Peter Groseclose pushed hard but fell short in the men’s 1500-meter short track speed skating at the Fourth Winter Olympic Games on Saturday.
Groseclose, 16, ended up fifth in his qualification race for the final of the event, which was expectedly dominated by South Korean athletes at the Gangneung Ice Arena.
“It was a difficult first race and one of the fastest races of the day,” Groseclose’s coach, John-Henry Krueger, said. “Peter was aggressive in his passing, but some of the bumps and normal incidents that occur in short track racing didn’t go his way until the end.”
Groseclose clocked two minutes and 20.575 seconds in his heat, while Germany’s Lowie Dekens topped in 2:18.473.
The hosts finished 1-3, with gold winners Jaehee Joo (2:21.906) and Yousung Kim (2:22.148) sandwiching China’s Xinzhe Zhang (2:22.095) on the podium.
Groseclose ran third early in the race but couldn’t hang on and was overtaken by England’s Willem Murray and Dekens.
Thirty-four athletes raced in the event.
Groseclose will be back on the ice Sunday for the 1,000m race and again on Monday for the 500m.
“It’s a disappointing result, but we’re going to keep looking forward to the next race,” said Krueger, a two-time Olympic medalist. “Peter is still motivated, although he is not happy with the result. I understand because he holds himself to a high standard, so we have to stay positive.”
Freestyle skier Laetaz Amihan Rabe, the country’s flag bearer during Friday’s opening ceremony at the Gangneung Oval, meanwhile, started training at the Welli Hilli Park in Hoengseong for the women’s slopestyle and big air events on January 24 and 28, respectively.
Avery Balbanida, the third Filipino Youth Olympian, will fly in on January 25 for the cross-country skiing events on January 29 and 30 at the Alpensia Biathlon Center in Pyeongchang.
