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Ohno wins World title at Championships
By Gretchen Adams // usolympicteam.com // March 16, 2005
Fighting back from a rough start at the 2005 World Short Track Championships, two-time 2002 Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno skated to win the 1000-meter title.
While leading with a lap to go, Ohno slipped causing him to lose his balance for a second, just long enough for Korea’s Ahn Hyun Soo to take the lead. Ohno regained his speed and overtook Ahn in the last lap winning the World title by 0.14 seconds.
Not only did Ohno win the 1000-meter title, but also was able to overtake Ahn once again in the 3000-meter final. In the last straightaway, Ohno skated by Ahn winning the gold by a little more than two seconds.
Even with these two victories over Ahn, Ohno had too many disqualifications from the previous two days of competition and finished second in the World overall with 68 points. Ahn was crowned World Champion with 89 points.
In the men’s 5000-meter relay final, the U.S. team of Ohno, 2002 Olympian Shani Davis, Jordan Malone and Alex Izykowski came back from an early fall in the race, which caused them to lose ground on the leading group, to win bronze. With a quick recovery, the team overtook the Chinese team.
On the women’s side of the championships, Hyo-Jung Kim and 2002 Olympian Allison Baver both finished third in their quarterfinal races of the 1000-meter. Baver shaved 0.225 seconds off of teammate Kim’s American Record setting a time of 1:31.57.
The next competition for the U.S. team is the North American Short Track Championships on March 18-20 in Milwaukee, Wis.
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