Ohno Sets World Record at Speedskating Trials

Apolo Ohno set a short-track speedskating world record Saturday in the U.S Olympic trials at Kearns, Utah, winning a 1,500-meter race in 2 minutes 13.728 seconds.

Ohno, 19, of Seattle, broke the mark of 2:15.383 set by Canadian Steve Robillard at Calgary, Canada, on Oct. 12. The victory was Ohno’s third in a row in the trials.

Dan Weinsten took the early lead in the men’s final, but Ohno moved to the front of the eight-skater pack with five laps to go and held off Rusty Smith for the victory.

“It was a good pace,” Ohno said. “Dan and I were pacing each other. I knew it was going to be a fast race at the pace we were going.”

Smith finished second in 2:13.893, and Tommy O’Hare was third in 2:14.696.

With five of eight races remaining in the trails, Ohno holds a commanding lead in the men’s team selection process with 2,961 points. Smith is second with 1,597 points.

The trials, which end next weekend, will determine the U.S. short-track squad for the Salt Lake City Olympics.

Allison Baver continued her unexpected march toward a berth on the Olympic women’s team with a fourth-place finish in the 1,500.

Four-time Olympian Amy Peterson, who has been struggling with chronic fatigue syndrome, broke her own American record in the 1,500 with a time of 2:23.012.

She is in second place with 1,830 points.

*

World Cup leader Stephan Eberharter of Austria won a downhill for the second time this season, edging compatriot Michael Walchhofer at Val Gardena, Italy.

Eberharter rebounded from Friday’s fourth-place finish in a downhill at Val Gardena to take command of the downhill and overall World Cup standings.

Eberharter clocked 2:01.24 to beat Walchhofer by 0.22. Norway’s Kjetil Andre Aamodt was third in 2:01.50.

American Daron Rahlves finished 19th.

Eberharter has 490 points in the overall standings, 165 points ahead of second-place Bode Miller of the U.S. Aamodt moved to third place in the standings.

Miller did not race Friday or Saturday after winning the last slalom and giant slalom races.

Eberharter has 250 points in the downhill standings, followed by Italy’s Kristian Ghedina with 165.

Winner of the downhill and super-giant slalom at Val d’Isere, France, Eberharter is looking to supplant Austrian star Hermann Maier.

The reigning World Cup champion, who was injured in a motorcycle accident in August, said last week he doesn’t expect to return in time for the Salt Lake City Olympics.

On Saturday, Claudio Collenberg of Switzerland crashed and was removed by helicopter with what appeared to be minor injuries.

Safety measures were added for the two downhills, with organizers lining the course with blue stripes to help the skiers’ vision.

*

Germany’s Hilde Gerg won a super-G at Val d’Isere in the first World Cup women’s race in France since the death of Regine Cavagnoud more than six weeks ago.

Gerg, the 1998 Olympic slalom champion, finished in 1:12.23 for her fourth victory on a super-G World Cup course and her second in Val d’Isere.

Austrians Renate Goetschl (1:12.90) and Tanja Schneider (1:12.94) finished second and third, respectively.

The top American was Caroline Lavine in seventh place in 1:13.45. Picabo Street, who won the 1998 Olympic super-G but is concentrating on the downhill this season, was 40th.

As she took the podium, Gerg asked that a minute of silence be observed for Cavagnoud, the French star who won the super-G on this course last year. Cavagnoud died Oct. 31 after colliding with a German coach during practice in Austria.

“Everybody was crying,” Gerg said. “In super-G, she was the best and she’s not here. It’s hard to believe.”

*

Olympic champion Silke Kraushaar won the women’s singles in a luge World Cup event at Oberhof, Germany, the 31st consecutive race won by a German.

Kraushaar broke her own course record with a run of 41.471 to finish in 1:23.093.

“Actually, it was so cold the conditions weren’t really optimal,” she said.

Kraushaar finished well ahead of fellow German and world champion Sylke Otto, timed in 1:23.346, and Austrian Angelika Neuner, clocked in 1:23.774.

She leads the overall standings with 385 points, followed by Otto with 355 and Neuner with 296. Becky Wilczak of the United States is fourth with 277.

It was Kraushaar’s third victory in four races this year against Otto, likely to be her biggest rival at Salt Lake City.

“The Olympic games are entirely different,” Kraushaar said. “There’s four heats there, and if you blow one, then the gold is gone.”

*

The Austrian men’s biathlon team rallied to defeat Belarus in a 30-kilometer World Cup relay race at Pokljuka, Slovenia.

Daniel Mesotitsch, Wolfgang Perner, Christoph Sumann and Ludwig Gredler raced through temperatures of 14 degrees to cross the line in 1:23:55.7.

The Austrian team used seven additional shots to hit all its targets. But Gredler ran down Vadim Sashurin of Belarus a kilometer from the finish.

Belarus, which finished 9.4 seconds behind Austria, was among the most precise teams, needing only four additional shots.

Sashurin spent one more shot to hit all targets and left the shooting area as the leader only to be caught by Gredler.