In the men's 1000 meters, J.P. Kepka (St. Louis, MO) skated four strong rounds to qualify for the semifinal. With six skaters in his semifinal, Kepka moved from sixth position to first with seven laps to go in the race before being overtaken and forced into second position with four laps to go. Still maintaining second place with 1.5 laps to go, Kepka was passed by China's Li Jiajun and was eventually disqualified for cross tracking.

Apolo Ohno (Seattle, Wash.) qualified for the heats but was eliminated and was forced to withdraw from the rest of the day’s competition due to an ankle injury – this included the 3000 meters and the men’s 5000 meters relay. (Please see below results for Apolo’s father’s analysis of the injury. )

Alex Izykowski (Bay City, Mich.) was eliminated in the heats after a disqualification for impeding.

In the men's relay, the U.S. team of Kepka, Rusty Smith (Long Beach, Calif.) Travis Jayner (Midland, Mich.), and Izykowski fell during the last half of the race and finished in fourth position in a time of 7:02.477.

In the men’s overall standings Ohno placed fourth with 34 points and Kepka placed eighth.

In the ladies’ 1000 meters, Allison Baver (Sinking Springs, Penn.) qualified for the semifinals. In a fast paced race, Baver was unable to move into a qualifying position and finished fourth in an impressive new American record of 1:31.134. Hyo-Jung Kim (Fullerton, Calif.) was eliminated in the quarterfinals after finishing fourth in a time of 1:33.016. Kimberly Derrick (Caledonia, Mich.) was unable to qualify out of her preliminaries and finished fourth in a time of 1:37.467.

The U.S. ladies’ 3000 meters relay team of Baver, Kim, Caroline Hallisey (Natick, Mass.), and Kristen Biondo (Broadview Heights, Ohio) skated to another American record having bettered the previous night’s record in a time of 4:17.724. The U.S. team finished fourth in the final.

In the ladies’ overall standings, Baver finished seventh and Kim finished eighth.

The second World Cup will take place Oct. 7-9 in Seoul, Korea.

RESULTS:

Ladies’ 1000 meters
1. M. Wang CHN 1:30.172; 2. Y. Yang CHN 1:30.216; 3. S. Jin KOR 1:30.258; 4. M. Zhu CHN 1:32.433
Americans:
7. A. Baver; 13. H. Kim; 40. K. Derrick

Ladies’ 3000 meters:
1. Y. Yang CHN 5:45.990; 2. E. Radanova BUL 5:46.220; 3. N. Evteeva RUS 5:46.734; 4. Y. Kang KOR 5:58.501; 5. S. Jin KOR 6:13.497; 6. M. Wang CHN DQ

Ladies’ 3000 meters relay:
1. China 4:14.931; 2. Korea 4:17.292; 3. Canada 4:17.697; 4. USA 4:17.724

Ladies Overall:
1. M. Wang CHN 102; 2. Y. Yang CHN 58; 3. S. Jin KOR 39; 4. E. Radanova BUL 34; 5. N. Evteeva RUS 21; 6. Y. Kang KOR 13
Americans:
7. A. Baver; 8. H. Kim; 22. K. Derrick

Men’s 1000m meters:
1. H. Ahn KOR 1:26.466; 2. J. Li CHN 1:26.572; 3. H. Lee KOR 1:26.666; 4. M. Turcotte CAN 1:26.773; 6. S. Terao JPN 1:26.902
Americans:
11. J. Kepka; 22. A. Ohno; DQ A. Izykowski

Men’s 3000 meters:
1. H. Lee KOR 5:08.178; 2. H. Ahn KOR 5:08.219; 3. J. Li CHN 5:08.327; 4. H. Seo KOR 5:08.330; 5. M. Turcotte CAN 5:10.932; 6. S. Terao JPN 5:12.666; 7. A. Ohno USA DNS

Men’s 5000 meters relay:
1. Korea 6:52.067; 2. China 6:52.511; 3. Canada 7:01.705; 4. USA 7:02.477

Men’s Overall:
1. H. Ahn KOR 97; 2. J. Li CHN 68; 3. H. Lee KOR 52; 4. A. Ohno USA 34; 5. H. Seo KOR 16; 6. M. Turcotte CAN 13

Americans:
8. J. Kepka

* Yuki Ohno’s comments. Courtesy of Ohnozone.net:

Apolo's injury stems from the 500m quarter final. With 1 lap to go in the straightaway, a push by the Canadian skater sent him flying through the air. He landed on the ice on his hip and ankle. Apolo was able to finish that race and was then advanced to the semi final round due to the Canadian skater's DQ.

Today, Apolo had a hard time using his ankle to push in the 1000m prelim and heats. The U.S. coaches and USOC doctor unanimously advised him not to skate further events in order to protect his injured ankle and I agree 100% that this was the correct decision. I was able to manage through a Chinese interpreter to have an additional doctor on call to the ice rink for immediate treatment along with the USOC's doctor.

Apolo has a severely sprained ankle. We are all on the same page that the priority must be a full recovery from this injury. We certainly hope that his recovery is fast enough so he can compete in Seoul [next week at World Cup #2].