Come on,” she calls over her shoulder. “We’re going for a drive.”

It takes a minute for Buck’s brain to catch up with everything, but when it does, he hustles to meet her at the elevators. They make their way to the parking lot next to the hotel, where Hen unlocks the Fiat Bobby had rented for the week to get them around. “Bobby’s cool with you taking the car?”

She shrugs. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt me.”

“So I’m basically being kidnapped right now.”

“You would’ve stayed in your room if you really didn’t want to come.”

He smiles a real smile at that — she knows him too well.

Turin is beautiful at night. The city bustles with energy as people mill around, window shopping and filling up tables outside of cafes despite the early December chill. Christmas decorations have already been hung in windows and strung over rooftops, thousands of lights washing the streets in twinkling colors. Buck lets his eyes relax as he stares out the window, losing himself in the colors that pass by, hoping they’ll burn the heaviness right out of him. They stop outside the Palavela, standing out in its shadowy height among the brightness, decked out in ISU flags in anticipation for the start of competition tomorrow. Hen turns off the car and gets out, walking into the shadows of the arena and almost disappearing before Buck catches up. They make their way to the service entrance at the back of the building, where Hen pulls a key out of her coat pocket and unlocks the door.

Buck’s jaw drops. “I believed you about the hotel, but how did you get a key to this place?”

“A lot of people owe me a lot of favors,” she says, leading the way through the back hallways. 

It occurs to Buck that he doesn’t even know why they’re here, didn’t bother to ask, but regardless, he follows her deeper into the belly of the building. Hallways twist and turn as they follow them seemingly at random, until they finally make it to a set of double doors. Hen pushes them open, and Buck has a moment of panic when he sees what’s on the other side.

“Isn’t it bad luck to see the main rink the day before a competition?”

Hen rolls her eyes and walks inside. “You’re not getting married, Buck. And we’re not just here for the ice.” She keeps moving, up into the stands and further up the stairs to the mid-level walkway. It’s a former Olympic venue, so there’s thousands and thousands of seats, and the reminder that in a few short hours, they’ll be filled with people waiting to see Buck thrive or fail spectacularly weighs him down even more, coming down on his shoulders and threatening to make him stumble. He does stumble when he runs into Hen, who’s stopped dead center of the walkway, eyes warm and bright as she nods towards the other side of the rink.

Tears swim into his vision, but not because of shot nerves or worry this time (though those may be contributing to how quickly this is making him emotional).

Fans bring posters to events all the time — beautiful, handmade posters emblazoned with flags and encouraging quotes, showing their love for their favorite skaters and teams. They’re made of cardboard or printed on fabric, but are usually small, hard to see unless you’re watching on TV or very close to the boards. Sometimes, though — with special permission from the venue, usually — they go big, creating huge tarps that get hung up on the banisters surrounding the seats and stay there all week, loudly cheering for their favorites even when they may not be in the stands.

Which is exactly what Buck comes face to face with — two banners hung across part of the middle banister, covering at least 15 seats. One has a picture of him from Autumn Classic, smiling with his gold medal, with “Go Buck Go!” in big block letters over his head, all on a deep red background and surrounded by golden fireworks. The other — the one that really takes his breath away — is a collage of pictures from his programs over the years, some of his more memorable spins and poses emblazoned across the dark blue fabric. His final pose from his short this season, reaching toward the crowd and looking off into the distance, is featured most prominently, with an ornate script next to it that reads “Evan Buckley: Future Olympic Champion”.

He grips the railing a little tighter to keep himself steady, feels Hen’s hand rubbing up and down his back.

“How—” he starts, voice a little raw.

“Bobby and I saw them when we came by earlier to get our credentials. We think someone hung them up after the short dance today so they’d be ready for tomorrow.”

“Wow,” is all Buck can manage. He’s seen his face on plenty of posters, but never like this, never something that he could see from anywhere in the arena, loudly proclaiming that there are fans in his corner, people beyond himself and his sister that see him at the top of the Olympic podium. He knows they're out there, rationally, when he’s not riddled with nerves and self doubt, but still. It’s nice to be reminded. And what a reminder this is.

“I know it’s been a rough week for you,” Hen says quietly, hand still on his back. “But just...take this in. Let it push you through the next few months. They’re rooting for you, Buck. We all are. You’ve got to keep rooting for yourself too.”

As usual, she’s right — Buck went into this season as his own biggest fan, with one goal in mind that felt like it had been slipping farther and farther away with every fall and every less than perfect score. That drive to win gold becoming more and more desperate as the weeks wore on — like if he didn’t get back to where he should be, where he needed to be, he might not survive. But he has people — his team, his family, and fans like this — who are still envisioning that success for him, who believe in him no matter what. Who will still be in his corner even if he doesn’t make it to the top. Who he wants to prove right for believing in him.

Hen pats his back one last time and heads back down the stairs. Buck lingers a little longer, taking in every detail of the banners that he can, since he won’t be able to appreciate them properly tomorrow. He sneaks a few pictures on his phone, quickly shooting them off to Maddie and Eddie. It doesn’t feel like bragging — they’re at the very top of the list of people that have constantly pulled him up when he falls down the hardest. He knows they’ll appreciate this for him, just like Hen did. They’ll understand how much this means to him.

As he follows Hen’s path down the stairs, the heaviness he had convinced himself was etched into his bones feels like it stays behind, making it easier to breathe, easier to be.

Hen’s next to the boards holding his skates out to him. “You’ve got like 30 minutes — skate it out. I’ll stand watch by the door.” He takes them and sets them on the bench before enveloping her in a hug, rocking back and forth as she laughs into his shoulder. She ruffles his hair and pats his cheek before going to her post.

He feels at peace on the ice, finally. The cold isn’t harsh, it’s invigorating. The fluorescent lights aren’t too bright, they’re comforting, lighting up the grooves and divots of the ice, showing all the paths Buck can follow. A couple of laps gets his blood pumping, roaring in his ears and blocking out everything else. He starts with some easy steps — rockers and three turns, over and over like he did in skating lessons when he was a kid, losing himself in the repetition. When he feels good, really good, he goes for a quad flip, confidence flowing into every stroke as he gets in position. He takes off, and he feels light again — right again — like he’s flying, not falling, not sinking.

Figuratively and literally rising.

~~~~~~~~~~

There’s two missed calls from Eddie when he gets back to his room, and still riding the high of his good mood, he FaceTimes him. 

“Wow, I really missed that smile,” Eddie says when the call connects, and Buck rolls his eyes, not even bothering to hide the blush he can feel warm his cheeks. Eddie must have just gotten back from PT — his hair is falling in swoops over his forehead, damp with sweat, his tank top sticking to what little Buck can see of his chest. His blush gets a couple of shades darker, he’s sure, as he tries not to let his eyes linger anywhere for too long.

Buck flops onto the bed on his back, holding his phone in front of his face. “I had a pretty good night,” he says with feigned nonchalance.

“Seeing banners of your giant face already proclaiming you the next gold medalist will do that to you.” Buck laughs and Eddie laughs with him, the sound like pure happiness, burning out the very last of the dread that had been following him since he arrived. It stops quickly when Eddie sits down on his couch and hisses, wincing as he shuffles to get comfortable. 

“Rough day with Lena?” He saw her every day for two months straight once upon a time, he knows how hard she can push.

“Rough couple of days.”

“Are you feeling better, at least? Do the doctors think it’s healing okay?”

“I have a check-up tomorrow, but it’s fine. Just sore.” He finally settles but he still looks like he’s in pain. Buck wants to press, wants to know every detail of his last few days — what exercises he’s done, when the pain really got worse, if he’s resting enough. But this isn’t his injury, and everyone heals differently. And he trusts Eddie, trusts him to know how to take care of himself like he promised he would.

“Anyway,” Eddie says lightly, clearly trying to change the subject. Buck lets him. “I’m sure this good night will make for a good day tomorrow, too. You feel ready?”

“I do,” Buck answers. He’s pleasantly surprised to find that he actually means it. 

“Good. I know you’ll be great. And you’ll have my sleep deprived text commentary to look forward to when you finish.”

Buck winces. “I’m not gonna be skating until like 4AM your time, you really don’t—”

“I really do. I really want to. And there’s not a whole lot you can do to stop me.” Eddie flashes his crowd-charming smile and Buck feels like he’s melting into the mattress again. He tries for a snappy comeback, anything to keep Eddie talking, but he cuts himself off with a yawn, the exhaustion from the week seeming to catch up with him all at once.

Eddie’s smile gets a little softer. “Go to sleep, Buck. I’m gonna take a nap too so I make sure I wake up on time.”

“Okay, okay. Goodnight Eds.”

“Goodnight. Knock ‘em dead tomorrow.”

After they hang up, Buck gives himself a minute, just a minute, to really bask in that, in Eddie’s active support of him from halfway across the world. It’s one thing to have your teammates watch your programs from the stands, but to find competitions on TV, if they’re being shown at all? To figure out time zones and wake up at ungodly hours just to watch you skate live? It may not seem like much, but it’s everything to Buck. He’s only gotten this kind of commitment from one other person in his life — even his parents stopped keeping up once he started competing abroad more. And it’s different with Maddie — they’ve been on this road together for almost two decades, so intertwined with each other’s successes and failures that they’re hard to differentiate sometimes. Sure, Eddie’s been a part of his life for years now too, but as competition, an obstacle he kept trying and failing to overcome. It’s different now that they’re...whatever they are. Friends. Almost something else. 

For the second time tonight, Buck’s reminded of how grateful he is to have another solid, supportive presence in his corner. The last lingering bits of heaviness and loneliness evaporate from within him, and he knows this weekend will be good for him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Second place.

Second place is fine. Second place is great, actually. Second place is enough to show the USFSA that he’s still a contender, that he can still keep up with the best of the best despite a rocky first half of the season.

But second place is not first place. Even if it’s only six points away.

Overall, Buck is happy with his performance. He was clean on his step sequences, attacked every jump, and didn’t fall once. And six points behind the skater from Japan that everyone considers Eddie’s biggest international rival, his biggest threat against his potential Olympic gold, would make most other people ecstatic.

He’s not most other people, though. This past week has reignited the fire in his belly and it’s burning brighter than it has in a while. The medal ceremony, the interviews, the gala, everything flashes by because all he can think about is getting back to work, changing transitions and tweaking spins until even the smallest gap between him and any other skater is erased. Until he knows his programs are undoubtedly gold medal worthy.

It’s refreshing — a relief — to be back in this headspace, being pushed forward by obstacles and less-than-perfection instead of dragged into spiraling sadness.

He almost loses it a couple of times, especially when he decides to take an innocent peek at Twitter to see what fans had to say about the Final, the words “overscored” and “inconsistent” swimming in front of him until they don’t mean anything anymore, just leave doubt lingering, trying to find the home in Buck’s brain that it had just vacated. In those moments, he goes back to his messages and rereads the live texts he’d gotten all weekend, and one in particular that makes his heart skip two beats every time he sees it: 

[from: Eddie] I think you make everyone fall a little bit in love with you every time you skate

Eddie sent it in the middle of his free skate, in the middle of dozens of other compliments and criticism of other skaters, and Buck’s sure he was half awake when he sent it, but it fills him with something he doesn’t quite have a name for. Something that makes all of the harsh words and doubts disappear, because none of those matter when Eddie is here telling him that he’s good, that he deserves all of his scores and praises. That he’s loved, no matter how often he may forget.

Another fire is burning in him, a little above the one in his gut, but it’s pushing him just as hard to prove his worth. 

~~~~~~~~~

There’s four weeks left until Nationals, and Eddie still isn’t better. 

Buck can tell he’s getting frustrated too — the tension in his shoulders gets tighter and tighter, the set of his mouth harder and harder each day he comes to the rink still wearing his air cast, only able to work in the gym and with Lena, far away from the ice and the excited chatter of preparing for the second half of the season. Buck tries to be there, a shoulder to lean on, someone to listen, but he also knows how Eddie operates — he’ll slap on a smile and say he’s fine until he’s really not, until he cracks from the inside out and finally explodes with everything he’s been holding in so he keeps up this air of perfection he’s made for himself. Buck used to think it was annoying, that perfect facade, but now he knows it’s more defensive than anything, Eddie just trying to protect himself from the world and maybe from himself.

Buck doesn’t take it personally anymore, and he’s going to do his damned best to be there to keep the cracks from spreading.

It’s after 10pm when he walks into the gym, still breathing heavily from practice, his muscles burning from overuse and the need to be stretched. He was certain he was alone, so he just about jumps out of his skin when he sees someone lying on the padded floor in front of the mirrors. When he gets closer, his blood runs cold for an entirely different reason.

It’s Eddie.

Buck’s first thought is to call for an ambulance, because why else would Eddie be lying on the floor if he hadn’t hurt himself again? But as he gets closer still, Buck thinks this might be intentional. He’s on his back, headphones on, eyes closed, rhythmically tapping his hands to whatever song he’s listening to on his stomach. As Buck's shadow passes over his face, he opens his eyes and blinks at him for a minute before giving a half-hearted smile and closing his eyes again. He looks sadder, somehow, than he has in the past weeks, dark circles under his eyes and none of the golden glow that seems to follow him wherever he goes (though that may be coming just from Buck’s own imagination anyway).

Buck’s not really sure what to do here, how to fix whatever it is that’s making Eddie feel so bad.

So he lays down right next to him and waits.

The headphones come off after 10 minutes, and Eddie doesn’t open his eyes for another five. When he does, he looks over to Buck, and rather than something supportive or sweet or literally anything else, he says the first dumb thing that comes to his head:

“Are we meditating?”

But he gets an actual smile out of it from Eddie, so he takes it as a win. 

Eddie scrubs his hands over his face. “Trying to, I think.” He turns onto his side, facing Buck, and Buck turns to mirror him. He can tell Eddie is searching for his words, the right phrasing to get his point across, and he’s willing to wait as long as he needs to for Eddie to share. 

Finally, he takes a long, steadying breath. “My doctor said I might not be able to skate until the end of January, which means I might miss Nats, which means I might not—” he gestures vaguely at that, like he expects Buck to know what his silence means. Buck knows exactly what he means, and it makes him ache for Eddie, makes him reach out and squeeze his wrist when his eyes start to shine, thumb tracing over his pulse point trying to soothe him. “I’ve worked my ass off for weeks now to get better, and it still might not be good enough.”

“I’m sorry,” Buck says quietly. “I know it sucks. More than anything.”

Eddie goes quiet again, eyes drifting to where Buck is still holding his wrist. He pulls away for just a second before slotting their fingers together properly and gently squeezing. Like always, Buck marvels at how right it feels, to be holding Eddie’s hand.

“Did you know they’ve been saying I’m the favorite to win gold for three years now? Not to brag, but—” he says quickly, eyes wide. Buck chuckles because he knows — knows now — that Eddie doesn’t have an arrogant bone in his body. He squeezes his hand back and waits for him to keep going. “It’s all I can think about. Every time I fuck up a level or finish off podium, it just stays with me, makes me feel like I’m about to crash and burn and everyone is going to be disappointed in me because I’m not actually as good as they think.” Eddie’s trembling, squeezing his hand tighter to try and stop it. “Maybe they’re right. Maybe I tricked everyone into believing in me, and this stupid busted ankle is—”

“Hey, hey, no,” Buck says, pulling them up to sitting and cupping Eddie’s face in his hands as his tears threaten to spill over, slipping through the cracks. “You don’t deserve this, Eddie, no one deserves to be injured. Believe me, I know what it’s like to put all of your worth into this, and I still do it, but...you’re worth so much more than just your skating. To the fans, to the team. To me.” Eddie’s eyes drift away from his, trying to find an escape, but Buck holds firm until they drift back. “You are good. Not just a good skater, but a good person. You’ll always have that, gold medals or not. And if no one else believes in you, I do.”

Eddie stares at him, looking dumbstruck, and he’s quiet for so long that Buck worries he went too far, bared himself a little too much. He’s about to backtrack, save both of them whatever awkwardness might come, but Eddie surges forward before he can and kisses him so fiercely he swears the earth stands still.

He pushes away just as quickly, eyes wide in panic. “Shit, Buck, I’m sorry, I know we—” but Buck cuts him off, kissing him slow and deep, hands tangling into Eddie’s hair trying to pull him as close as possible. Eddie’s everywhere, his taste, his smell, his touch, and when he feels Eddie’s smile against his mouth, a smile that he put there, he feels like flying.

It finally clicks for Buck that he doesn’t have to — doesn’t want to — compartmentalize his life so much anymore. Skating and Eddie make him happier than pretty much anything. Why shouldn’t he have both?

They break apart slowly and rest their foreheads together. Buck ended up in Eddie’s lap at some point, and from here he can’t see anything but Eddie, gets lost in the curve of his cheekbones and the pout of his lips, and mentally smacks himself for thinking it was really better not having all of this. Eddie is in his corner, always, and he wants to be in Eddie’s too. Wants him to know he’s there, to remember even at his lowest points that he’s not alone, ever.

Eddie finally opens his eyes and smiles at Buck, soft but absolutely breathtaking. He squeezes his arms a little tighter around Buck’s waist, and Buck is more than happy to get as close as he can, would crawl into Eddie’s chest and stay there forever if he could.

“What are you thinking?” Eddie asks quietly.

Buck’s thinking a lot of things, or at least he was, but now that he’s focused on honey brown eyes so full of affection he could drown in them, his only real thought is Eddie Eddie Eddie.

“I think we’re stupid,” he says after a minute, and Eddie’s laugh echos around the empty gym.

“We’re stupid?”

“Okay, I’m stupid. But I think I want to fix that.”

“Oh really?”

“I think I want to be here for you, for everything.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“I think I want to remind you how amazing you are whenever I can.”

“Buck—”

“I think I want to convince you of how incredible you are whenever you stop believing it.”

Eddie’s eyes are shining again, but his smile could also put the sun to shame.

“And I think I really, really want to keep kissing you.”

Eddie shakes his head, smile getting bigger and somehow pulling Buck even closer. “I think we can make that happen,” he whispers. 

He kisses him again, and Buck is soaring.

#buddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #911 fox #buddie fic #911 fic #9-1-1 #fs au #ficcery #there's still so much figure skating drama left i hope y'all are psyched

[tkmedia]

Chaotic waters: US stars win, but Dressel won't get 6 golds

Caeleb Dressel is pretty much invincible when he has a lane to himself. But give him a deficit of more than 8 seconds? Well, that's too much for even the world's greatest swimmer to overcome with two laps of the pool. On a morning of mixed emotions and chaotic racing at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Dressel set a world record in the 100-meter butterfly, but was basically doomed before he even dove into the pool on the new mixed relay Saturday.So went his chances of joining a very exclusive club. His bid to win six gold medals fell apart with another U.S. relay debacle. The Americans were too far behind in the 4x100-meter mixed medley when their top swimmer took over, so the best Dressel could do was rally the U.S. to a fifth-place finish in an event that features two men and two women on each team. Britain set a world record to win the gold."Fifth place is unacceptable for USA Swimming," Dressel said. "It stings." It was a disappointing capper to a golden morning for the Americans, whose biggest swimming stars both ascended to the top of the medal podium.

Kathleen Ledecky celebrates after winning the gold medal in the women's 800-meter freestyle final.APAfter Dressel won his third gold of the games, Katie Ledecky closed out her grueling Olympic program with a third straight victory in the 800 freestyle. Ledecky was pushed hard by Australian rival Ariarne Titmus, but the American held on in a race she hasn't lost since 2010.Ledecky finished up with two golds, two silver and a fifth-place finish at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre - not as successful as she was five years ago in Rio de Janeiro, but not bad at all. Ledecky became the first female swimmer to capture six individual gold medals in her career with another Olympic title in the 800 free, winning with a time of 8 minutes, 12.57 seconds .Titmus closed strong to claim the silver in 8:13.83, while the bronze went to Italy's Simona Quadarella in 8:18.35. "I could see her the whole way," Ledecky said of Titmus. "I was trying to keep tabs on her and trying to inch my way out a little bit each 50. I knew she was just going to be lurking there the whole time.Ledecky lost her first two individual matchups with Titmus, but finally beat the Terminator in their final showdown. "I knew I had to have a little gap," Ledecky said, "because if we were neck and neck on the last 100, I know she has that finish."

Dressel poses after winning the gold medal in the men's 100-meter butterfly final.APDressel led right from the start in the fly and held off Hungary's Kristof Milak to touch in 49.45 seconds, breaking the mark of 49.50 that the American set at the 2019 world championships. Milak, winner of the 200 fly, earned the silver with a blistering 49.68. The bronze went to Switzerland's .When he saw the "WR" beside his name, Dressel smiled and joined hands with Milak in the lane next to him. They raised their arms together before Dressel flexed his left arm and pumped it in the air. "He's going to put me out of a job one day, so I'm just trying to hang on as long as I can," Dressel said. "Kristof executed perfectly. We both swam exactly the race we needed to."The Australian women added another gold. Kaylee McKeown completed a sweep of the backstroke events with a victory in the 200. Her winning time was 2:04.68. The silver went to Canada's Kylie Masse in 2:05.42, with another Australian, Emily Seebohm, claiming the bronze in 2:06.17. Americans Rhyan White and Phoebe Bacon finished fourth and fifth. It's been a huge Olympics for the Aussie women. They have won six of their team's seven gold medals at the pool.In another bummer for the Americans, Simone Manuel failed to advance to the final of the 50 free, her only individual event in these games. The first Black American woman to win an individual swimming gold posted the 11th-best time in the semifinals and was eliminated, capping a trying year in which she was diagnosed with overtraining syndrome. Dressel advanced easily in the men's freestyle semifinals with the top final time (21.42).

Dressel talks with teammate Ryan Murphy after they finished fifth in the mixed 4x100-meter medley relay.AP

The mixed medley was another story

For the second time at these Olympics, the U.S. failed to win a relay medal, joining a fourth-place finish in the men's 4x200 freestyle. Before Tokyo, the Americans had never failed to finish in top three of an Olympic relay they entered.The Americans tried a different strategy than everyone else, going with Dressel on the freestyle while the other seven teams all closed with a woman. The Americans faltered when 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby - already the only woman swimming the breaststroke leg -had her goggles knocked off on her dive into the water. The 17-year-old struggled to finish in 1:05.09, her goggles dangling from her mouth as the rest of the field pulled away."I've never really had that happen before," said Jacoby, who one wears a single cap while most swimmers wear two largely to prevent such a problem. "I was definitely panicking a little. My turn was where it was most rough because I couldn't see the wall."Her teammates praised her effort. "Anyone that swam with their goggles in their mouth like she did (knows) she did fantastic," said Ryan Murphy, who took the opening backstroke leg.When 18-year-old Torri Huske passed off to Dressel after the butterfly leg, the Americans were 8.01 seconds behind the leaders in last place.

Dressel talks with Britain's James Guy after the mixed 4x100-meter medley relay.APDressel furiously tried to cut into the huge gap. His 46.99 leg was better than his winning time in the 100 free individual event, but it wasn't nearly enough to chase down all the teams ahead of him. "Everyone swam as well as they could in the moment," Dressel said. "We got beat by a better team."Britain's team of Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Anna Hopkin claimed the gold with a world record of 3:37.58. The silver went to China in 3:38.86, while Australia took the bronze in 3:38.95. Dressel touched in 3:40.58, also finishing behind Italy. He was hoping to sweep his six events, which would have made him only the the fourth swimmer and fifth athlete overall to win six gold medals at a single Olympics.Swimming icon Michael Phelps did it twice, capturing six golds at the 2004 Athens Games before setting the record with eight golds in Beijing four years later. For Dressel, who has two more races on the final day of swimming, five golds is now the best he can do. Read the full article

[fyshomauno]

Uno, Ouriashev prove to be winning combination

Japanese prodigy has sought out coach last two years for jump expertise

Posted 8/22/17 by Philip Hersh, special to icenetwork

Since bringing Alex Ouriashev into his corner, Shoma Uno has become a masterful jumper -- and a true contender for the Olympic gold medal. -Philip Hersh

It was a perfect mid-August morning, sunny and dry with a temperature in the low 80s. On such a summer day, most people would do anything to get outdoors.

That is where field hockey player Itsuki Uno, 15, and his father, Hiroki, were going to be. They were headed for the golf course, just as they had almost every day during the Uno family's three-week stay in the Chicago suburbs.

Itsuki's older brother, Shoma, 19, would not be in the golfing party."I don't particularly like being outdoors," Uno said through an interpreter, with a sly grin that needed no translation.

Uno was perfectly happy spending his days in an environment that could best be described as anti-summer: the indoor ice sheets at rinks north and west of Chicago, where he was working with the man whose expertise as a jump coach had helped the skater make the podium at all nine of his competitions last season. Five of those were victories, and Uno leaped from seventh at the world championships in 2016 to the silver medal in 2017.

"I was surprised I improved so fast," Uno said.

So it was no surprise he had returned for more work with Alex Ouriashev at the Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills. This, though, was no star turn: Uno shared the ice with skaters of distinctly lesser ability, including countryman Kotaro Takeuchi, 14th at last season's Japanese Junior Championships.

"I feel that I don't have anything in particular that I'm good at or I'm strong at," Uno said.

"At the same time, I don't think I have anything that is particularly weak or bad. So I guess that is who I am as a skater."

Uno was nearing the end of his first of two 40-minute sessions of the day. Several times, he played the music for the final section of his new free skate to Puccini's Turandot, beginning with the opera's best-known aria, "Nessun Dorma." The idea was to shape the endurance necessary for a free skate with eight of its 12 jumps -- including three quads and two triple axels -- in the second half.

After nearly every jump, Ouriashev studied the tracing Uno's blade had made on the surface. Then the coach remarked on the jump in the little notebook he carried on the ice: how big the jump was, the correctness of the entrance, the consistency of the landing.

After turning off the music, Uno began doing individual jumps. He tossed off a quadruple toe loop with such ease you could have sworn it was only a triple. Then he started building toward the element he would like to add this season, a quad lutz, a considerable challenge given that that jump has long been problematic for him, with frequent questions about the takeoff edge.

"Timing," Ouriashev told Uno after he fell on one attempt.

Uno, who speaks little English but understands what could be called "skating English," got up, brushed his shaggy hair away from his eyes, smiled and acknowledged the coach's point with an up-and-down shake of his head.

"His timing on the pick is wrong most of the time," Ouriashev explained. "He waits, glides too long, then picks."

By the time Uno's three-week stay in the Chicago suburbs ended Sunday, he had landed both a quad lutz and a quad salchow, the coach said.

Uno's plan is to have a fifth quad in his free skate this season after having done four -- two quad toes, a quad flip and a quad loop -- last season.

Such are the demands on top male skaters in an era when the quad ante seems to ratchet up every year.

"I'm amazed at how fast everyone has improved," Uno said.

"Fortunately, I am one of them, so it doesn't feel that hard to compete at this level."

Uno put both the quad flip and quad loop into his repertoire last season. In April 2016, at the Team Challenge Cup, he became the first skater to land a quad flip in competition. He went on to do 18 quad flips in the 2016-17 season (one each in every short program and free skate), getting full base value on all 18 and positive Grades of Execution (GOEs) on nine -- including both he performed at worlds.

He had tried quad loops two years earlier, and after showing video of those attempts to Ouriashev, the two began refining the jump. Uno tried his first one competitively at the 2017 Four Continents Championships -- and earned a stunning +2.43 GOE.

Creating that quad prowess led Uno to begin working with Ouriashev, who coached Gracie Gold to the U.S. junior title, a world junior silver medal and a second-place finish at the 2013 U.S. Championships before she left to join Frank Carroll in the fall of 2013.

Skating agent/impresario Ari Zakarian had suggested Ouriashev to Uno's agent, Koji Ohama.

"We were looking for a jump coach," said Uno's mother, Junko. "We liked Gracie's jumps."

Uno first came to the Chicago area, where Ouriashev has taught for two decades, in the summer of 2016. That would also be the first of the four visits Uno made to Ouriashev last season.

"It was a huge surprise when they asked me," Ouriashev said. "I am not like top level of world coaches and U.S. coaches."

Ouriashev, a native of Ukraine, was nervous about the prospect of coaching one of the best young skaters in the world. He called an old friend, Dallas Figure Skating Club coach Alexei Letov, before accepting.

"Alexei gave me the confidence to try," Ouriashev said.Uno, the 2015 world junior champion and the youngest man to quality for the 2016 Grand Prix Final, also was uncertain about what Ouriashev expected.

"At the beginning, I gave it all at each practice, and it was physically exhausting," he said. "Now I know how to control and balance my training more.”

"I was able to get good results out of it, so I wanted to come back this season and gain more things."

Uno felt his decline at the end of his brilliant senior debut season (2015-16) came from too much training and not enough competition. That is why he did several competitions -- Four Continents in Gangneung, South Korea, site of next year's Olympic Games; the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan; and the Coupe du Printemps in Luxembourg -- in the six weeks before worlds.

"Two years ago, I had a big gap between Four Continents and worlds," Uno said. "I did not do well at Four Continents, so I put so much pressure on myself, and it kind of crushed me. Last year, I planned not to have a time gap between competitions so I would stay in shape and be ready for competition all the time.”

Uno comes into this season as the reigning world silver medalist from a nation that is gaga about figure skating. That his countryman, Yuzuru Hanyu, the reigning world and Olympic champion, is wildly popular in Japan deflects attention away from Uno.

"[Hanyu] is someone I look up to," Uno said."I like the attitude he shows about skating. He is a great jumper, of course, but I think he is a well-balanced, all-around skater.

"It is mentally easier to chase someone, to have someone above me all the time. But I will probably end up skating longer than he does, so hopefully I am the one to carry that kind of pressure in the future."

Uno, from Nagoya, has sponsorship deals with Toyota Motor Company and Colantotte, a company that makes magnetic jewelry advertised to have health benefits (he wears a necklace). A "Shoma Uno Official Calendar 2018" is set to be released nationwide in Japan next month.

Yet the diminutive star (he stands 5 feet, 2 1/2 inches tall) insists the publicity generated in the last year by his skating and his stature as an endorser has not changed his life.

"I am probably not being noticed in the street as much as what many people might imagine," he said. "Sometimes people do come up to me to talk, but that is not very often, so I am happy."

Asked if he is a celebrity in Japan, Uno demurred.

"I try not to think about that," he said.

Uno is taking this academic year off from Chukyo University to focus on skating. Yet he and Ouriashev are trying not to focus either on the Olympics or a way to beat Hanyu, the favorite among an incredibly strong group of men's skaters.

"I don't have a particular goal for this season," Uno said. "My ultimate goal is not for this season but for the future."

Uno's first competition, as it was last season, will be next month's Lombardia Trophy in Italy. His Grand Prix assignments are Skate Canada in late October and the Internationaux de France in mid-November. Just as he did last season, Uno plans to return to the Chicago area for more work with Ouriashev after the Japanese championships in late December.

"Sometimes you get people you really like, and you are entirely happy to help them," Ouriashev said. "Even if we don't speak English, his personality is such that even if you are in a bad mood, he puts you in a better mood. He is bright, like good weather."

Maybe that is why Uno doesn't need to get outside. He simply brings the sun and warmth onto the ice with him.

#shoma uno #I wanted this so much #omgggg #glacier #so many answers #yess #he simply is the sun and warmth onto the ice with him <- damn u right #sunma #they love him sm #we love him sm #*sigh in contentment and goes to sleep*

[shoma-uno]

Article on Shoma’s training with Alex Ouriashev at Glacier Ice Arena, published 8.22.2017 on Icenetwork.

It was a perfect mid-August morning, sunny and dry with a temperature in the low 80s. On such a summer day, most people would do anything to get outdoors.

That is where field hockey player Itsuki Uno, 15, and his father, Hiroki, were going to be. They were headed for the golf course, just as they had almost every day during the Uno family's three-week stay in the Chicago suburbs.

Itsuki's older brother, Shoma, 19, would not be in the golfing party.

"I don't particularly like being outdoors," Uno said through an interpreter, with a sly grin that needed no translation.

Uno was perfectly happy spending his days in an environment that could best be described as anti-summer: the indoor ice sheets at rinks north and west of Chicago, where he was working with the man whose expertise as a jump coach had helped the skater make the podium at all nine of his competitions last season. Five of those were victories, and Uno leaped from seventh at the world championships in 2016 to the silver medal in 2017.

"I was surprised I improved so fast," Uno said.

So it was no surprise he had returned for more work with Alex Ouriashev at the Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills. This, though, was no star turn: Uno shared the ice with skaters of distinctly lesser ability, including countryman Kotaro Takeuchi, 14th at last season's Japanese Junior Championships.

"I feel that I don't have anything in particular that I'm good at or I'm strong at," Uno said. "At the same time, I don't think I have anything that is particularly weak or bad. So I guess that is who I am as a skater."

Uno was nearing the end of his first of two 40-minute sessions of the day. Several times, he played the music for the final section of his new free skate to Puccini's Turandot, beginning with the opera's best-known aria, "Nessun Dorma." The idea was to shape the endurance necessary for a free skate with eight of its 12 jumps -- including three quads and two triple axels -- in the second half.

After nearly every jump, Ouriashev studied the tracing Uno's blade had made on the surface. Then the coach remarked on the jump in the little notebook he carried on the ice: how big the jump was, the correctness of the entrance, the consistency of the landing.

After turning off the music, Uno began doing individual jumps. He tossed off a quadruple toe loop with such ease you could have sworn it was only a triple. Then he started building toward the element he would like to add this season, a quad lutz, a considerable challenge given that that jump has long been problematic for him, with frequent questions about the takeoff edge.

"Timing," Ouriashev told Uno after he fell on one attempt.

Uno, who speaks little English but understands what could be called "skating English," got up, brushed his shaggy hair away from his eyes, smiled and acknowledged the coach's point with an up-and-down shake of his head.

"His timing on the pick is wrong most of the time," Ouriashev explained. "He waits, glides too long, then picks."

By the time Uno's three-week stay in the Chicago suburbs ended Sunday, he had landed both a quad lutz and a quad salchow, the coach said.

Uno's plan is to have a fifth quad in his free skate this season after having done four -- two quad toes, a quad flip and a quad loop -- last season.

Such are the demands on top male skaters in an era when the quad ante seems to ratchet up every year.

"I'm amazed at how fast everyone has improved," Uno said. "Fortunately, I am one of them, so it doesn't feel that hard to compete at this level."

Uno put both the quad flip and quad loop into his repertoire last season. In April 2016, at the Team Challenge Cup, he became the first skater to land a quad flip in competition. He went on to do 18 quad flips in the 2016-17 season (one each in every short program and free skate), getting full base value on all 18 and positive Grades of Execution (GOEs) on nine -- including both he performed at worlds.

He had tried quad loops two years earlier, and after showing video of those attempts to Ouriashev, the two began refining the jump. Uno tried his first one competitively at the 2017 Four Continents Championships -- and earned a stunning +2.43 GOE.

Creating that quad prowess led Uno to begin working with Ouriashev, who coached Gracie Gold to the U.S. junior title, a world junior silver medal and a second-place finish at the 2013 U.S. Championships before she left to join Frank Carroll in the fall of 2013.

"We were looking for a jump coach," said Uno's mother, Junko.

One of her son's Japanese coaches, Mihoko Higuchi, had been impressed with Gold's jumps and wanted to see if Ouriashev was interested in teaching Uno. At the request of Uno's agent, Koji Ohama, skating agent/impresario Ari Zakarian called Ouriashev to sound him out.

Uno first came to the Chicago area, where Ouriashev has taught for two decades, in the summer of 2016. That would also be the first of the four visits Uno made to Ouriashev last season.

"It was a huge surprise when they asked me," Ouriashev said. "I am not like top level of world coaches and U.S. coaches."

Ouriashev, a native of Ukraine, was nervous about the prospect of coaching one of the best young skaters in the world. He called an old friend, Dallas Figure Skating Club coach Alexei Letov, before accepting.

"Alexei gave me the confidence to try," Ouriashev said.

Uno, the 2015 world junior champion and the youngest man to quality for the 2016 Grand Prix Final, also was uncertain about what Ouriashev expected.

"At the beginning, I gave it all at each practice, and it was physically exhausting," he said. "Now I know how to control and balance my training more.

"I was able to get good results out of it, so I wanted to come back this season and gain more things."

Uno felt his decline at the end of his brilliant senior debut season (2015-16) came from too much training and not enough competition. That is why he did several competitions -- Four Continents in Gangneung, South Korea, site of next year's Olympic Games; the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan; and the Coupe du Printemps in Luxembourg -- in the six weeks before worlds.

"Two years ago, I had a big gap between Four Continents and worlds," Uno said. "I did not do well at Four Continents, so I put so much pressure on myself, and it kind of crushed me. Last year, I planned not to have a time gap between competitions so I would stay in shape and be ready for competition all the time."

Uno comes into this season as the reigning world silver medalist from a nation that is gaga about figure skating. That his countryman, Yuzuru Hanyu, the reigning world and Olympic champion, is wildly popular in Japan deflects attention away from Uno.

"[Hanyu] is someone I look up to," Uno said. "I like the attitude he shows about skating. He is a great jumper, of course, but I think he is a well-balanced, all-around skater.

"It is mentally easier to chase someone, to have someone above me all the time. But I will probably end up skating longer than he does, so hopefully I am the one to carry that kind of pressure in the future."

Uno, from Nagoya, has sponsorship deals with Toyota Motor Company and Colantotte, a company that makes magnetic jewelry advertised to have health benefits (he wears a necklace). A "Shoma Uno Official Calendar 2018" is set to be released nationwide in Japan next month.

Yet the diminutive star (he stands 5 feet, 2 1/2 inches tall) insists the publicity generated in the last year by his skating and his stature as an endorser has not changed his life.

"I am probably not being noticed in the street as much as what many people might imagine," he said. "Sometimes people do come up to me to talk, but that is not very often, so I am happy."

Asked if he is a celebrity in Japan, Uno demurred.

"I try not to think about that," he said.

Uno is taking this academic year off from Chukyo University to focus on skating. Yet he and Ouriashev are trying not to focus either on the Olympics or a way to beat Hanyu, the favorite among an incredibly strong group of men's skaters.

"I don't have a particular goal for this season," Uno said. "My ultimate goal is not for this season but for the future."

Uno's first competition, as it was last season, will be next month's Lombardia Trophy in Italy. His Grand Prix assignments are Skate Canada in late October and the Internationaux de France in mid-November. Just as he did last season, Uno plans to return to the Chicago area for more work with Ouriashev after the Japanese championships in late December.

"Sometimes you get people you really like, and you are entirely happy to help them," Ouriashev said. "Even if we don't speak English, his personality is such that even if you are in a bad mood, he puts you in a better mood. He is bright, like good weather."

Maybe that is why Uno doesn't need to get outside. He simply brings the sun and warmth onto the ice with him.

#shoma uno #alexander ouriashev #season: 2017 2018 #interview #great read

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHY I'M SMARTER THAN SYNC

Is there a downside to ramen profitability? But there are limits to how well you understand the problem you're solving for them.1 But the real problem for Microsoft wasn't the embarrassment of the people they never got. Having to hit a growth number every week forces founders to act, and acting versus not acting is the high bit of succeeding. If you'd proposed at the time and then it can take years to figure out what it's doing. If investors had sufficient vision to run the companies they fund, why didn't they start them? If it keeps expanding, it might expand into the acquirer's own territory. Whatever the outcome, the conflict between the manager's schedule and the maker's schedule, though. The last one might be the most common. Technology companies made money by trade, and water was the only economical way to ship.2 Who will win, the super-angels. Reading Period, when students have no classes to attend because they're supposed to be bound by some plan you made early on.

But it does share something with the one that's profitable in the traditional appointment book, with each day cut into one hour intervals. They have little discipline.3 Rtm and Trevor and I do because we always have, and Jessica does too, mostly, because she's gotten into sync with us. Or it could be a problem. But unlike most people they had the confidence to notice it. Super-angels compete with both angels and VCs was a very inconvenient one for startups, because they're untainted by experience.4 Use difficulty as a guide not just in some metaphorical way.5

Who is? Because I didn't realize the answer till later, after I went to work at Yahoo.6 Artix was like a game. Only a tiny fraction are startups.7 Stay upwind. I wish I'd grasped that in high school: what you want. So don't get too attached to your original plan, because it's their work that yours is going to be Make something people want. Startups pass that test because although they're appallingly risky, the returns when they do succeed are so high.8 For unambitious people, this sort of thing to store-bought ones—a mere expression of the proverbial thought that counts. Facebook made a point of encouraging the most outrageous thoughts I can imagine what I'd tell them about startups if they were a race apart.9

One wrote: While I did enjoy developing for the iPhone, the control they place on the App Store: a software publisher. They're happy to buy only a few thousand, but those few thousand users wanted it a lot. Until you have some users to measure, you're optimizing based on guesses. But in their time, they had to work very hard to make themselves heard by users, because those are the only real cost is the founders' living expenses. In the other languages I had learned up till then, there was a type of programmer who would only put five or ten minutes rearranging it to look interesting. But in technology, you cook one thing and that's what you do. Fortunately there is a trick you could use it.10 You have to make the same decision: as hard as you possibly can. If in each new idea you're able to re-use most of what you want. But what if your manager was hit by a bus? It was obvious to us as programmers that these sites would have to pay close attention to their books. Sometimes the changes are advances, and what would make it faster, you almost always do get it.

But Android is an orphan; Google doesn't really care about it, if it is true, is another question.11 Representational art is only now recovering from the approval of both Hitler and Stalin. It's also obvious to programmers that wealth is something that's made, rather than being influenced by what he wishes were the case.12 A bear can absorb a hit and a crab is armored against one, but I have never had to use CLOS.13 To some degree, it offers a way around these limitations.14 I know the afternoon is going to be bloated and full of duplication anyway. And you'll do it best if you introduce the ulterior motive toward the end of my working day, and I am self-indulgent.15 But any idea that's considered harmless in a significant percentage of times and places, and so on. Movie studios?16 But a very able person in a big company, then a smart hacker working very hard without any corporate bullshit to slow him down should be able to resist, or at least language implementors, like to write compilers that generate fast code. When you hear such labels being used, ask why. That's going to change the rules about how to raise money.

This is a different form of profitability than startups have traditionally aimed for. You don't see faces much happier than people winning gold medals.17 I should use Holland as an example of a startup seems like a fraud. An organization that wins by exercising power starts to lose the ability to win by doing good work. For startups, growth is a constraint much like truth. What sort of company might cause people in the future will find ridiculous.18 I wasn't working at my day job I'd start trying to make Web sites for galleries—that's the ticket!

It's equivalent to asking how to make money. So VCs who invest in them. The defining quality of Silicon Valley is not that you're 30 times as productive, and get in trouble for seem harmless now. But neither should you let them run the company. You should get another multiple of two, at least in our own time.19 Just keep playing. What this meant in practice was that we deliberately sought hard problems.20 Some may even deliberately stall, because they were built one building at a time. Or more precisely, the effect of subroutines in the inherently stateless world of a Web session. I did be satisfied by merely doing well in school.

Notes

Just use the standard series AA paperwork aims at a time. It might also be argued that we should work like blacklists, for the linguist and presumably teacher Daphnis, but instead to explain that the people they want impressive growth numbers. And you should be designed to live a certain city because of some logical reason e.

The Duty of Genius, Penguin, 1991.

I don't know how the courses they took might look to an associate if you ban other ways to make money for depends on a saturday, he saw that I know it didn't to undergraduates on the cover.

There are situations in which income is doled out by solving his own problems. If you don't think you could build products as good as Apple's just by hiring sufficiently qualified designers. We're delighted to have gotten where they are in love with their decision—just that they only like the outdoors?

Icio. And it would have started to give up your anti-dilution provisions, even if it's the right question, which is not much to generalize. There are also much cheaper when bought in bulk. Ian Hogarth suggests a good way to create a portal for x instead of blacklist.

This is everyday life in general. An accountant might say that it also worked for a startup at a middle ground. Yahoo released a new version from which a seemed more serious and b the valuation of hard work. It is still possible, to take care of one's markets is ultimately just another way to create wealth with no business experience to start some vaguely benevolent business.

Not in New York, people who currently make that their prices stabilize.

Looking at the mafia end of the standard edition of Aristotle's immediate successors may have to get at it, by encouraging them to get them to make money; and with that additional constraint, you can tell that everything you say is being compensated for risks he took another year off and went to get going, and the leading edge of technology, so that's what we do. After lunch we went to Europe.

Even Samuel Johnson said no man but a blockhead ever wrote except for that might be a strong one. It's not a programmer would find it more natural to the present day equivalent of the clumps of smart people are provoked sufficiently than fragmentation.

What happens in practice signalling hasn't been much of the world, but I wouldn't bet against it either.

Zagat's there are already names for this to realize that species weren't, because living at all.

In fact, if you do a very good. What he meant, I use the phrase frequently, you waited too long to launch. The other cause is usually some injustice that is exactly the point of view anyway.

Incidentally, tax rates don't tell the whole fund. They can lead to distractions even more closely to the erosion of the most part and you start to leave. If this happens it will have to do this all the difference directly.

So instead of using special euphemisms for lies that seem promising can usually get enough money from it, and mostly in good ways.

The hackers within Microsoft must know in their early twenties. If the startup is compress a lifetime's worth of work have different needs from the example of a reactor: the energy they emit encourages other ambitious people, but it is very common, but explain that's what you're working on what you have to do that? Don't invest so much in the middle class first appeared in northern Italy and the Imagination by Hilbert and Cohn-Vossen.

Then Josh Wilson came in to pick the former. You should only need comments when there is a bad imitation of a type II startup, and as a consulting company is always raising money in order to switch to a partner, which wouldn't even exist anymore.

When I talk about it as a general-purpose file classifier so good. Miyazaki, Ichisada Conrad Schirokauer trans.

Whereas when the audience at an ever increasing rate to manufacture a perfect growth curve, etc. Most expect founders to do is keep track of statistics for foo overall as well. Many will consent to b rather than ones they capture. Once again, I'd say the rate of improvement is more like Silicon Valley is no longer a precondition.

Which implies a surprising but apparently unimportant, like a wave. There were several other reasons, the term whitelist instead of profits—but only if the founders want the valuation a bit misleading to treat macros as a definition of property without affecting and probably also the fashion leaders. Statistical Spam Filter Works for Me. There are fairly closely related.

After lunch we went to Europe. I'm not saying friends should be specialists in startups.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #way #power #programmers #problem #injustice #money #Stay #angels #maker #Make #bulk #minutes #portal #duplication #comments #Johnson #fact #Silicon #Apple #harmless #effect #users #Schirokauer #publisher

[mastcomm]

Uphill Skiing at 75: ‘There’s No One Left in My Category’

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — It’s 6 a.m. on a January day, dark as night, and a handful of local athletes are skiing as fast as they can — uphill.

Each of the 31 participants is wearing a headlamp, and nearly all of them are wearing skis that weigh less than an average pair of hiking boots. One of them is Sharon Crawford.

Crawford, 75, who lives in Frisco, Colo., about 10 miles away, is no stranger to uphill ski racing. In fact, she is no stranger to any type of race that involves strain, endurance or pushing one’s body to the limit.

This event, a part of the Breckenridge Ascent Series, took Crawford from the base of the Breckenridge Ski Resort, which has an elevation of 9,600 feet, up a black-rated trail for nearly two miles and more than 1,500 vertical feet. The fastest racer, Jill Sorensen, knocked it out in 32 minutes. Crawford clocked in at 1 hour 2 minutes.

“I’ve never had speed,” Crawford, a retired software engineer, said after the race. “I’m more of an endurance person.”

Compared with other competitions in her athletic career, which began in earnest when she was over 30, this race was fairly easy. She has won medals in marathons, triathlons, cross-country ski races, orienteering and multiple-day events. Competitions in uphill skiing, or ski mountaineering — skimo, for short — are increasingly popular and present challenges even for the seasoned athlete.

“When you start getting tired, you think, O.K., I’ve got to be ready because the steep part is going to come,” she said. “You have to be prepared to push yourself when you need to.”

Unlike five- or 10-kilometer running races, which attract a broad range of participants with a broad range of athletic talent, high-elevation winter competitions like the Breck Ascent Series tend to attract superbly fit athletes, many of whom compete internationally.

“You’d think more people would come, but they’re scared,” said Sorensen, 42, who last year won the Xterra Pan American Tour title in the age 40-44 women’s division in triathlon. “Sharon isn’t. I look at her and feel so inspired. My goal is just to last, to take care of my body so I can participate in the sports I love until I’m her age. Not only is she participating, she’s competing.”

Crawford spent her early childhood in Colorado, Arizona and California when her father worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The family eventually settled in Billings, Mont., where she was a Girl Scout, loved the outdoors and pursued interests that were, at the time, dominated by boys.

“All my life it’s been like that,” she said. “I’ve been one of few women. When I was in high school, there were three of us that did physics and chemistry. Women didn’t do sports. Both of my brothers ran cross-country or played basketball. Girls were cheerleaders or played in the band. My father was from an old pioneer family. We’d go fishing and camping all the time.”

Crawford pursued a bachelor’s degree at Stanford and a master’s degree at Montana State before finishing in 1969 and moving to Massachusetts, where she became a software engineer and took up running and orienteering. Her first major event was the Boston Marathon in the early 1970s.

“I needed some exercise,” she said. “The North Medford Club needed women for the old men to beat. A guy started selling shoes out of the back of his car. I bought a pair of Adidas Antelope. I remember running in those the first time I ran the Boston Marathon.”

Crawford became a regular marathoner and competitive orienteer. Upon retiring, she moved to Colorado, where her family has deep roots (her great-grandfather James Harvey Crawford founded the town of Steamboat Springs) and where she has continued to broaden her interest in outdoor sports.

Her first uphill ski competition was in Breckenridge in 1996. It was the Imperial Challenge, in which competitors bike or run 6.2 miles from town to the base area of one of the peaks, then climb — either on skis, boards with skins or snowshoes — 3,000 vertical feet to a summit before skiing down to the finish.

Initially, Crawford did the race on Nordic skis with no metal edges. She has worked up to the lightweight ski mountaineering gear she uses today, and also competes in uphill-downhill skimo events like the long course version of the Breck Ascent Series and the Rando Series at Arapahoe Basin, in which competitors ascend the mountain multiple times and descend on double-black-rated terrain.

When asked about the most difficult aspect of these events, Crawford laughed and said, “Doing them.”

“Waking up early in the morning and being able to pace yourself,” she said. “That’s tough. Then the challenge of the transitions — taking off the skins and skiing down on steep, rough snow on those light skis — that’s the really hard part.”

In such races, Crawford is typically among the last to finish, but not always the very last.

“I was born too early for this sport, in a sense,” she said. “In these events, there’s no one left in my category. I’m beating some younger people, but not very often. My goal is, can I do as well or better than I did last year?”

Crawford’s schedule revolves around races. In January, a week before the Breck Ascent, she was in Innsbruck, Austria, competing for six consecutive days in Nordic and ski orienteering races at the Winter World Masters Games, where she won five gold medals and a silver.

Last weekend, she was in Vermont competing on classic skis in the national masters championship, finishing first in her class and significantly ahead of a handful of much younger racers. This month, she will be in Wisconsin, competing in the classic ski 55-kilometer American Birkebeiner (her 11th of such long-distance events, including the Birkebeiner in Norway). In March, she’ll return to Europe to compete in the Masters World Cup cross-country ski races in Cogne, Italy.

From being one of the few girls in her high school physics class and in the Boston Marathon to becoming the token 75-year-old in an extreme ski mountaineering contest, Crawford has always told herself, “I can do it, too.”

“You have to have your own criteria,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just to participate. In others, you want to really be competitive. Now my age group is 75 and up, which is good. I’m going to take advantage of that.”

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#Sport

[kadobeclothing]

Kobe Bryant’s legendary work ethic allowed him to become a global icon – The Sun

KOBE Bryant may be gone, but his illustrious basketball career is forever etched in NBA history. Generations of NBA fans reminisced on the countless memories left by the former Los Angeles Lakers icon following the news of his tragic death at the age of 41. 16 NBA legend Kobe Bryant will be remembered for his relentless work ethic throughout his 20-year careerCredit: � 2010 Broadimage Newswire16 The 41-year-old was tragically killed in a helicopter crash in California on SundayCredit: ReutersThroughout his 20-year NBA career, Kobe was notorious for his relentless work ethic and dedication to success. “Those times when you get up early and you work hard,” he said during his jersey retirement ceremony in 2017. “Those times you stay up late and you work hard. Those times when you don’t feel like working. “You’re too tired. You don’t want to push yourself, but you do it anyway. “That is actually the dream.” The 18-time all-star would show up two hours early to 7am practices, and as a high schooler would make his teammates stay after to play him one-on-one until someone reached 100 points. Former Lakers head coach Byron Scott would find an 18-year-old Kobe drenched in sweat in a dark gym practicing fundamentals two hours before his teammates arrived, according to Inc. “I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language,” the NBA legend once said. “I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.” 16 Kobe would reportedly arrive two hours early to 7am practice to go over his fundamentals in a dark gymCredit: Getty Images – Getty16 His hard work paid off – Kobe won a total of five NBA championships, three of which were consecutiveCredit: NBA Classic – Getty16 Kobe famously beefed with former teammate Shaq for years, but the two reconciled before his deathCredit: NBA Classic – GettyFour years after joining the Lakers, Kobe won his first NBA championship with coach Phil Jackson. He would go on to “three-peat” with Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, winning the NBA Finals three years straight from 2000 to 2002. Kobe was famously captured crying in the Lakers locker room after the 2001 NBA Finals while holding the Larry O’Brien trophy. Though people initially assumed he cried tears of joy, he revealed to Sports Illustrated in 2012 he was sad because he couldn’t relish his accomplishment with his father. At 21, Kobe got engaged to Vanessa Laine, causing a fallout with Joe, who disapproved of his son’s relationship because Laine was Latina and not black. He went against his father’s wishes and married Vanessa in 2001, who he built a family with throughout their marriage of over two decades. The couple had four daughters – Natalia Diamante, Gianna Maria-Onore, Bianka Bella, and Capri Kobe. Kobe inspired Gianna to pursue basketball like her father, and she dreamed of one day suiting up for the UConn Huskies. 16 He was famously captured crying after his 2001 championship because he wasn’t on speaking terms with his father at the timeCredit: Getty Images – Getty16 Kobe married his wife Vanessa in 2001 and had four daughters with her16 Kobe’s second-oldest, Gianna, also wanted to become a basketball player and suit up for the UConn HuskiesCredit: USA TODAY SportsAlthough he had fallen out with his parents in 2013 over his family secretly selling his personal memorabilia, he considered them his “backbone.” “My parents are my backbone. Still are,” said Kobe. “They’re the only group that will support you if you score zero or your score 40.” Although his intense attitude occasionally alienated his teammates, it ultimately earned him the respect of his peers. He famously beefed with Shaq for years, even suggesting at one point that his former teammate could have worked harder during their time together on the Lakers. The two eventually buried the hatchet and reconciled before his death, according to Heavy.com. Born Kobe Bean Bryant in 1978, the future NBA Hall of Famer lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania until the age of six, when his father – former Philadelphia 76ers star Joe Bryant – retired from basketball and moved the family to Rieti, Italy. 16 Born in 1978, Kobe spent most of his formative years in Philadephia, Pennsylvania16 The future Hall of Famer was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996, who then traded him to the Los Angeles LakersCredit: AP:Associated Press16 He won his first NBA Championship in 2000 and would win two more in 2001 and 2002Credit: Getty Images – GettyYoung Kobe – who first picked up a basketball at only three years old – learned to speak fluent Italian while his father played in Italy’s A1 and A2 basketball leagues. During the summers, he traveled back stateside to play in a summer league. The sport quickly became a refuge for the child prodigy, who often spent his days at the playground imagining he was playing in an NBA Finals game – something he’d accomplish seven times in his short life. “When I would get really down, I could always pick up a basketball and go to the playground and shoot and just put myself in the scenario of being in a finals game,” he told 60 Minutes in 2001. He returned to Philadelphia to attend Lower Merion High School, where he was the first freshman in decades to start on the varsity team. Kobe ended his high school career as Southeastern Pennsylvania’s all-time leading scorer, according to his alma mater’s website. The 17-year-old high school senior shelved his dreams of attending college to go pro in 1996 – an unprecedented move at the time – becoming only the sixth player in NBA history to do so. He was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets, but was eventually traded to the Los Angeles Lakers to become the nucleus of what would morph into one of the most well-known dynasties in professional sports. In 2006, he recorded one of the greatest single-game performances in the NBA when he exploded for 81 points against the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center. 16 Kobe won two gold medals with Team USA in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic gamesCredit: Reuters16 In 2017, he became the first player in NBA history to have both of his numbers retiredCredit: AP:Associated PressTwo years later, he won the gold with Team USA when they defeated Spain in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. He would add a second gold medal to his collection four years later in London before retiring from the league in 2016, NBC Philadephia reported. Kobe is best known for his athletic prowess on the hardwood, but his persona has transcended basketball and influenced countless athletes around the world. In 2017, he became the only player in the league to have both of his jerseys retired. He became the first NBA player to win a championship and an Academy Award in 2018, when he won the Oscar for best short film. Paris St. Germain stars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe paid homage to the NBA great upon hearing the news of his death on Sunday. Similarly, superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi commemorated the “legend” and “inspiration” in social media posts of their own.

So sad to hear the heartbreaking news of the deaths of Kobe and his daughter Gianna. Kobe was a true legend and inspiration to so many. Sending my condolences to his family and friends and the families of all who lost their lives in the crash. RIP Legend💔 pic.twitter.com/qKb3oiDHxH— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) January 26, 2020

16 Kobe became the first and only NBA player to win a championship and an Oscar in 2018Credit: Reuters16 His legacy has transcended sports and elevated him into one of the most impactful athletes of the 20th centuryCredit: AFP – GettyMAP OF DEATH ‘Real time’ heat map shows deadly coronavirus spreading around the world SICK GHOULS Outrage as fake video of Kobe Bryant helicopter crash is spread on social media KING MOURNS KOBE LeBron breaks down over Kobe death a day after passing him in NBA history ATTACKED Rockets land ‘direct hit’ on US embassy in Baghdad & ‘military response underway’ WEIGHT LIST Mom and two daughters left ‘humiliated’ when told ‘they’re too big to fly’ CAUGHT WITH PANTS DOWN Disgusting ‘parking lot pooper’ busted POOING in public eight times Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were tragically killed along with nine others who were aboard a helicopter that spiraled and crashed in Calabasas, California on Sunday. The Black Mamba’s legacy continues to live on through the Mamba Sports Academy, which he opened in 2018 to train athletes who aspired to greatness, much like his younger self. “MAMBA Sports Academy is a natural expansion of my commitment to educating and empowering the next generation of kids through sports,” he told Bleacher Report in 2018. Mamba, out. 16 Kobe opened his own youth training center, the Mamba Sports Academy, in 2018Credit: AFP or licensorsDo you have a story for The US Sun team? Email us at [email protected] or call 212 416 4552. LeBron James in tears as he exits the Los Angeles Lakers team plane following the news of Kobe Bryant’s death Source link

source https://www.kadobeclothing.store/kobe-bryants-legendary-work-ethic-allowed-him-to-become-a-global-icon-the-sun/

[swimmersdaily]

Golden rush: Russia–Italy 2-2, 10-7 in overall

Two titles for Russia and Italy apiece, these were the highlights of Day 4 at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Kazan, plus another gold and a silver for Germany’s hopeful Isabel Gose. Belarus and the Czech Republic also grabbed their first wins respectively.

TURKEY SATIR Mert Ali, GUVENC Gizem, DEMIR Demirkan, OZKAN Aleyna 4×100 medley relay mixed Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) GERMANY HEIMRATH Magdalena GER, MAERTENS Lukas GER, ARMBRUSTER Luca Nik GER, TOBEHN Maya GER 4×100 medley relay mixed Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) RUSSIA MINAKOV Andrei RUS, ZHIGALOV Aleksandr RUS, SABITOVA Aleksandra RUS, VASKINA Daria RUS 4×100 medley relay mixed Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) GOSE Isabel Marie GER, COCCONCELLI Costanza ITA, NIKONOVA Ekaterina RUS 50 freestyle women Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) NEVMOVENKO Polina RUS, GOSE Isabel Marie GER, TOBEHN Maya GER 200 freestyle women Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) RUSSIA MINAKOV Andrei RUS, ZHIGALOV Aleksandr RUS, SABITOVA Aleksandra RUS, VASKINA Daria RUS 4×100 medley relay mixed Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) GERMANY, RUSSIA, TURKEY 4×100 medley relay mixed Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) ZUEV Nikolai RUS, CECCON Thomas ITA, SAMUSENKO Pavel RUS 50 backstroke men Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) GOSE Isabel Marie GER, COCCONCELLI Costanza ITA, NIKONOVA Ekaterina RUS 50 freestyle women Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) EGOROV Aleksandr RUS, SIBIRTSEV Ilia RUS, SCHWARZ Sven GER 800 freestyle menMedal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

TURKEY SATIR Mert Ali, GUVENC Gizem, DEMIR Demirkan, OZKAN Aleyna 4×100 medley relay mixed Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) TURKEY SATIR Mert Ali, GUVENC Gizem, DEMIR Demirkan, OZKAN Aleyna 4×100 medley relay mixed Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) GOSE Isabel Marie GER, COCCONCELLI Costanza ITA, NIKONOVA Ekaterina RUS 50 freestyle women Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) SABITOVA Aleksandra RUS, SHKURDAI Anastasiya BLR, BIASIBETTI Helena ITA 100 butterfly women Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) NEVMOVENKO Polina RUS, GOSE Isabel Marie GER, TOBEHN Maya GER 200 freestyle women Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

(L to R) TOMAC Mewen FRA, CEJKA Jan CZE, DOLOMANOV Egor RUS TOMAC Mewen FRA, CEJKA Jan CZE, DOLOMANOV Egor RUS Medal Ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

RICHARDS Matthew GBR 200 freestyle men LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

DJAKOVIC Antonio SUI 200 freestyle men LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

CECCON Thomas ITA 50 backstroke men LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day 4 06/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Champions, Day 4

Men. 800m free: Ilia Sibirtsev (RUS) 7:54.83 CR. 50m back: Thomas Ceccon (ITA) 25.24. 200m back: Jan Cejka (CZE) 1:57.51

Women. 50m free: Constanza Cocconelli (ITA) 25.25. 200m free: Marie Isabel Gose (GER) 1:57.51 CR. 100m fly: Anastasia Shkurdai (BLR) 57.39 CR.

Mixed. 4x100m medley: Russia 3:49.13

Italy and Russia are the leading forces in this edition of the junior Europeans. The hosts are the frontrunners in collecting silverware, already bagged 28 medals while Italy got 13 (just as the Germans) but the Italians keep up at least in gold-mining.

Today Ilia Sibirtsev and Alexandr Egorov delivered a 1-2 for the home nation, it was a brilliant duel in the 800m free. Sibirtsev led all the way and even though Egorov staged a late surge but couldn’t get closer than the 0.51sec separated them. Another gold arrived in the mixed relay but these were only the victories as the team amassed nine medals on the penultimate day, 2 golds, 4 silvers and 3 bronzes.

For the Italians it took less time to grab two golds: Constanza Cocconelli stormed to a fine win in the 50m free, and just minutes later Thomas Ceccon won the 50m free (he also won the 100m on Day 2). Interestingly, these two triumphs required almost identical times (25.25 and 25.24sec), and both Italians managed to out-touch the respective runners-up by 0.05sec.

For those in love with the numbers, another interesting fact that Czech Jan Cejka won the 200m back with exactly the same time (1:57.71) what Isabel Gose clocked in the 200m free. The German was just that 0.05sec away from making another brilliant double: she did the 100m-400m on Day 2 and almost repeated that over the 50m-200m. After her fine with in the 200m (with a new CR), she earned a silver in the dash behind Cocconelli.

Another CR was smashed in the 100m fly, Anastasia Shkurdai lowered her own best effort clocked in the semis, though the Belorussian was still dissatisfied saying she would need much more to excel among the seniors.

Quotes from the winners

Jan Cejka (CZE), 200m back

“It’s amazing. I could never imagine that I am able to swim as fast like this. By far my best time ever. Well, when I qualified in the first place to the final I thought I could win but what was really amazing was the time. Everything really came together.”

Marie Isabel Gose (GER), 200m free

“I’m absolutely satisfied with this day! I’ve never imagined I could beat the Championship Record in the 200m and you see, it’s there. So I’m really happy. The 50m was a bonus. And I’m second. No, I don’t mind that it was only 0.05 (between her and the winner). I’m really happy now!”

Anastasia Shkurdai (BLR), 100m fly

“I’m not really happy with this result. It’s good to win this race but this result counts good only among the juniors. At senior level I need much better times. So I have to work really hard to achieve something big among the seniors.”

Ilia Sibirtsev (RUS), 800m free

“We’ve been swimming together with Sasha (Alexandr Egorov, silver medallist) for five years, finishing 1-2 every time. He is not my rival, but like my brother. Now it was my turn. There was no specific plan, just swim. Making every 100m harder and harder. It’s a great feeling to win this gold.”

Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 50m back

“Since the 50m is not my main event I am happy with the gold. My PB is 25.1, so the time is OK after all. Too bad that the relay came right after the final.”

Constanza Cocconelli (ITA), 50m free

“That’s such a great feeling to achieve this time. I did my personal best in the semi-final in the afternoon and I’ve never thought that I could do that much better in the final. When I looked at the scoreboard I couldn’t believe my time. That’s so important, it shows that it’s good to do the hard work in the trainings.”

Medal table after Day 4

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total Russia 10 10 8 28 Italy 7 3 3 13 Germany 5 5 3 13 Switzerland 2 0 0 2 Hungary 1 3 2 6 Great Britain 1 2 4 7 Czech Rep 1 0 2 3 Belarus 1 0 1 2 Greece 1 0 1 2 Ukraine 1 0 1 2 Spain 1 0 0 1 Israel 0 2 1 3 Turkey 0 2 1 3 France 0 1 2 3 Netherlands 0 1 1 2 Sweden 0 1 1 2 Lithuania 0 1 0 1 Finland 0 0 1 1

  For detailed results, please visit http://ejc2019.microplustiming.com/indexEJC2019_web.php

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia / Giorgio Scala

Kazan 2019 European Junior Swimming Championships Day 4: 2-2 titles for RUS, ITA Golden rush: Russia–Italy 2-2, 10-7 in overall Two titles for Russia and Italy apiece, these were the highlights of Day 4 at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Kazan, plus another gold and a silver for Germany’s hopeful Isabel Gose.

#Kazan 2019

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON'S CORNER: WOLF PACK OFF SEASON VOLUME 16

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Teams are all in the home stretch preparing for the 2018-19 season and this was a busy week. PLAYER & COACHING MOVEMENT Ex-Hartford Wolf Pack forward, Chad Wiseman, gets a league upgrade. Wiseman was named the new assistant coach for the Guelph Storm (OHL). Last month, he was named the head coach for his hometown Burlington Cougars (OJHL) a Junior A league after being a development coach last year. Former Bridgeport Sound Tiger head coach, and former New Haven Nighthawks player, Lane Lambert, was a part of the Capitals Stanley Cup winner, follows head coach Barry Trotz to the Islanders. Lambert was named associate head coach. Another former Nighthawk and player, as well as a Rangers assistant coach,  replaces him. Scott Arniel was hired to be an assistant coach for the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. He joins former QU Bobcat Reid Cashman, who was promoted to assistant coach from Hershey, on Todd Reirden’s staff. Ex-Pack Marty Wilford was elevated from the San Diego Gulls to be an assistant coach with the Anaheim Ducks. The San Jose Barracuda (AHL), the Sharks top farm team, adds two new assistant coaches. They are moving two scouts up the ladder. Long-time AHL tough guy, Jimmy Bonneau, and Michael Chiasson, the son of a former Whalers player, the late Steve Chiasson. The late rearguard’s other son, Ryan Chaisson is at SUNY-Plattsburgh (SUNYAC) a Division III program. Another AHL’er heads to Europe as Niki Petti Laval signs with Mora IK (Sweden-SHL). Andrew Crescenzi also flies over the ocean leaving the Ontario Reign and signs with HC Bolzano (Italy-AEHL). Ex-Pack, Francois Bouchard, last playing for GHC Bordeaux (France-FREL) and after a year off, has signed for this season with the Dundee Stars (England-EIHL). Ryan Verbeek, the nephew of former Hartford Whalers and NY Rangers great, Pat Verbeek, who's now Tampa Bay’s assistant GM and Director of Player Development, leaves Canadian college hockey Dalhousie University (AUAA) for HC Lyon (France-FREL). He canceled a deal he first signed with Cergy (France-FREL). Hayden Verbeek, Pat's his other nephew, will be with Laval (AHL) this season. According to a team press release, ex-Pack, Daniel Paille, has had his career cut short because of a concussion. He had just signed a two-year extension with Brynas IF (Sweden-SHL) before a vicious blindside hit from one-time Springfield Falcon, Thomas Larkin, of Adler Mannheim (Germany-DEL) in a Champions Hockey League tourney game. Paille, a new father, not only lost his career but most likely, also lost a chance to be on the Canadian Olympic Team in PyeonChang, South Korea because of the injury. Larkin received only a four-game suspension.  View it HERE. Shane Prince, who played four games with the Sound Tigers last year on an injury rehab, heads to HC Davos (Switzerland–LNA). Three former UCONN Huskies have changed addresses. Johnny Austin, who after the season ended up playing nine games with the Laval Rocket who he got his first pro point, has signed with the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. Goalie Garrett Bartus, from the last UCONN (AHC) team, goes from Ft. Wayne (ECHL) to Greenville (ECHL).  Shawn Pauly, from UCONN’s first Hockey East team, goes from Kansas City (ECHL) to Coventry Blaze (England-EIHL). He canceled his HC Lyon Lions (France-FREL) deal to sign with Coventry. Ex-Pack, Joey Leach, who had five games with the Wolf Pack last season, re-signs with the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) for this season. Jared Fiegl is another NCAA grad signing a pro deal going from Cornell University (ECACHL) to Orlando (ECHL). That makes 171 Division I players that have signed pro deals in North America and 225 total players have signed North America and Europe. The US Hockey Hall of Fame has released its Class of 2018. Heading the list is the long-time University of Michigan head coach and a former NHL player, George “Red” Berenson. He coached 33 years with 22 consecutive NCAA appearances and an overall record of 848-426-92. He coached 1,366 games and won NCAA titles in 1996, and in 1998. In the old CCHA conference, the Wolverines finished first and second 20 of 23 years of the conference's history. Berenson played 987 NHL games, primarily with the St. Louis Blues. He was with Montreal early in his career before spending 49 games with the Rangers in the mid-1960’s before being traded to the Blues. Berenson then spent five years with Detroit and finished out his career with St. Louis his last four years. Minnesotan, Natalie Darwitz, won three Olympic medals (two silvers and a bronze) and was the youngest woman selected to play with the national team at age 15. She holds the NCAA women’s regular season scoring record at 114 points and is presently the coach at Hamline University in Minnesota in the Division III MIAC conference. David Poile has worked for USA hockey for over 30 years in various capacities. He is the current GM of Nashville Predators and is the longest-serving GM in the NHL with 36 consecutive years. He started out with Washington. Read a nice feature piece on Jack Finley, son of ex-Wolf Pack Jeff Finley HERE At the WJSS (World Junior Summer Showcase) we got to see another Drury score a game-winning goal. Jack Drury, the son of Ted Drury, an ex-Whaler, and the nephew of Chris Drury, the Wolf Pack GM and Assistant GM with the Rangers, completed a two-on-one break. Like his uncle did on many occasions, he snapped a shot high over the glove hand of Finnish goalie, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, with 7:19 to go in regulation. The goal would turn out to be the game-winner in a 2-1 US victory. Darien’s Spencer Knight (Avon Old Farm’s) had a strong performance in the game’s second half with nine saves for the red, white and blue. In Sunday’s wild 6-5 loss to Canada, QU's Keith Petruzzelli had a tough afternoon in Kamloops, BC. He gave up five goals on 20 shots and was pulled for Cayden Primeau. Drury set up Paul Cotter for a goal with 2:35 left in regulation to draw the US closer to 6-5. Primeau earned a win for the US in the teams first game a 5-4 OT win over Sweden. This weekend, the Ivan Hlinka-Wayne Gretzky Cup will be played in Red Deer, AB, and Edmonton, AB. It will be on the NHL Network. The semifinals are on Friday. Saturday is the bronze medal game and the Gold Medal Game on Sunday at 5:00 pm EST. The US team video coach is the current and long-time Wolf Pack assistant GM Pat Boller (Danbury). Canada’s goaltending consultant is all-time Wolf Pack great, Jason LaBarbera. Canada won its opener 10-0 over Switzerland. The US blanked the Czech Republic 6-0. The Czech goalie was Nick Malik, the youngest son of former Whaler, Ranger, and Beast of New Haven defenseman, Marek Malik. He gave up the first four goals on 25 shots before being pulled. With little time for a true search for a new assistant coach to replace the recently departed Brendan Buckley (Boston College), UConn did the next best thing. They went in-house to round out head coach Mike Cavanaugh’s coaching staff for the season. The Huskies promoted Joe Pereira (West Haven/South Kent Prep) to associate head coach and hired Tyler Helton as an assistant coach and Joe Ferriss as a graduate assistant to work under Cavanaugh. Pereira has been a part of Cavanaugh’s staff since his first season. He begins his sixth year on the bench this fall. He has played a significant role in the program’s recruiting efforts during his tenure with the Huskies. Helton has been a part of the program since his freshman year in Storrs in 2012. He begins his first season as a full-time assistant coach in 2018-19. He will assist the program working with the Husky defensemen, special teams and assisting with all aspects of recruiting. Helton initially joined Cavanaugh’s staff in the fall of 2013 and has worked with the program as a student assistant and graduate manager over the past five seasons. Ferriss returns to his alma mater for his first collegiate coaching job. He will assist the program with the video breakdown of games and practices, developing scouting reports, and practice plans. Ferriss graduated from UCONN in 2016 with a degree in exercise science after playing 120 games during his four-year career on the ice for the Huskies. One-time Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) assistant coach, and CT Nighthawks (EHL) head coach, Graham Johnson, is named head coach at Milwaukee's School of Engineering (WIAC), a Wisconsin-based Division III program. RIP to the great Stan Mikita who spent his entire NHL career in Chicago. Mikita is the only player in NHL history to achieve the trophy hat-trick consisting of the Art Ross Trophy (Scoring), Hart Trophy (MVP) and Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship). He achieved that not once, but twice and not just twice but in back to back years, 1966-1968. That's a feat that neither Gretzky, Lemieux, or Orr ever accomplished. He won four NHL scoring titles as part of the Original Six. In 1,394 games, Mikita tallied 1,467 points and is the all-time leading scorer in Chicago BlackHawks history. Mikita's earning The Lady Byng trophy was amazing. Early in his career, he was known to have a hair-trigger temper and was a willing and able fighter despite being just 5’9. He toned down his play and never again crossed the 100-minute mark after his sixth season. Mikita escaped from then communist Czechoslovakia. He was born in Sokolce in what is now the Slovak Republic. He arrived in Canada and had a great junior career in St. Catharines winning the league scoring title. Later, when his hockey career began, Mikita settled into Chicago.  In the Windy City, Mikita became an icon along with Bobby Hull in the 1960’s. Mikita also created the first deaf and hearing impaired hockey academy in North America. It would help youngsters with those disabilities to learn to develop their hockey and socialization skills. WJC SCHEDULE RELEASED At the WJC tournament in Vancouver, and Victoria, BC December 26th-January 5th,  it will not feature a preliminary round, USA-Canada game on New Year’s Eve. Rather it will be against Russia. The only time the two North American countries can meet is in the medal round games. The official schedule because of the West Coast time difference will mean some holiday late nights and DVR recording. The US preliminary game schedule is; Dec. 26 vs. Slovakia 6:30 pm Dec. 28 vs. Kazakhstan 10:30 pm Dec, 29 vs. Sweden 10:30 pm Dec. 31 vs. Finland 10:30 pm The elimination and medal round games start January 2nd. All USA games will be shown on the NHL Network as they pick up the feed from TSN in Canada. OUTDOOR HOCKEY SOUTH AMERICAN STYLE Playing outdoor hockey right now to some is laughable, but at the southernmost latitude where Chile and Antartica meet, an outdoor game took place. Read about this unique event. HERE. REASON 1,500 TO HATE THE HURRICANES To include the fabled "Brass Bonanza" as one of the eight finalists for a Hurricanes goal celebration song, for many here in Connecticut, it's offensive. Consider that the team did leave here and the former owner forbade the name to be uttered in the office no less, just is a slap in the face to those who still long to see the team here. Read about this HERE. Read the full article

#AnaheimDucks #ArtRossTrophy #BarryTrotz #BeastofNewHaven #BobbyHull #BostonCollege #BrassBonanza #BrendanBuckley #BridgeportSoundTiger #Canadiancollegehockey #CentralDivision #ChadWiseman #ChicagoBlackhawks #CHL #ChrisDrury #CornellUniversity #CzechRepublic #DalhousieUniversity #DanielPaille #DavidPoile #FrancoisBouchard #HartfordWhalers #HartfordWolfPack #HockeyHallofFame #IceHockey #JasonLaBarbera #NashvillePredators #NationalHockeyLeague #NCAA #NewHavenNighthawks

[jodyedgarus]

Argentina Is The Team To Beat In Group D, But Can Messi (Finally) Win The Tournament?

Over the next few days, FiveThirtyEight will be examining each of the eight groups in the 2018 World Cup, which begins Thursday in Russia. Read about Group A, Group B and Group C.

Lionel Messi still has not won a senior international tournament.1 His Argentina was defeated by Germany in the last World Cup and lost on penalty kicks to Chile in the final of the Copa America in both 2015 and 2016. La Albiceleste will be looking to win Messi the trophy he deserves, and for the first step on that journey, the team has been drawn into an entirely winnable group with Croatia, Iceland and Nigeria.

Legit contender or paper tiger?

Like its neighbor Uruguay, Argentina’s strength resides primarily in its forward line. Manager Jorge Sampaoli will have to answer the question perennially asked of the person at the helm of Messi’s national team: Which excellent striker should play with Messi? On a purely statistical level, the answer should be Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, whose 0.67 expected goals per 90 minutes in the last two seasons places him in the top 10 in the world.

But Sampaoli’s preferred tactics make the lineup question more complicated. Sampaoli is a disciple of the revolutionary Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa, known as “El Loco,” who popularized a harum-scarum pressing style. And Sampaoli has Argentina playing this way, for better or for worse.

Argentina’s aggressive style

How CONMEBOL teams compare in rate of high presses since the last World Cup

Team Press Rate Argentina 56.2% Chile 55.2 Ecuador 50.8 Brazil 49.4 Colombia 49.0 Peru 46.3 Uruguay 45.7 Paraguay 44.1 Venezuela 42.2 Bolivia 39.4

Presses are counted when a new opposition possession is broken up before the opponent can string three passes together.

Source: Opta Sports

Among the South American teams that made the world cup, Argentina relies the most heavily on an aggressive high press, breaking up new opposition possessions more than 56 percent of the time before the opponent can string three passes together. Only Chile, which both Bielsa and Sampaoli had managed previously, has similar numbers, and Chile did not make it out of the qualifying round. Argentina struggled as well and only qualified on the last day. The press can create attacking chances, but it can also leave a defense exposed if an opponent can pass through it. To effectively play such an aggressive, hard-running style, Sampaoli may opt for neither Aguero nor longtime Argentine starter Gonzalo Higuain, but rather Higuain’s club teammate Paulo Dybala, who has scored 38 non-penalty goals for Juventus in the last two seasons, playing primarily behind the striker. Dybala offers less pure goal-scoring ability than Aguero and Higuain, but he is younger and provides energy and creativity for a manager whose team must run all day long. Messi at 30 is already unable to press as he used to, and pairing him with another old striker risks blowing up Sampaoli’s plan before it gets started.

The Soccer Power Index, FiveThirtyEight’s team rating system, gives Argentina a better than 75 percent chance of making it out of the group, but only about a 7 percent chance to win the World Cup. It may take a gamble like benching Aguero and Higuain to bring Argentina back to the level of true World Cup contender.

Croatia, like Argentina, is looking to get the most out of a golden generation at one position, but the Balkan side is flush with midfielders, not forwards. Real Madrid’s Luka Modric is the superstar of the group, but Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan) and Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid again) all play for Champions League sides.

What is unusual about Croatia, statistically, is that despite all this great talent in the center of the pitch, the team is quite dependent on crossing from wide areas to attack the penalty area — of all the teams at the World Cup, only underpowered Saudi Arabia relies on crosses for penalty area entries more than Croatia. Manager Zlatko Dalic likes to play two wingers, usually Ivan Perisic and one other, on either side of Modric in the attacking band. The passing options for Modric and the central midfielders are then heavily constrained to the wide areas. Croatia’s talent is probably enough to see it through, but this mismatch between talent and tactics means that Croatia may be primed for upset.

Underdog or also-ran?

If there is to be an upset in this group, who better than Iceland to pull it off? The tiny Scandinavian nation is going to its first World Cup after a Cinderella run in the 2016 Euros and a shockingly assured European qualifying season. Iceland will not be trying anything unusual or pretty, but what it does is effective. Iceland will look for quick-hitting counterattacks and set play situations. If neither of Croatia or Argentina can sort out a solution to their tactical problems, Iceland’s clear understanding of its own style should give them a real shot at an upset.

Nigeria could make an underdog run here by the same logic. Its attack is poised to hit quickly rather than play in possession, and SPI rates Nigeria’s defense as 14th-best at the World Cup. Don’t expect a great deal of excitement from the Super Eagles, but Salisu Yusuf has drilled his team to play a structured defense that could give Argentina and Croatia trouble.

Player to watch

Nigeria’s defensive tactics do not work without keeping numbers back, and that places most of the responsibility for getting shots on the striker. Luckily for Super Eagles fans, their team has a player with superstar talent — if they will just let him get off the bench, where he has been stuck in recent warm-up friendlies. At the club level, Kelechi Iheanacho has had the misfortune to play behind Aguero at Manchester City and Jamie Vardy at Leicester City the past two years, which has limited his minutes, but the production is there. With about 10 expected goals and five expected assists in 1431 minutes played, Iheanacho’s rate stats compare well to young superstars like France’s Kylian Mbappe and Brazil’s Gabriel Jesus.

Europe’s top young scoring talent

Highest expected goals plus assists per 90 minutes among players 22 and younger in the big five European leagues, 2016-18

Player Country Expected goals + assists per 90 minutes Kelechi Iheanacho Nigeria 0.96 Kylian Mbappe France 0.91 Gabriel Jesus Brazil 0.88 Timo Werner Germany 0.68 Ousmane Dembele France 0.68 Anastasios Donis Greece 0.62 Patrick Cutrone Italy 0.61 Ademola Lookman England 0.59 Maxi Gomez Uruguay 0.59 Leroy Sane Germany 0.58 Dele Alli England 0.57

For players with minimum 1,000 combined minutes in club and Champions League play. The big five leagues are the Premier League (England), Bundesliga (Germany), Ligue 1 (France), La Liga (Spain) and Serie A (Italy).

Source: Opta Sports

While the Nigerian youngster cannot be expected to maintain these rates over a full starting season, it is hard to escape the conclusion that he could be a top striker if he got the chance. Nigeria will need a little luck and lot of work from its striker to make it out of a tough Group D. Taking a bet on a player with incredible potential at precisely the position where it is needed most could propel the underdogs to the knockouts.

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/argentina-is-the-team-to-beat-in-group-d-but-can-messi-finally-win-the-tournament/

[mystlnewsonline]

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/the-latest-dahlmeier-hits-all-her-targets-takes-a-trip/84116/

The Latest: Dahlmeier hits all her targets, takes a trip

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea /February 9, 2018 (AP)(STL.News) — The Latest on the Pyeongchang Olympics (all times local): 12:00 a.m.

So maybe Laura Dahlmeier isn’t quite perfect after all. After the German biathlete won her first gold in what she deemed a “perfect race” — she hit all 10 targets with her rifle — the 24-year-old showed she’s human, too. As she approached a group of her German teammates after the race she began running with outstretched arms toward them but promptly slipped on a patch of ice. Her teammates helped her up and they all had a good chuckle before continuing celebrating Germany’s first medal of the 2018 Olympic Games. ___ 11:25 p.m.

Alina Muller scored a hat trick in the first period and added a fourth goal 1:26 into the second as Switzerland shut out Korea 8-0 for a big dose of hockey reality for the Koreans’ extraordinary Olympic debut. The first combined Korean team at any Olympics did not dim fans’ enthusiasm for a team dressing three North Koreans.

Bolstered by North Korean cheerleaders, fans yelled “Bear up” on each shot attempt. They also shouted “We are one” with the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North

Korea’s nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam, watching at the Kwandong Hockey Center. Korea just missed an early lead when Han Soojin’s shot hit the crossbar. Switzerland is ranked sixth in the world. ___ 10:10 p.m. The Koreans managed all of three shots in the first 20 minutes of their historic women’s hockey game in the Olympics, and a North Korean had one of them.

And fans roared encouragement and approval each time the Koreans touched the puck. Han Soojin had a shot that went off the crossbar, just missing a chance to give Korea a lead in a scoreless game. North Korean Jong Su Hyon had a shot smothered by the Swiss goalie, and Choi Jiyeon had another shot late in the period.

It wasn’t nearly enough against Switzerland, ranked sixth in the world and winner of bronze in 2014 at Sochi. Alina Muller provided all the scoring the Swiss needed with a hat trick in the first period, the third goal coming with 12 seconds left in the period. ___ 10 p.m. The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is watching a joint Korean hockey team’s historic first match against Switzerland at the Olympics with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Moon’s office says Moon; Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong; and North Korea’s nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam, are at the Kwandong Hockey Center on Saturday to watch the game.

Kim Yo Jong and Kim Yong Nam are on an unprecedented visit to South Korea amid an abrupt reconciliation mood between the rival Koreas for the Pyeongchang Games. The North Koreans earlier Saturday invited Moon to visit Pyongyang in what would be the Koreas’ third summit talks since their 1945 division. ___ 9:50 p.m. Lim Hyo-jun has given the host country its first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics. The South Korean crossed the line first in the men’s 1,500-meter short track, setting off a huge roar from the capacity crowd at Gangneung Ice Arena.

Defending Olympic champion Charles Hamelin of Canada was penalized for impeding and finished far back anyway. Lim surged past Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands and finished about two blade lengths ahead in an Olympic-record time of 2 minutes, 10.485 seconds. Knegt settled for the silver medal, while the bronze went to Semen Elistratov, who became Russia’s first medalist of the games.

Russia was banned from the Olympics for a massive doping scheme, but Elistratov is among 168 competitors allowed in as “Olympic Athletes From Russia.” ___ 9:45 p.m. The Koreans have made Olympic history with the puck dropping in their first Olympic game with their women’s hockey lineup featuring three North Koreans under an unprecedented agreement. And a North Korean forward nearly gave the historic combined team a lead. Jong Su Hyon shot the puck from the left circle on a power play in the first period only to catch the crossbar, glancing off harmlessly.

Then Switzerland responded by jumping out to a 2-0 lead, scoring 61 seconds apart midway through the period Trailing didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of home fans, who kept chanting in support with the North Korean cheerleaders rinkside leading the cheers. During a timeout, the cheerleaders tried to start fans doing the wave only to see that trickle out as play resumed. ___ 9:40 p.m. The Dutch resumed where they left off four years ago, dominating the Olympic speedskating Oval and getting a clean sweep of medals in the women’s 3,000 meters, with outsider Carlijn Achtereekte leading the way. Achtereekte raced in the first half of the program with the also-rans, but her time of 3 minutes, 59.21 seconds was good as gold as double 3,000-meter Olympic champion Ireen Wust finished .08 seconds behind.

Bronze went to Antoinette de Jong for the amazing Dutch sweep. In Sochi four years ago, the Netherlands won 23 of 36 medals. They’ve started 3 for 3 at the Pyeongchang Games. ___ 9:25 p.m. Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier wasn’t just good. She was perfect.

The 24-year-old budding biathlon star hit all 10 targets to win her first gold medal in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint on Saturday night at the Pyeongchang Games.

Dahlmeier had won five of six possible medals at last year’s World Championships. Coincidentally, the one event she didn’t win was this one.

She appeared exhausted as she finished, falling to the ground, her face inches from the snow and her skis spread apart in a frog-like position.

Only three women out of 86 competitors hit all 10 targets on a cold and blustery night. However, the other two failed to crack the top 15 because they took too long to shoot those targets. Norway’s Marte Olsbu captured the silver medal and Veronika Vitkova from the Czech Republic took home the bronze. ___ 9:20 p.m.

South Korea recovered from a crash to earn a place in the women’s 3,000-meter relay final at short-track speedskating. The South Koreans won their semifinal heat on Saturday night, drawing wild cheers from the home crowd at the packed Gangneung Ice Arena.

Canada also advanced to Tuesday’s final, along with China and Italy. The U.S. women didn’t qualify for the event. ___ 9:15 p.m. The field is set for the men’s 1,500-meter short-track speedskating final. After the crash-filled semifinals, nine skaters advanced to the final later Saturday night. Among them is defending Olympic champion Charles Hamelin of Canada.

American J.R. Celski finished sixth and last in his semifinal heat and didn’t advance after being penalized. Joining Celski on the sidelines was his teammate John-Henry Krueger, who also got penalized.

World record holder Sjinkie Knegt will try to become the first Dutch short-track speedskater to win an Olympic title in the chaotic sport.

Among others in the 1,500 final are Liu Shaolin Sandor of Hungary, Lim Hyo-jun and Hwang Dae-heon, both of South Korea, and Semen Elistratov, a Russian skater who is competing under the Olympic flag at the games. ___ 9:05 p.m. Coach Sarah Murray is playing three North Korean forwards as required in the deal creating the first combined Korean team in Olympic history.

The women’s hockey coach faced some tough decisions after negotiations led to 12 North Korean players being added to her roster on Jan. 25. She had to scratch three of her South Korean players for Saturday’s game against Switzerland at the Kwandong Hockey Center.

The North Korean forwards are Kim Un Hyang, Jong Su Hyon and Hwang Chung Gum. Neither country has played women’s ice hockey in the Olympics before. South Korea only received a berth as a host country. Fans cheered as the Koreans took the ice for pregame warmups. But the cheers might have been louder if not for a backup outside the arena getting fans through the gates. ___ 8:50 p.m.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says there’s hope the “tender dialogue” between the Koreas at Pyeongchang will foster an improvement in diplomatic relations beyond the Olympics.

Steinmeier visited the German House in Pyeongchang as medal competition was getting was underway. He says only months ago there were doubts over North Korea’s participation in the Olympics. He says, “Certainly three weeks ago no one would have thought that there would be a united team which entered the stadium together.” The rare invitation to Pyongyang for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, delivered by Kim Jong Un’s sister, has accelerated the diplomatic warming.

By those measures, Steinmeier say, “What we’re seeing right now is at least a sign.” He says he’s not sure it can hold long term but notes, “At least you can have hope.” ___ 8:40 p.m. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are chatting while watching Olympic speedskaters compete just hours after Moon received a historic invitation to visit North Korea. Aides did not immediately say whether the invitation was discussed as the two sat next to each other viewing several heats Saturday.

They were seated not far from a section of North Korean cheerleaders who attended the Olympics in a sign of warming ties between the two Koreas that Pence and other U.S. officials have warned against. Moon and North Korea’s 90-year-old ceremonial head of state will jointly attend the unified Korean women’s ice hockey team’s first match later Saturday evening with Pence. ___ 8:30 p.m. American teenager Maame Biney is safely through to the quarterfinals of the 500 meters in her short-track Olympic debut. The 18-year-old speedskater finished second in her heat behind China’s Fan Kexin on Saturday night. Biney was born in Ghana and moved to the U.S. as a 5-year-old. The other American, Lana Gehring, was eliminated after finishing third in her heat. Only the top two skaters in each heat advance. Among the big names moving on to Tuesday’s quarterfinals are Canadian teammates Kim Boutin and Marianne St-Gelais, Italy’s Arianna Fontana, Britain’s Elise Christie and South Korea’s Choi Min-jeong. Shim Suk-hee of South Korea was a three-time medalist at the Sochi Games but was eliminated Saturday after finishing third in her heat. ___ 8:10 p.m.

Korean fans are very, very excited about making history with their combined women’s hockey team at the Pyeongchang Games. Hundreds of fans waved flags with many featuring the Korean Peninsula, and they chanted while waiting outside in gusting winds for officials to open the doors at the Kwandong Hockey Center 90 minutes before Korea plays Switzerland.

A capacity crowd of 6,000 is expected for the game, with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s 90-year-old nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam, among them. The men boarded a train for Gangneung after lunch in Seoul with Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un. It’s unclear if she will be joining the leaders to watch a roster featuring 12 North Koreans. ___ 7:55 p.m. The first night of short-track speedskating is underway at the Pyeongchang Olympics. All three Americans have advanced to the semifinals of the men’s 1,500 meters. Three-time Olympian J.R. Celski and John-Henry Krueger nearly fell in their heats, while a crash involving two skaters allowed Aaron Tran to move on in the 13 ½-lap race. South Korea’s three skaters — Hwang Dae-heon, Lim Hyo-jun and Seo Yira — also qualified for the semis to the delight of the home crowd, which roared any time one of their skaters was in the lead. Short track is hugely popular in the host country. World record holder Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands safely moved on, as did defending Olympic champion Charles Hamelin of Canada. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen are in the crowd. ___ 7:35 p.m. Vice President Mike Pence is cheering on U.S. speedskaters at the Winter Olympics before departing South Korea for Washington.

Pence and his wife are viewing the short-track competition Saturday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his wife. Eight Americans are participating in the event. It’s the final stop on a six-day trip that Pence hoped would increase pressure on North Korea as it seeks to use the games to pursue an opening with the South.

Pence’s efforts to keep the spotlight on North Korea’s nuclear program and human rights abuses have taken a back seat to the widely viewed images of the two Koreas marching under one flag during Friday night’s opening ceremony — and to the invitation by dictator Kim Jong Un for South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit the North. ___ 7:25 p.m. Norwegian cross-country skiing star Marit Bjoergen says this will be her final Olympics. Bjoergen has won her 11th Olympic medal, taking silver in the 15-kilometer skiathlon, making her the most decorated female Winter Olympian ever.

The 37-year-old is still hoping to pass biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who has 13 podium finishes, before the end of these Olympic Games. She won’t say how many races she plans to participate in in Pyeongchang, only that she will participate in the women’s sprint on Tuesday. “I haven’t thought about that. For sure it’s my last Olympics, but for me, I have to focus on doing good races,” Bjoergen said. “I think when I’m finished with the Olympics I can look behind me and see how many medals I have. For me it’s important to do the race and have the focus there.” ___ 7:10 p.m. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven is hailing Charlotte Kalla, who won the first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics. Lofven wrote on Instagram “Sweden’s first gold hero at the Olympic Games! Congratulations Kalla.” Kalla won gold ahead of Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen in the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon. ___ 7:05 p.m. Sara Hjalmarsson scored 1:53 into the third period and Sweden held off Japan 2-1 in a thrilling game to open the preliminary round for women’s ice hockey at the Pyeongchang Games.

This was only Japan’s third appearance in the Olympics for women’s ice hockey, and they had to start off pool play against a country that took home silver in 2006 and bronze in 2002. Sweden took a 1-0 lead 2:21 into the game when Fanny Rask scored from a tough angle, squeezing the puck between Nana Fujimoto’s head and the post.

The Japanese tied it up with 3:08 left in the second period. The Swedes took the lead back thanks to a great takeaway by Erika Grahm who then passed the puck backward to Hjalmarsson in the slot for the go-ahead goal. ___ 6:55 p.m. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is not directly addressing news that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a visit, as the two Koreas use the Olympics as an opportunity for renewing ties amid concerns over North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.

Pence spokeswoman Alyssa Farah says, “The vice president is grateful that President Moon reaffirmed his strong commitment to the global maximum pressure campaign and for his support for continued sanctions.” Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, delivered the invitation to Moon on Saturday. Pence has meant to use his trip to the Olympics to caution the South against “falling for” the North’s overtures, which in the past have been used as stall tactics to allow for continued development of its nuclear program.

By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (R.A) ___

#North Korean Jong Su Hyon #North Korean leader Kim Jong Un #Pyeongchang #U.S. women