Speedskater Thometz Ill; Trials Begin

Nick Thometz, the world record-holder at 500 meters, is ill with a virus and was forced to miss Friday’s first night of the U.S. Olympic speedskating time trials.

And his absence prompted a disagreement between officials over his qualifying status for the 1,500-meter team.

U.S. Coach Mike Crowe said Thometz was taken to a Milwaukee hospital Friday for a blood transfusion because of a low blood platelet count. Crowe said it would be from three days to a week until Thometz is ready to skate again.

Thometz, of Minnetonka, Minn., has an illness exemption in the 500 meters and the 1,000 meters, events in which he is a strong medal contender.

But Gene Sandvig, the chief referee for the trials, said Thometz also will have a chance to make the 1,500-meter team even though he missed Friday night’s trial in that event.

The second 1,500-meter trial will be held next weekend, and Sandvig said that if Thometz can show up and skate, he will be considered as one of the five qualifiers for that event.

“He’s under doctor’s care and maybe he’ll feel a little better,” Sandvig said. “It’s a virus.”

But Jack Byrne, president of the U.S. International Speedskating Assn., disagreed with Sandvig’s assessment. He said his interpretation was that Thometz would not be able to skate on the 1,500-meter team because he was absent Friday.

Sandvig and Byrne were to meet today with a USISA committee to settle the dispute.

According to the association’s selection procedure, six skaters have illness and injury exemptions in the trials--Thometz, Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair, Dave Silk, Katie Class and Eric Flaim. But those exemptions apply only to certain events, and Thometz is exempted only in the 500 and 1,000 meters.

In the trials Friday night, Blair and Jansen had the fastest times in the 500-meter races. Blair, of Champaign, Ill., was first in the women’s division in 40.84 seconds. She also finished first in the 1,500-meter trial in 2 minutes 11 seconds.

“The biggest difference is the nervousness and pressure. There really isn’t any,” Blair said, comparing this year’s trials to ones four years ago.

“I can relax and go out there and skate races the way I want to and not think I got to do this and I got to do that in order to make the team.”

Jansen, skating at the Wisconsin Olympic Ice Rink just two miles from his West Allis home, clocked a 37.59-second time in the 500 meters.

“I’m not psyched up for it but I do like to skate good races,” Jansen said. “It was windy but the wind was at your back twice.”

Jansen did not compete in the 1,500 trials, saying he wanted to concentrate on the 500 and 1,000 meters. Flaim won the men’s first 1,500-meter trial in 1:59.01.