Rough day on ice for Americans

KEARNS — The odds were decidedly against Apolo Anton Ohno.

The reigning world champion was lined up against three Koreans in the finals of the men's 1,000.

While team tactics are officially against the rules in short track speedskating — impeding another skater and preventing him from advancing by blocking his path is grounds for disqualification — it wasn't anything the Koreans did that prevented Ohno from landing on the podium.

It was his own skates.

With four laps remaining in the race, Ohno lost the edge of a skate on a turn and slid into the protective pads as the three Koreans skated ahead, eventually landing on each step of the podium.

The trio of Kwak Yoon-Gy, Lee Ho-Suk and Lee Jung-Su won gold, silver and bronze, respectively, in front of the stunned crowd of Ohno supporters.

Jeff Simon turned a strong move past China's Sui Bao Ku with two laps remaining into the first podium finish of the weekend for the Americans in the men's 1,500. He finished third behind Korea's Sung Si-Bak, who blazed around four competitors on the back stretch with three laps to go and never looked back as he won comfortably ahead of Canada's Charles Hamlin.

"I've had several fourth places," Simon said. "Too many to count as far as I'm concerned. So to get up there (on the podium), I'm pumped."

In the women's 1,000, Kimberly Derrick appeared destined to finish fourth, just off the podium, when she fell off the pace with a few laps left. But when China's Liu Qiuhong was disqualified for impeding the progress of Korea's Shin Sae-Bom on the final sprint, Derrick's fourth-place finish became a third-place finish and earned her valuable points in the World Cup race. China's Wang Meng took gold.

"I'll take it," Derrick said after earning her first-ever individual World Cup podium finish. "I honestly didn't think they were going to call it because it was so close to the finish. I didn't really even see it because I was back around the turn."

American national champion Katherine Reutter was bumped on a passing attempt and lost her momentum in the quarterfinals of the women's 1,000 and failed to advance.

Overall, it was a rough day for the American skaters with only two podium finishes, a slew of crashes and several finishes off the back of the leaders.

Allison Baver had a shot at placing in the women's 1,500 but was closed off by China's Zhou Yang and Korea's Jung Ba-Ra and Yang Shin-Young. Baver led several laps early in the race but couldn't keep up with Zhou and finished fourth.

In the relay semifinals, the U.S. women finished second behind China, which set a world record in the 3,000 relay.

The U.S. men also advanced with a second-place showing in the 5,000 relay behind Korea.