Day One Complete!

It is so unfortunate that they didn't get the live stream going this year. I'm so sorry you couldn't watch! I had a feeling that they wouldn't have it, though everybody was telling me otherwise. There is someone doing video from the top of the stands that looks very good. He's putting it on a dvd and selling it. Its crazy expensive - $95 but I would buy it. I'm ranked 13th after today! Top 12 get cash prizes, so hopefully I can crack that by the end of the competition. I am real proud of how I raced. I did a lot better than I expected. Many of the seasoned skaters say this is the deepest field they've ever seen at Junior Worlds. We'll see if I can keep up in the 500ms tomorrow. Not a sprinter at all, but hey, its Short Track.
  My first heat, I didn't know any of the skaters except the dutch guy who used to be much better than me. The Kazakhstani and the Russian could have been good or bad, so I skated from the front, leading the last six laps, and it was surprisingly easy to pull away from the field, the Dutch guy finishing with me with one of the fastest times. As a result of my fast time, I think I got a really easy quarter-final, and skated great, winning that too, with an outside pass at the end. My semi-final was a lesson. I got schooled, outclassed, outraced by stronger skaters. No regrets. haha. Both my coaches said I skated a great race, it was just an extremely hard semi. I actually was at the front with around 5 to go, but I wasted a ton of energy trying to stay at the front early so I died and finished fifth. They were picking two. I really did skate well by my standards. Just outclassed. Most of the guys in my race are on the senior world cup circuit. It was fun! The relay heat, we were with Korea and Italy. Korea set a new world record by about 6 seconds, and we actually were around the old record as well. We qualified for the semi-finals and tomorrow we face Korea again (hopefully they'll chill now that they crushed the record), Germany, and I think Japan.
  Just got back from a BBQ in the park with all the skaters.
  Gotta get Sprinty tomorrow!
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