A look back at the United States' fall World Cup selections

US Speedskating held their Fall World Cup long track qualifier last weekend in Milwaukee.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Schaats Foto’s

The best skaters in the United States were battling for World Cup spots last weekend at the Pettit national ice center in Milwaukee. All the distances were raced once except for the 500m and the mass start that were raced two times.

Mass start

The first day of racing consisted in two mass start races. Mass start specialist and multiple times inline speed skating world champion Joey Mantia won both mass start races to easily get his ticket for the World cups on the distance. Ethan Cepuran collected a second and a third place to take the second mass start World cup spot.

Mia Kilburg and Kimberly Goetz both won one race and finished second in the other. They’ll both represent the United States on the distance this season. Goetz was once a member of the short track national team and is now looking for long track speed skating glory.

500m and 1000m

Two-time olympian Brittany Bowe won both 500m races. In the first one, she established a time of 38.23 to finish just before well-known inline skater and ice olympian Erin Jackson who skated her 500m in 38.86. Brianna Bocox finished third in 39.72. On the second 500m, Bowe (38.19) and Jackson (38.41) also took first and second but it was Kimberley Goetz who took third in 39.73. Bowe won another distance on 1000m in 1:14.45 finishing ahead of Kimberly Goetz and Brianna Bocox who respectively raced in 1:16.13 and 1:16.66.

Kimani Griffin won both 500m races in the men’s competition. His best time was 35.53 in the first 500m race of the selections. Brett Perry (36.03) and Austin Kleba (36.39) completed the 500m (1) podium while Joey Mantia stepped on the second step of the podium in the 500m (2) with a time of 36.06 alongside Austin Kleba who took his second third place on the distance. Joey Mantia was the fastest man on 1000m as he raced the distance in 1:09.75. The 500m champion Kimani Griffin took the second place and Austin Kleba the third.

1500m
Brittany Bowe and Joey Mantia once again showed their superiority by winning the 1500m event by huge margins. Bowe took the first place in the ladies’ 1500m with a time of 1:56.41, almost five seconds faster than her closest rival Mia Kilburg who took silver. Mantia (1:46.91) took a two and a half second lead on Justin Stelly who finished second.

Ladies’ 3000m / Men’s 5000m

Mia Kilburg (Manganello) won the ladies’ 3000m race in 4:13.74 and we’ll see her race this season on the World Cup circuit. Carlijn Schoutens (4:14.13) and Rebecca Simmons (4:28.21) completed the podium on the distance.

Danmark’s Viktor Hald Thorup who’s training in the United States was the fastest on 5000m with a time of 6:27.19. The two best Americans were junior skaters Ethan Cepuran (6:37.87) and Casey Dawson (6:39.76) who finished second and third.

Ladies’ 5000m / Men’s 10 000m

The longer distances were won by Carlijn Schoutens and Ian Quinn. Schoutens raced her 5000m in 7:18.70 to win the distance and qualify on the world cup team. Quinn raced the painful 10 000m event in a time of 13:58.75 but he won’t join the American World Cup team.

Here’s the full team:

Brittany Bowe - 500, 1000, 1500
Kimi Goetz - 500, 1000, 1500, Mass Start
Mia Manganello Kilburg - 1500, 3000, Mass Start
Brianna Bocox - 500, 1000
Carlijn Schoutens - 3000m, 5000m
Erin Jackson - 500
Paige Schwartzburg - 1500
Maria Lamb - 5000m

Kimani Griffin - 500, 1000, 1500
Joey Mantia - 1000, 1500, Mass Start
Ethan Cepuran - 5000, Mass Start
Brett Perry - 500
Austin Kleba - 1000
Justin Stelly - 1500
Casey Dawson - 1500

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