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Special coverage: Day Five Mantia Notches Two More World Speed Records
New Record - USA's Joey Mantia (right) watches the clock as he sets a world record in a quarter-final heat of the 500 meters. Behind him is Italy's Patrizio Triberio, who ultimately won the 500m gold.
USA's Joey Mantia appeared to be on his way to a perfect day at the 2006 World Speed Skating Championships. But after setting world records in both of today's events and winning a gold medal in one of them, he faltered in the finals of the 500-meter track sprint and failed to win a medal. The day proved a perfect reflection of how things have been going at the championships for Mantia. During the first five days of racing, the 20-year-old from Ocala, Fla., has proved himself to be the top men's inline speed skater in the world. But various factors — interference by competitors, questionable calls by officials, and, today, apparent fatigue — have prevented him from completely dominating the event. Nonetheless, Mantia had much to be proud of today. He actually broke the world record in the 500 meters twice: first in the quarter-finals, then in the semifinals. His time in the quarter-finals was 38.907 seconds, more than a half-second faster than the old record of 39.466 seconds, set by USA's Keith Turner in 1999. In the semifinals, Mantia shaved another two-tenths of a second from the record, posting a winning time of of 38.660. Mantia was not the only skater to break Turner's record today. In Mantia's semifinal, the top four skaters all broke the record on the fast Anyang road course. But no one posted a time as fast as Mantia's. 20K Gold After the 500-meter semifinals, Mantia skated the 20,000-meter elimination. The field was made up of 60 national champions, including Colombia's Jorge Botero, Italy's Pier Davide Romani and France's Yann Guyader. Mantia won the race with help from teammate Dane Lewis and in the process set a new world record for the 20K: 29 minutes and 1.955 seconds. His time was 19 seconds faster than the old record (29:21.158), set by World Cup champ Massimiliano Presti in 1999. The win gave Mantia his third gold medal and the lead in the individual medal tally, just ahead of Kalon Dobbin. (Mantia has 3 golds, 2 silvers; Dobbin has 2 golds, 3 silvers.)
After the 20K, Mantia had one more event to skate: the 500-meter final. Of the four skaters in the race, he was the only one who had competed in the afternoon's grueling 20K. Mantia took the lead at the start of the 500 meters. But after 100 meters, he dropped into second and then third place. On the back stretch, Italy's Partizio Triberio began to pull away from the pack. New Zealand's Kalon Dobbin tried to catch him. And Mantia followed. Mantia caught Dobbin on the final turn but he couldn't get past him. And looking tired, he slowed in the final sprint and rolled across the finish line in fourth place. "Once Joey was in fourth place, there was no way around on the back side of the sweeping left turn on the track," Junior World Coach Linda Wood said. Triberio won the race; Dobbin was second; Belgium's Wouter Hebbrecht, third. Triberio's time (39.577 seconds) was nearly a second slower than Mantia's world record. "He was not happy about not placing, but he was genuinely happy for the winners," Wood said. Adventures in Hawking Mantia's gold in the 20K was one of three medals won by the U.S. team today. Junior woman Heather Richardson won a silver medal in the 500 meters. Coming from behind, the 17-year-old from High Point, N.C., hawked at the line to finish a mere one-thousandth of a second behind the winner, Colombia's Shaneen Howard. USA's Jessica Smith used one of her famous hawks to grab the bronze in the women's 20,000-meter elimination. But she took a pounding for it. As she crossed the line, her outstretched front foot hit the back foot of the winner (Colombia's Alexandra Vivas) and down Smith went. "She fell on her head and rolled three times," Wood said. "It was pretty scary looking." However, aside from some scrapes, bruises and a cracked helmet, Smith rolled away from the track without serious injury. Metallurgy Colombia continued to rack up the medals Thursday, winning nine in all, including three golds, to bring its total to 40. South Korea added two medals to its pile to remain in second place with 22. USA moved up to third place today with 12 medals while New Zealand dropped to fourth with 11. Only two events are left to skate in the World Championships: the 5000-meter relays (Friday) and the marathon (Saturday morning). Day by Day at Worlds: Related reading
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