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The 1,500 meters is a wide-open race
By Jay Evensen
Deseret News Olympic specialist
On the first day of Olympic competition, Derek Parra stunned the long-track speedskating world by winning a silver medal in the men's 5,000 meters. He gets a second chance to shine Tuesday.
Parra, the California native who decided at the age of 26 to switch from in-line skating to the ice, has captured a lot of hearts with his down-home style and his emotional response to winning a medal. He was distracted through much of his training this season because his wife, Tiffany, was living in Florida, where she gave birth to their first child in December.
And yet, in the 5,000 meters, not considered Parra's best event, he set a new world record (which subsequently was broken by a Dutch skater a few moments later). The 1,500 meters, however, is Parra's main event, and he is considered the best American contender for a medal when the race gets under way at 1 p.m in the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns.
If he succeeds, Parra would become the first American to win two medals in speedskating during these Games.
But the road won't be easy. The 1,500 meter event is among the most competitive this year in all of speedskating. Parra may face tough competition from his own team. Among U.S. skaters, Joey Cheek, who already medaled in the 1,000 meters, has skated the fastest 1,500 meters of the season, a time of 1:46.22 last December in Kearns. Holland's Erben Wennemars, Rintje Ritsma and Ids Postma are considered tough contenders, as well. Ritsma won the bronze in Nagano, and Postma won the silver.
"I see about ten 10 skaters who could land on the podium," Postma said.
The gold medalist from Nagano, Norway's Adne Sondral, also is a strong competitor this time around. However, he recently hurt both shoulders during separate training runs. He told a press conference earlier this week that he is feeling better. "The left shoulder is still sore and hurts a bit," he said.
Meanwhile, Korea's Lee Kyu-Hyuk, ranked only 26th in World Cup competition this season, holds the world record, which he set last year in Calgary. In other words, anything could happen.
E-MAIL: even@desnews.com
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February 18, 2002
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