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Shilling makes 1,500m team
By Jay Evensen
Deseret News staff writer
KEARNS — How fast is one-hundredth of a second? The blink of an eye?
U.S. long-track speedskater J.P. Shilling tried to explain it Wednesday. He opened his hand wide and then quickly made a fist. "It's so fast, even the fastest hand in the world can't do that in a hundredth of a second."
And yet it was enough time for Shilling to qualify for the fourth and final spot on the U.S. Olympic men's 1,500-meter team. Shilling beat out two-time Olympic veteran KC Boutiette at the Utah Olympic Oval. For Shilling, a native of Baltimore, this will be his first Olympic Games. And it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. He is celebrating his 30th birthday on Thursday.
This will be a happy week in Baltimore.
"My Dad was weeping all over the phone," Shilling said. "They will come out for the Games, definitely."
Shilling was the last of the men to qualify in the 1,500 meters. But the star of the day on Wednesday, as well as on Tuesday, was Joey Cheek. On Tuesday, Cheek set a new U.S. national record in the 1,000 meters. Wednesday, he did the same in the 500 meters, with a time of 34.73.
In all, the Greensboro, N.C., native has qualified for the Olympic team in the 500 and 1,500 meters, and he is likely to qualify in the 1,000 meters when competition resumes on Friday.
"I'm still in shock," he said. "It's an incredible feeling."
For the American men, the exciting thing is not that skaters are going so fast at the Olympic qualifying meet, but that the nation's fastest skaters already have pre-qualified and are not racing this week.
"We have tons of talent on this team," Cheek said. "During training, we've been saying that anyone who makes this Olympic team will have a chance of medaling (at the Olympics)."
In addition to Cheek and Shilling, Nick Pearson qualified for the 1,500-meter team, and Kip Carpenter and Marc Pelchat qualified for the 500 meter team.
For Pelchat, who competed in the '98 Olympics in Nagano, making the Olympic team for the second time was a remarkable accomplishment. Pelchat, a 34-year-old native of Chelmsford, Mass., quit skating after Nagano, began a sales job and ballooned to 215 pounds. He decided on a comeback a year ago, and now is back to about 185 pounds.
"I tried to stay away from people who would say that (I'm too old to come back)," he said. "I hung around people I knew would be positive."
Casey Fitzrandolph, the fastest U.S. skater, had pre-qualified for both the 500 and 1,000 meters, and Derek Parra pre-qualified for the 1500 meter team. Racers pre-qualify by winning medals in international World Cup competitions.
On the women's side, Chris Witty, Jennifer Rodriguez, Becky Sundstrom and Amy Sannes qualified for both the 500- and 1,500-meter teams.
Competition continues Friday and Saturday, with Olympic teams yet to be determined in the 1,000; 3,000 (ladies only); 5,000- and 10,000-meter distances. Tickets are $4 for adults, $2 for children under 12 and senior citizens.
E-mail: even@desnews.com
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December 20, 2001
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