Olympic Trials Tickets -details!

                                                                                                                                                      Photo Credit: Hilary Barreto

As many of you know, the long track speedskating Olympic Trials are coming up in just 2 weeks and 2 days to MILWAUKEE (Olympic Trials haven't been in Milwaukee since 1998, 20 years!) So many of you have been asking where you can buy the tickets, so below are all the details...finally!!! :) Thank you for being patient.

Olympic Trials Schedule (all in CST): 

• Day 1 (Women 3000m/Men 5000m)
  January 2, 2018
  3:20 pm - 6:00 pm
• Day 2 (Men & Women 1000m)
  January 3, 2018
  4:45 pm - 6:30 pm
• Day 3 (Women 5k & Men 10k)
  January 4, 2018
  4:55 pm - 7:30 pm
• Day 4 (Men & Women 500m)
  January 5, 2018
  3:20 pm - 7:00 pm
• Day 5 (Men & Women 1500m)
  January 6, 2018
  5:05 pm - 7:00 pm
• Day 6 (Women & Men Mass Start)
  January 7, 2018
  5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

- Jeffrey Jr. will be racing in the 5000m, 1500m and the Mass Start.

- Nancy (myself) will be racing the 3000m, maybe the 5k, 1500m and the Mass Start. 

- Brian Hansen will be racing the 1000m, 1500m, Mass Start.

**the Mass Start is the new event of this 2018 Olympics and it is quite entertaining to watch. Instead of our typical racing in 2 separate lanes against the clock, we race against each other packstyle on the innermost lane. Its not about the time, but who crosses the line first in the 16 lap race. Points are given to the top 3 finishers. Though there is a catch...prime laps are every 4 laps and those top 3 winners get points as well, just not as many as the overall finishers. It is definitely a race not worth missing!!!

To buy tickets to the races head here:

https://pettitcenter.eventsmart.com/events/trials/

NOTE!!!! For those of you that cannot come to watch the Olympic Trials in person, they will be televised live on NBC Sports network. Schedule isn't out yet, but they're showing us live, so I'm assuming the same time as mentioned above!

For directions to the Pettit National Ice Center, see the map below

World Cup #4 - Salt Lake City!

Today begins the last fall World Cup in Salt Lake City!

And today Jeffrey and Brian are both racing the Mass Start semi-finals. They will be racing this afternoon:

Mass Start semi-final #1: Brian Hansen @ 4:24pm MT (5:24 CST)
Mass Start semi-final #2: Jeffrey Swider-Peltz Jr. @ 4:39pm MT (5:39 CST)

All B group racing and the Mass Start semis should be able to be seen at this link here:

https://www.teamusa.org/US-Speedskating/News/Featured-
News/2017/December/06/World-Cup-Salt-Lake-Live-Stream

To watch the rest of the World Cup A group racing, either you need to head to http://web.icenetwork.com/home (you need a subscription) or you will have to switch IP addresses and head to http://www.eurovisionsports.tv/isu/

If Brian and Jeffrey advance to the finals (top 8 in their Semi-finals) then they will be racing Saturday in the Mass Start final. Times for that are to be determined still. Check on the ISU results site here: http://live.isuresults.eu/2017-2018/saltlakecity/ for the live results page and approx times they will be racing (which will be written on the left side of the events when updated).

Brian Hansen will also be racing the Team Pursuit today (2:11pm MT).

Tomorrow. Brian and Jeffrey hopefully are in the finals for the Mass Start. Brian will also be racing the 1500m on Saturday and on Sunday, Brian will be racing either the 1000m or the 5000m. For those updates, keep checking back to the ISU results side where the pairings will be posted the night before of who's racing and live results on the day: http://live.isuresults.eu/2017-2018/saltlakecity/

World Cup #3 in Calgary, Canada, and World Cup #1 Results from Heerenveen, Holland

Hello friends! Tomorrow, I'll be racing my second World Cup Mass Start, and Brian Hansen will be racing his 1000m and the Team Pursuit with Joey Mantia and Emery Leman. Two weeks ago, World Cup #2 in Stavanger, Norway, didn't have a Mass Start race in it's program so after Heerenveen I came back to Milwaukee and put in a good couple weeks of training.

Here's what the schedule for this weekend of World Cup #3 looks like:

Saturday:

12:30 PM MT: Mens A Group 1000m (Brian Hansen)
 2:14PM MT: men’s Teams Pursuit (Brian Hansen)
3:52 PM MT: Mens Mass Start Semi-Final (Jeffrey)


Sunday:

Time TBD: Mens 1500 A Group (Brian)
Time TBD: Mens Mass Start Final (Jeffrey)

Live video stream:: http://www.speedskating.ca/events/isu-world-cup-speed-skating-3-calgary-can.
(Those in the US need to change your IP address to one in Canada)

Live results: http://live.isuresults.eu/2017-2018/calgary/index.htm

There may be a YouTube channel showing it live like there was in Heerenveen (that you wouldn't have to change your IP address for), but I don't have the link at the moment. If you have to, a quick google search may help you change your IP address but if you're not tech savvy I'm sorry! I don’t know how else to watch the races.

Sunday’s mass start final is determined by finishing top 8 in the Mass Start Semi-Final on Saturday.

(Below) As you all know, she's the strongest woman of a coach you'd ever meet–she'd put all the football coaches I've ever had to shame. This year, even though she's a 4-time Olympian and multiple–time Olympian coach, USSpeedskating isn't giving her an accreditation on the ice to coach Brian and I during these World Cup competitions, so she will have to stand outside of the pads. Somehow I think these issues that have happened over the years would't have happened if she weren't a woman.

Though the problem isn’t so much not being able to coach on the ice but the idea of respecting a coach who has contributed so much to speedskating.



Brian, me and some of the US team resting on during this Wednesday's practice.

What happened in Heerenveen?

I placed 11th out of 24 in the Semi-Final which was good but not enough to get me into the final. Yet it did keep me in the overall top 24 ranking which keeps a spot for the US in the Olympics. All this qualification stuff is so complicated! The key is that I stay top 24 overall for throughout these Fall World Cup events. 

Here's a screenshot of the overall Mass Start rankings since Heerenveen:

Racing the Mass Start Semi-Final in Heerenveen. Glancing over at Seung-Hoon Lee with Arjan Stroetinga right behind him.



Brian and I met up with Pim Cazemier in Heerenveen, our training partner from 2013.