Day 1 On the Road

Today was overcast, but the sun was shining brightly for two of MPC’s brightest stars.  In the Senior Men’s 200 meter event, both Gregory Duggento of Italy and Wouter Hebbrecht of Belgium ran exact times in the qualifying heats tying them for 1st place entering the final round.  While the first 8 contestants were finishing their final runs, the chronograph seemed to be stuck around 16.7 seconds.  Then, the Venezuelan Juan Jardine posted a 16.6 and took the lead.  All eyes were on Gregory Duggento, the man who had won this event for the past 9 years.  The crowd began to yell, even Colombians as they appreciate the purity and power of Duggento’s explosive sprint.  The chrono posted a time of 16.37, bettering Jardine’s time by over 2 tenths of a second and seemingly putting the competition away. 

Now, it was the Belgian Wouter Hebbrecht’s time to take a shot at fame.  Hebbrecht exploded off the line and in a striking contrast to Duggento’s style, he began crossing through the turn almost continuously and lunged for the line.  The crowd fell silent as again, the chrono showed a time of 16.37 -- the identical time to Duggento’s!

After what seemed like an eternity, the announcer advised the crowd that they would be going to the thousands to determine the winner and Duggento’s final time of 16.373 was not enough to beat Hebbrecht’s final time of 16.366 giving Hebbrecht the win by a mere 7 one thousands of a second.  Hebbrecht’s fiancée, USA’s own “Wonder Woman” Sara Sayasane ran through the crowd and the couple enjoyed a moment as a couple who just happen to both be World Champions!

 
World’s 2007 Cali, Colombia News 

“Close competition between Colombia and Korea for rights to Inline Speed Skating Championship for 2007”
Up until this year, Colombia has simply dominated inline speed skating championships for the past several years, winning bragging rights since 2004.  Last year however, the South Korean Team served notice by placing second overall on their home turf that they would be a force to be reckoned with in the future.  This year, with half of the competition completed, South Korea is knocking on Colombia’s front door in one of the closest competitions in memory.  A mere 52 points separate the two teams with Colombia holding the lead with 1,423 points, South Korea second with 1,371 points, USA third with 1,248 points and Italy fourth with 1,203 points.  MPC wheels have been on 9 Gold Medalists so far out of a possible 16 giving  them the edge in Gold Medals throughout the competition thus far.

With a rest day scheduled for Tuesday, the road competition begins Wednesday and the action is sure to heat up again.  

“Team USA’s Jessica Smith heads home”

Jessica Smith is heading home to get a broken collarbone evaluated for possible surgery on Tuesday morning.  Jessica suffered her injury during the Senior Ladies 15K elimination race during a crash involving multiple skaters and will be unable to skate the remainder of the competition.

MPC wishes Jessica a speedy recovery and hopes to see her back on the road, track and/or ice very soon.

World’s 2007 Cali, Colombia News2007 World Championships from Cali, Colombia

MPC powered South Korea strikes first Gold at the World Championships and takes the Silver too in the Junior Ladies 10,000 meter points/elimination Track Championship.  The South Koreans were one of the big surprises last year and are proving they are no fluke as they struck gold in 3 of the 4 long distance events on the first day of the Championships in Cali, Colombia.  The Koreans were not only impressive, they dominated during the track events with the notable exception of the Senior Men's 10,000 meter where Italy just edged out New Zealand for the victory in a close race to the finish.

After the first day of competition, it is the South Koreans, powered by MPC wheels who are leading the World Championships i