Short Track Speed Skaters Hurt
Jeff Simon and Sun-Yu Jin Sustain Injuries at 2008 World Cup #6
Two speed skating champions were unable to race in the finals after crashing in qualifying events, but their safety gear probably saved them from more serious injuries.
Jeff Simon
USA speed skater Jeff Simon went down in the quarter finals of the men's 500 meter race at the Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City today. While a world record time was set by the top finisher, there was no celebration for Jeff. This American skater passed a fellow competitor to take over the third place spot in his heat. With less than one lap to go in the race, he tried to overtake the leader with another outside pass when he fell and slammed into the boards at an estimated speed of over 30 miles per hour.
The 2007 World Junior Short Track Silver Medalist broke his collar bone during the fall. While this eliminated him from continuing on to the finals today, Jeff still has his sights on next month's World Championships. Jeff can also celebrate reaching his goal for this skating season: to make the World Cup Team. "Actually," he said, "My goal was to make every team this year." In fact, on Tuesday he intends to continue his scheduled training with only slight modifications to accomodate his injury.
Here's what Jeff had to say about today's accident: "I was in third with one lap to go, and i had to throw it if I wanted to qualify. I just did what I had to do, and unfortunately I couldn't control that turn, went down, and got injured."
Sun-Yu Jin
The Korean women's leader in World Cup standings for the 1000 meters individual event hurt her leg in the semifinal round. Jin's injury was painful enough to warrant cessation of the race and her removal via stretcher from the ice. After a trip to the hospital for x-rays, Jin returned later for the awards ceremony. She wore a boot brace over her right sprained ankle.
Upon the rerun of the heat, Chinese skater Xiaoxue Meng was disqualified for intentionally causing the crash. With only two skaters left in that round, and the top two automatically going on to the next race, both Katherine Reutter (USA) and Yang Zhou (China) skated a well-paced race while they jockeyed for the better lane position in the finals.
Safety Equipment
Falls happen a lot in speed skating, but serious injuries do not, thanks to sophisticated safety equipment. During this weekend's World Cup races alone, several skaters received minor injuries. A few had the wind knocked out of them. A couple seemed dazed with mild concussions after falls. Crashed happen often in speed skating because atheletes have a very short time to move past their competitors, to push themselves to their absolute limits in the attempt to reach the top spot. That's why short track speed skating is often described as "roller derby" or NASCAR on ice.
Skaters' protective helmets, Kevlar (cut-resistant) skin suit and collar, knee and shin guards and special gloves help keep injuries to the minimum level as demonstrated today with Jeff's crash. When he slammed into the boards at full speed, even with the 12" thick matss lining the rink, the impact resonated so that the people at the top of the bleachers reported feeling the impact. Had Jeff not worn all the protective layers, there's a good possibility his injuries would have been much worse.
Perhaps the biggest safety tools that professional athletes have, especially in sports such as speed skating, is warming up before and cooling down after races. Short track speed skaters generally dedicate at least an hour before their events start to warm-up jogging, stretching, fast-twitch muscle sprints, pilates and plyometrics. Most athletes -- except rebels like Chad Hedrick -- also cool down by skating slowly and then riding the stationary bike.
