ISU World Cup in Hamar

Written by T Dobbin

It was a devastating weekend in Hamar for Shane last weekend at the ISU World Cup. With Hamar being the one and only chance to qualify for the 10km at the Olympics he knew that it would be a very important weekend and the first part of his training was revolved around that weekend.

Saturday night was the draw for the 10km and Shane was third pair with Olympic Champion from Italy Enrico Fabris. It was a very good pair for Shane as Fabris skates a very steady laps and this would be a benefit in the 10km.

Shane started out skating very good lap times. He was looking in good condition and everything was going great throughout the race. He was three seconds under his schedule and was skating right with his opponent Fabris. With 9 laps to go Shane was on target for a time of 13.25 or faster which would be 5 seconds under the Olympic qualifying time. Shane felt really good during the 10km and plan was to try to conserve energy through the start and then with 6 or 7 laps to go bring the lap times down and finish with all he had.

With 8 laps to go, Shane was on the exit of the final corner on the inner lane and dug the front of his blade into the ice, crashing and sliding into the outer lane hitting the wall. Immediately his first reaction was to get up and finish because he needed the points in the overall so that if he can still finish instead the top 10 in the ISU Overall standing for the distance he would be able to still compete in the 10km at the Olympics. After crashing into the barrier Shane got up and skated some meters in the outer lane before realizing that he needed to get across into the inner lane.

Having blurred vision and pain from crashing Shane kept going for the final 8 laps and still crossed the finish line just 8 seconds from his previous personal best with a time of 13.47.

See Shane’s lap times below:

400m – 35.3
800m – 1.06.98 (32.2)
1200m – 1.38.82 (31.8)
1600m – 2.11.09 (32.2)
2000m – 2.42.87 (31.7)
2400m – 3.14.47 (31.6)
2800m – 3.46.29 (31.8)
3200m – 4.18.45 (32.1)
3600m – 4.50.52 (32.0)
4000m – 5.23.30 (32.7)
4400m – 5.55.15 (31.8)
4800m – 6.27.51 (32.3)
5200m – 6.59.35 (31.8)
5600m – 7.31.73 (32.3)
6000m – 8.03.68 (31.9)
6400m – 8.36.04 (32.3)
6800m – 9.18.69 (42.6)
7200m – 9.54.77 (36.0)
7600m – 10.27.73 (32.9)
8000m – 11.00.51 (32.7)
8400m – 11.33.54 (33.0)
8800m – 12.06.98 (33.4)
9200m – 12.40.30 (33.3)
9600m – 13.13.46 (33.1)
10000m – 13.47.1 (33.7)

After warming down the referee came over to Shane and explained that he would be disqualified. The reason he was disqualified is because when he got up after crashing, he skated in the outer lane and the rules state that when someone crashes, they must immediately go back to his/her lane. Because Shane skated on the outer he was disqualified.

Right now Shane is currently sitting in 19th overall. It will be a very difficult task to try to get back into the top 10 in the overall so from here Shane is going to go to Calgary and Salt Lake World Cups and try to secure his place at the 2010 Olympics in the 5km. With only a very select few skaters skating under the Olympic qualification time everyone is waiting to hear what will happen with the remaining places for the 10km. In the rules it states that each athlete MUST skate the under the maximum qualification time to skate at the Olympics and for the 10km it's either 13.30 or faster than a 6.30 in the 5km. If there is any chance he can skate the 10km at the Olympics we will take it but right now the situation doesn’t look good. Our fingers are crossed!

Saturday night Shane will be racing his with Marathon team in Amsterdam before flying on Sunday to Calgary. Keep posted for more updates through the upcoming World Cups.