Good Sunday Morning to Everyone!

Day 2 got underway with a bang!! Casey is in pair 18 of the 500m race with a friend and competitor from Korea, Kyou Hyuk Lee. The Koreas are known for the fast starts!  This is great to get Casey's juices going.  He knows if they are close at the 100m mark...he's on a good one. They cross the 100m mark in 9.8 seconds. Not bad. Casey has first inner and will finish his last turn on the outer lane...alot easier to hold with amount of speed the skaters take going into that last turn.  He won't need to slow down to hold the corner.  Casey comes out ahead and crosses the finish in a time of 35.32 seconds. .27 seconds faster than day 1!!! Today, it's good enough for 4th place!  Only .08 seconds from the podium! Casey said..."It's exciting to be in the mix again...and still have things about my races that need perfecting." After two races...Casey is sitting 4th overall in the World Cup standings, just 15 points out a medal. :)

Casey relaxes in the locker room sharpening his skates again.  They switch lanes for day 2.  He is paired again with Joey Cheek. He's up! Casey will start in the inner lane and thus finish with a last inner turn. Casey posts almost exact split times as day 1. In his first 200m, he crosses in 16.7 seconds...His first lap, he records a 25.6 seconds and with a 2 second die, his second lap is 27.6 seconds.  He finishes with a time of 1:09.93.   This places him 9th in the 1000m standings. Overall, after 2 races he is 6th in the World Cup standings...and only 28 points separate him and the other top 5 guys! 

With his top 6 finishes in both races this weekend, Casey has prequalified for the Winter World Cup team as well as the World Single Distance Championships! He is 95% sure he will not need to race the 500m and 1000m races in Milwaukee at the end of December. However...he is still thinking about the 1500m, which will take place Dec. 18 or 19th that weekend. I will keep you updated as to his decision!

As I write this...Casey and the US team are boarding a bus to the Tokyo Airport. It is just about 3am Monday morning in Japan.  They are off to Harbin, China for the second World Cup of the season.

Below are the top 15 results for his day 2 races along with the other US finishes.
Until next weekend...take care and your prayers for safety in China for the team would be very much appreciated!

Love you all,
Jenn Fitz

Day 2 Nagano 500m race
1 Hiroyasu SHIMIZU JPN 34.95 100
2 Jeremy WOTHERSPOON CAN 34.97 80
3 Joji KATO JPN 35.23 70
4 Casey FITZRANDOLPH USA 35.32 60
5 Dmitry LOBKOV RUS 35.36 50
6 Yuya OIKAWA JPN 35.45 45
7 Kip CARPENTER USA 35.46 40
8 Joey CHEEK USA 35.50 36
8 Kyou-Hyuk LEE KOR 35.50 36
10 Gerard van VELDE NED 35.51 28
11 Fengtong YU CHN 35.54 24
12 Masaaki KOBAYASHI JPN 35.56 21
13 Jae-Bong CHOI KOR 35.59 18
14 Erben WENNEMARS NED 35.63 16
15 Keiichiro NAGASHIMA JPN 35.67 14


19 Tucker FREDRICKS USA 35.78 6
34 Nick PEARSON USA 36.39



Day 2 Nagano 1000m race
1 129 Kyou-Hyuk LEE KOR 1:09.39 100
2 122 Beorn NIJENHUIS NED 1:09.40 0.01 80
3 120 Gerard van VELDE NED 1:09.55 0.16 70
4 103 Jeremy WOTHERSPOON CAN 1:09.57 0.18 60
5 128 Even WETTEN NOR 1:09.77 0.38 50
6 127 Petter ANDERSEN NOR 1:09.80 0.41 45
7 144 Yusuke IMAI JPN 1:09.86 0.47 40
8 123 Simon KUIPERS NED 1:09.90 0.51 36
9 138 Casey FITZRANDOLPH USA 1:09.93 0.54 32
10 136 Joey CHEEK USA 1:10.12 0.73 28
11 113 Pekka KOSKELA FIN 1:10.38 0.99 26
12 141 Masaaki KOBAYASHI JPN 1:10.41 1.02 24
13 139 Nick PEARSON USA 1:10.48 1.09 22
14 137 Kip CARPENTER USA 1:10.64 1.25 20
15 121 Erben WENNEMARS NED 1:10.66 1.27 18


27 140 Tucker FREDRICKS USA 1:11.98 2.59