Thursday, February 14, 2002
Cat prepped for podium pounce
Le May Doan banking on gold for Valentine's Day
By ERIC FRANCIS -- Calgary Sun
KEARNS, Utah -- Just when it appeared the sky was falling on the Canadian team, Canada's Olympic sweetheart Catriona Le May Doan moved into position to give her country a golden Valentine.
Recording the fourth-best time ever skated in the 500m, the 31-year-old Saskatoon native circled the Utah Olympic Oval in 37.30 last night to give her the lead heading into today's second race.
However, Le May Doan's cushion heading into the final race is not as comfortable as she's grown accustomed to throughout her current undefeated season.
Germany's Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt skated the race of her life in 37.34 to sit just 0.04 seconds behind the defending Olympic 500m champion.
"I thought it was a decent race -- middle of the road for her," said coach Sean Ireland, who points out Le May Doan is usually a good fifteen-hundredths of a second ahead of her competitors after Day 1.
"She expected a bigger margin but in Nagano four years ago she only had a three-hundredths of a second lead (and won). This time it's a bigger margin. She often skates better starting on the inner lane and I expect her to skate a better race technically (today.)"
As in Nagano, Le May Doan elected not to speak to the media following the race, leaving husband Bart to pass along her sentiments of frustration.
"She was disappointed," said Bart, whose wife was just .08 off her own world record.
"She felt the opener was good but coming home there were some technical errors. Right now, she's still mad, so we'll have a good talk about it. She always skates better on the second day."
Having broken her own world record eight times starting in either lane, Bart confirmed she prefers the inner lane that she'll have today so she can generate early speed out of the tight first turn.
Resurrecting Canadian faith following Jeremy Wotherspoon's fall and the pairs figure skating travesty, Le May Doan established an Olympic record with her skate and has a monstrous lead on third place finisher Andrea Nuyt who skated 37.54.
Winnipeg's five-time Olympian Susan Auch skated in 38.84 to finish 20th.
"I didn't exactly have the stellar race I was hoping for," said Auch, 35, the 500m silver medallist in Nagano and Lillehammer.
"I took the chance of trying new skates a couple weeks ago and they're great in training but when I step it up a notch, they don't seem to respond."
As for her teammate's chances of collecting Canada's first gold medal of these Games tonight, Auch was optimistic.
"I think probably she was a little unsure of the ice on that last turn but she has last outer tomorrow and she'll be fine," said Auch.
"A world record is always possible for her. She's come a long way psychologically in the last few years and she knows she can go faster. She should feel comfortable."
2002 Games Columnists
