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Special coverage: Day Seven Mantia Wins the Marathon
Final Triumph - USA's Joey Mantia celebrates as he crosses the finish line of the marathon. The win gave him his fourth gold medal.
Medal Count:
The 2006 World Speed Skating Championships were notable on several accounts: the continued dominance of the Colombians, the rise of South Korea as a world skate power, and the scrappy strength of the island nation of New Zealand. But probably the championships will be best remembered as the Year of Mantia. Not since Chad Hedrick has a male skater dominated the championships the way Joey Mantia did this year. His medal tally — four golds, two silvers and one bronze — only tells part of the story. Aside from the medals, the 20-year-old from Ocala, Fla., set three world records during the seven days of racing in Anyang. And he probably would have won more medals if not for several setbacks, including blatant cheating by the Colombians in one race and questionable calls by race officials in others. Final Gold This morning, Mantia put a storybook ending on his championships by winning the marathon against an unusually strong field. Among the contenders were Italy's Massimiliano Presti, who finished fourth, Colombia's Jorge Botero, fifth, and Switzerland's Roger Schneider, 27th. Rain fell all morning on the four kilometer road course in downtown Anyang, playing havoc with the early races. The rain stopped before the start of the men's race, but the road remained wet and slick.
A large lead pack quickly formed, which included the U.S. team (Mantia, Josh Wood, Dane Lewis, Jonathan Garcia, Christopher Creveling, Sebastian Cano and Jonathan Gorman.) On the wet streets, skaters were unable to get enough traction to sprint ahead of the lead pack. As a result, there were few breakaways (although several times the Iranian team surprised everyone by taking the lead.) After 10 laps on the road coarse, the U.S. team lead out the sprint for Mantia. Rested after yesterday's light day of racing, he won easily, pumping his fights in the air as he crossed the finish line. (Go to slide show of Mantia's finish.) A couple yards back, France's Yann Gayader finished second; Italy's Francesco Zangarini was third. The huge lead pack of more than 50 skaters finished within the next seven seconds. As Mantia crossed the finish line, several of the U.S. skaters in the pack behind him raised their arms in victory. Mantia's time was 1 hour, 8 minutes and 24.432 seconds, about 10 minutes off world record pace. The win put Mantia on top for good in the individual medal tally, ahead of New Zealand's star sprinter, Kalon Dobbin, who finished with six medals (three golds, three silvers). Bad Day for Jessica In the women's marathon, which was skated in the rain before the men's race, USA's Jessica Smith just missed a medal, finishing fourth in the field sprint, behind Colombia's Cecilia Baena (1st), New Zealand's Nicole Begg (2nd) and Germany's Jana Gegner (3rd). Aside from Mantia, the only U.S. skater to win a medal in the marathon was junior woman Heather Richardson. She finished third behind South Korea's Seul Lee and Switzerland's India Kuhn. Richardson was the most successful skater on the U.S. Junior World Team. The 17-year-old from High Point, N.C., won one gold (300-meter time trial), one silver (500 meters) and two bronze medals (3000-meter relay and marathon). What's Next? With the championships over, the future seems full of question marks for the U.S. team. The main reason for this is the pull that other (more popular) sports exert on USA's top skaters. Mantia has said he plans to transition to ice speed skating, although he hasn't said when. (He will probably have to start within the next two years if he wants to be ready for the next Winter Games in 2010.) Jessica Smith has already started her transition to ice. And other top skaters are likely to follow under the inducement of an inline-to-ice program, sponsored by the United States Olympic Committee. Then, there's the question of Brittany Bowe. She was the world's top junior woman skater at last year's World Championships and seems to have the potential of doing just as well as an adult. But Bowe's attention is divided between skating and basketball. Just before heading off to South Korea, she moved into a dorm at Florida Southern College, which is providing her with a basketball scholarship. One thing is clear: the U.S. team is now in a position to welcome new talent. Day by Day at Worlds: Related reading
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