Day 6 - 2005 World Speed Skating Championships

Special Coverage: Day Six
(Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005)

The 2005 World Speed Skating Championships in Suzhou, China

U.S. Girls, Colombian Women Take Gold in 10,000-Meter Relay

Chilean Skater Ends Up in the Hospital After Post-Race Fight

By Robert "Just the Factoids" Burnson

The U.S. girls and Colombian women continued their domination of the 2005 World Speed Skating Championships today in Suzhou, China.

Both struck gold in the day's only event: the 10,000-meter relay.

The wins gave each squad its ninth gold medal of the championships.

With one day left of racing, the U.S. junior women have won all but two events: the 10,000-meter elimination on the track and the 10,000-meter road race.

The Colombian women have won all events except the 10,000-meter elimination and the 200-meter time trial.

French Gold

In the men's division, Frenchman Pascal Briand led his team to victory in the road relay.

New Zealand's Kalon Dobbin won the sprint for second to give his team the silver. The U.S. squad took the bronze.

In the junior men's division, Colombia took the gold; Italy, the silver; and France, the bronze

Women's Boxing

Finishing behind Colombia in the women's race was France followed by South Korea.

At the end of the race, a fight broke out between two of the racers.

Argentina's Melisa Bonnet started it, according to the Patin Carrera web site.

Bonnet blamed Chile's Alejandra Traslavina for spoiling her race by bumping her on the last lap.

So after crossing the finish line, she "attacked" Traslavina.

Bonnet quickly skated away. But then a second Argentine woman, Estefania Fasinato, reportedly punched Traslavina, who was taken to a local hospital and treated for a broken nose.

The two Argentine woman are expected to be excluded from the final day of the champsionships.

Racing concludes tomorrow in Suzhou with the marathon.

Medal tally:
(Here's the metal count after six days of racing.)

Event Preview:
Speed Skaters Converge for Smaller World Championships
It's got a new name. And it's smaller than last year. But World Speed Skating Championships promise to be just as exciting as ever with the top inline racers in the world -- including USA's Brittany Bowe and Joey Mantia -- competing for gold, silver and bronze on track and road. (Here's the Planet Preview of the 2005 World Speed Skating Championships!) (Aug. 25, 2005)