Sunday, December 2, 2001
Belanger has edge
By ANDREW SMITH -- Calgary Sun
One day after predicting he would set a Canadian Olympic standard in long track speed skating's 1,000 metres, Quebec's Jean-Rene Belanger was at it again.
Day 2 of the Canadian all-round and sprint championships saw Belanger clock a time of one minute, 10.23 seconds to nudge him closer to his own Olympic dream.
That means one more qualifying time of 1:10.35, and he can get ready for a trip to Salt Lake.
Or does it?
"This is a difficult team to make because there are only four spots and Jeremy (Wotherspoon), Mike (Ireland) and Pat (Bouchard) have pretty much made it," said Belanger.
"But now, at Olympic trials, it is a good situation for me. All the stress is on their side. I'm just going to jump in and if I don't do well, then, oh well."
Belanger, 20, has all but owned the past two days at the Oval, only because he may be the top Canadian not currently in Salt Lake on the World Cup tour.
That said, he is one of only a few Canadian skaters who can claim a sub-1:10 time in the 1,000m, putting him in an even stronger position for the Olympic trials.
Now based in Ste-Foy, Que., where he skates at the oval named for three-time Olympic medal winner Gaetan Boucher, Belanger trains face-first into the elements on the outdoor facility.
At 6-ft. 4-in., the lanky Belanger feels he has what it takes to power his way onto the Olympic team when the trials take to the cushy, climate-controlled atmosphere of Calgary's Oval.
REMPEL SPRINTS TO FIRST: The women's sprint competition went to Manitoba's Shannon Rempel, who raced to times of 1:20.03 in the 1,000m and 39.62 in the 500m to claim the crown, twice besting Alberta's Danielle Wotherspoon.
The 17-year-old from Winnipeg claimed her first Canadian sprint title, and in the process showed why she walked away from last year's world junior championships with bronze and silver medals.
The win came less than a week after Rempel celebrated her birthday.
In the women's all-round, Manitoba's Brittany Schussler leads after three distances ahead of Chelsey Parker of Saskatchewan and Michelle D'Amours of Quebec.
The men's all-round belongs to B.C.'s Jay Morrison, who clocked a 3:57.74 in the 3,000m to lead provincial counterpart Jeff Kitura and Ontario's Gasper Aceti.
With the sprints portion of the competition now over, the Oval ice prepares for the slower and more methodical distance races today.
Racing begins at 10 a.m. with the men's 1,500m, followed by the women's 3,000m and wraps up with the men's 5,000m.
WOTHERSPOON LOWERS MARK: Jeremy Wotherspoon of Red Deer lowered the world speed skating record in the men's 1,000 metres to one minute, 7.72 seconds during the season-opening World Cup race at the Utah Olympic Oval at Salt Lake City.
Wotherspoon's record came minutes after American Casey FitzRandolph was timed in 1:08.06, breaking Wotherspoon's record of 1:08.28.
The Canadian team collected five medals overall in four races, while American Jennifer Rodriguez surprised the favourites with her first career World Cup gold medal for the 1,000 women's race.
Rodriguez, the 1993 world in-line skating champion, won gold with a personal best of 1:14.68. That time withstood challenges by 1,000 world record-holder Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt of Germany and 500 world record-holder Catriona Le May Doan of Calgary, who were paired in the race's final heat.
The race's bronze medal went to Germany's Sabine Voelker, who was timed in 1:14.81.
In the women's 500 metres, Le May Doan easily won in 37.55 seconds.
Germany's Sabine Voelker finished second in 37.84 and Sayuri Osuga of Japan was third in 37.93.
-- With files from AP
2002 Games Long Track Speed Skating Coverage
