What was it about Sochi? The US showed no lingering effects from a horribly disappointing Olympics as they won one event and grabbed a medal in another in the first day of competition at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Inzell. Both came from the women with Heather Richardson winning the 500m by just one hundredth of a second while Brittany Bowe grabbed a third in the women’s 1500m.

Men’s 5000m

The only American men skating on Friday was Patrick Meek. Meek was in the A Division of the men’s 5000m race and finished 12th, 18 seconds behind the leader. Meek will compete again on Saturday in the men’s mass start race.

Women’s 500m

The women’s 500m race was where most of the action was happening for the US. The 500m is raced twice over the weekend but the results are not combined at all. Heather Richardson won the first of the two races by one hundredth of a second over Judith Hesse of Germany. Brittany Bowe made it two Americans in the top ten with an eighth place finish.

Women’s 1500m

The US had competitors in both the A and B division women’s 1500m races on Friday. The two races are considered separate events. In the Division B event Anna Ringsred finished fifth in a time of 2:01.42. In the Division A race Brittany Bowe took home third place finishing just over a second behind the winner while Heather Richardson finished 11th.

Upcoming on Saturday:

Things will continue with five different events on Saturday involving US athletes. Shani Davis will be skating in the men’s 1000m and Heather Richardson has a chance to win another women’s 500m race. WeSupportTheUS.com will have coverage of the results on Saturday evening.

Schedule:

• March 8th
  • 4:24 AM ET – Women’s 3000m Division B
    • Anna Ringsred
    • Maria Lamb
  • 7:30 AM ET – Women’s 500m (2 of 2) Division A
    • Kelly Gunther
    • Sugar Todd
    • Heather Richardson
  • 7:57 AM ET – Men’s 500m (1 of 2) Division A
    • Mitchell Whitmore
    • Tucker Fredricks
  • 9:41 AM ET – Men’s 1000m Division A
    • Jonathan Garcia
    • Joey Mantia
    • Mitchell Whitmore
    • Brian Hansen
    • Shani Davis
  • 10:31 AM ET – Men’s Mass Start
    • Brian Hansen
    • Joey Mantia
    • Patrick Meek