U.S. Men Take Silver at Short Track World Championship Relay

Bronze for Celski, Reutter, U.S. Ladies Relay Team

SOFIA, Bulgaria (March 21, 2010) - The ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships concluded today as the U.S. men’s 5000m relay team -  J.R. Celski (Federal Way,WA), Jordan Malone (Denton, TX), Travis Jayner (Midland, MI) and Simon Cho (Laurel, MD) - took silver in the men’s relay, finishing with a time of 6:47.331 behind first place Korea (6:44.821).

The U.S. ladies relay team  - Alyson Dudek (Hales Corners, WI), Kimberly Derrick (Memphis, TN), Lana Gehring (Glenview, IL) and Katherine Reutter (Champaign, IL) - skated to a bronze with a time of 4:14.231 behind Korea (4:08.356) and Canada (4:09.310), respectively.

In individual competition, Celski took home two bronze medals in the men’s 1000m and 3000m. Olympic silver medalist, Ho-Suk Lee (KOR), won the men's 1000m ahead of team-mate Yoon-Gy Kwak. It was a repeat podium for the 3000m. Following today’s races, Celski finished fourth in overall World Championship standings.

Reutter skated to a bronze in the ladies 1000m (1:31.747), behind Meng Wang (CHN) in first and Ha-Ri Cho (KOR) finishing second. Reutter followed up with a fourth place in the 3000m with a time of 5:04.401, behind a podium sweep by Korea - Seung-Hi Park, Ha-Ri Cho and Eun-Byul Lee, respectively. Reutter finished the season ranked sixth in World Championship standings.