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Photo: AFP
1998 Olympic champion:
Event not held
2001 World Cup champion:
Yang Yang (A), China (pictured above)
2001 World champion:
Yang Yang (A), China
World record:
Moon-Yung Kim, South Korea
2.21.844 |
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The 1500-metre race is the newest Olympic short-track distance, for both men and women, and like all the other short-track races, predicting a winner is an inexact science at best.
It's "so much less predictable" than long-track racing, says analyst Neal Marshall. "Any of them could win. It's the nature of the sport. It's just going to come down to their strategy and how the race goes. So much depends on chance: your positioning, if you get caught out, someone could just make a good move, or you could get taken out by someone."
Once again, however, as in the other women's short-track events, China and Korea are the strongest contenders for medals in the 1,500m, but there's a young Canadian who could surprise in this one.
As always, though, the nod has to go to 25-year-old Yang Yang (A) of China, who has been ranked first overall in the world championships since 1997, reaching 19 of 20 possible finals and winning 12 of them. Yang's performance in the 2001-02 World Cup 1,500m standings has been formidable even by her own ridiculously high standards with three straight 1,500m victories.
Gi-Hyun Ko of Korea is currently ranked sixth overall and seventh in the 1000m and sixth in the 1500m, but her performance is more impressive than that ranking would suggest; she's only raced one 1,500m event since winning the first two races of the season.
Consistency has been the word for Bulgaria's Evgenia Radanova, who has a silver and two bronze in four races, good for second in the 1,500m World Cup standings. She's a threat at any distance, but seems to be at her strongest in the 1,500m and 500m.
Japan's Chikage Tanaka, 28, has posted top-10 finishes at all her World Cup events so far this season, including a bronze medal in Calgary. She has been slowly climbing the World Cup rankings in the 1500m, rising from tenth in 1999-2000, to seventh in 2000-01 to her current fourth-place position. She placed seventh in the 1,500m at the Olympic qualifying meet in Salt Lake City, and tied with Canadian skater Alanna Kraus for fifth place overall.
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Photo: Canadian Press
2001-02 World Cup Standings
1. Yang Yang (A), China
2. Evgenia Radanova, Bulgaria
3. Min-Jin Joo, Korea
4. Chikage Tanaka, Japan
5. Dandan Sun, China
18. Amelie Goulet-Nadon, Canada
T25. Marie-Eve Drolet, Canada (pictured above)
T25. Alanna Kraus, Canada
37. Tania Vicent, Canada |
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South Korean teenager Min-Jin Joo is one of two very young skaters to keep an eye on in the 1,500m. She placed first overall at the world junior championships in 1998 and 1999, and in senior competition, she's made her way to third place in the 1,500m and fourth overall; she has a silver and a bronze in the 1500m, and placed first in the 1500m at the Olympic qualifying meet in Salt Lake City in October.
The other youngster who could surprise is Canadian Marie-Eve Drolet, who took over the world junior crowns with Joo's move to the World Cup circuit. Since making the move herself, Drolet has impressed everyone and won a bronze in the 1,500m at the 2001 world championships.
She's the cream of the Canadian women, but Kraus has skated extremely well at all distances this season, and Amelie Goulet-Nadon, another kid on the newlook Canadian women's team has proven herself capable of big performances out of the blue. |
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