Good Afternoon Fitz Fans!!

The Olympic stretch that Casey and all you Fitz Fans have been waiting for has arrived!  You may have noticed while watching NBC or MSNBC the increase in Olympic commercials. And, yes, that is our super star carrying the flag tall and proud through many of the ads!  I invite you all to visit nbcolympics.com.  Click on Speedskating on the left menu then 500m or 1000m men's.  You can relive the great videos and pictures from 2002. 

Casey left for Heerenveen, Holland (the speedskating capitol of the world) 10 days ago.  He arrived last Friday and has been training, resting, relaxing and honing in his technique.  The US Sprint Team is using this weekend and next as warm up competitions to fine-tune their skills for the Olympics in February. And Casey is right on track!

This week was the World Sprint Championships.  For those of you new to the sport, this weekend the skaters each skate a 500m and 1000m race both on Saturday and then again on Sunday.  They take the times from these four races, add them together, and the skater with the fastest combined times is crowned World Sprint Champion.  There are many skaters who are strong in one or the other race, so to be crowned World Champion means the skater is consistent in both races, a great accomplishment in the speedskating world. Now to the results.

Casey finished 5th in his first 500m race and 12th in his first 1000m race.  This left him sitting in 5th place overall on Saturday. I talked with him later that evening and he said he got a great draft on the back stretch off his pair in the 500m, but he didn't react to the gun as quickly as he knows he can.  Something to focus on.  He also said, "My 1000 wasn't where I want it to be.  I had a great first 200m but just couldn't get it up to speed." He also told me after his 500m race the announcer on the infield came over and interviewed him.  He was wished a happy 31st birthday and the thousands of Dutch fans began to sing Happy Birthday in Dutch.  He said he stopped and took it all in, "this would be the last time I would experience something like that. It was pretty touching."

On day two Casey had a second solid 500m race. He finished 4th, less than a tenth of a second from a medal.  This moved him up in the standings to 4th position overall. The cheetah was on the prowl!  He needed to have an outstanding 1000m race to move into medal position.  He was second to last pair with Jan Bos (a Dutch rival for many, many years). Jan is sitting 3rd overall, so the Dutch crowd was going wild. Casey once again had one of the fastest openers of the day, 16.57.  He just couldn't get his first lap going or hold on in the second lap.  He finishes 16th in this race.  Definitely not where he wants to be.  However, this did not drop him in the standings.  He finishes tied for 4th overall in the World Sprint Speedskating Championships!  Not too shabby for a tune up race weekend!

The team leaves early Monday morning for Collalbo, Italy for a World Cup next weekend. They then go straight to Torino on February 1st to check into the Olympic Village. With just about 3 weeks before his races in Torino, he is in striking distance right where he wants to be and where he was going into Salt Lake!!

Thanks for all you support....Jennifer and Kea


1st 500m Saturday
1 53 Dmitry Dorofeyev RUS      35.11 (1) 35.110
2 60 Joey Cheek USA    35.19 (2) 35.190 0.080 00.16
3 40 Jan Bos NED               35.23 (3) 35.230 0.120 00.24
4 38 Kang-Seok Lee KOR 35.28 (4) 35.280 0.170 00.34
5 62 Casey FitzRandolph USA    35.29 (5) 35.290 0.180 00.36
6 12 Fengtong Yu CHN   35.32 (6) 35.320 0.210 00.42
7 29 Joji Kato JPN             35.40 (7) 35.400 0.290 00.58


1st 1000m Saturday
1 40 Jan Bos NED               1:09.23 34.615
2 60 Joey Cheek USA    1:09.25 34.625 0.010
3 39 Kyou-Hyuk Lee KOR 1:09.27 34.635 0.020
5 3 Dmitry Dorofeyev RUS       1:09.27 34.635 0.020 PB
5 8 Jeremy Wotherspoon CAN     1:09.65 34.825 0.210
6 61 Shani Davis USA   1:09.78 34.890 0.275
7 55 Yevgeny Lalenkov RUS      1:09.83 34.915 0.300
8 48 Even Wetten NOR   1:10.10 35.050 0.435
9 42 Beorn Nijenhuis NED       1:10.16 35.080 0.465
10 44 Gerard van Velde NED     1:10.25 35.125 0.510
11 41 Stefan Groothuis NED     1:10.33 35.165 0.550
12 62 Casey FitzRandolph USA   1:10.37 35.185 0.570


2nd 500m Sunday
1 60 Joey Cheek USA    35.09 35.090
2 16 Pekka Koskela FIN 35.24 35.240 0.150
3 12 Fengtong Yu CHN   35.25 35.250 0.160
4 62 Casey FitzRandolph USA    35.31 35.310 0.220
5 38 Kang-Seok Lee KOR 35.34 35.340 0.250
   53 Dmitry Dorofeyev RUS     35.34 35.340 0.250
7 8 Jeremy Wotherspoon CAN     35.47 35.470 0.380


2nd 1000m Sunday
1 8 Jeremy Wotherspoon CAN     1:09.67 34.835
2 55 Yevgeny Lalenkov RUS      1:09.78 34.890 0.055
3 61 Shani Davis USA   1:09.81 34.905 0.070
4 28 Yusuke Imai JPN   1:09.90 34.950 0.115
5 40 Jan Bos NED               1:09.91 34.955 0.120
6 48 Even Wetten NOR   1:09.97 34.985 0.150
7 16 Pekka Koskela FIN 1:10.06 35.030 0.195
   41 Stefan Groothuis NED     1:10.06 35.030 0.195
9 39 Kyou-Hyuk Lee KOR 1:10.11 35.055 0.220
10 60 Joey Cheek USA   1:10.17 35.085 0.250
11 44 Gerard van Velde NED     1:10.22 35.110 0.275
12 42 Beorn Nijenhuis NED      1:10.38 35.190 0.355
13 7 Brock Miron CAN           1:10.50 35.250 0.415
14 53 Dmitry Dorofeyev RUS     1:10.56 35.280 0.445
15 37 Jae-Bong Choi KOR        1:10.63 35.315 0.480
16 62 Casey FitzRandolph USA   1:10.67 35.335 0.500

Overall World Sprint Championships!
1 Joey Cheek USA               35.19 (2) 1:09.25 (2) 35.09 (1) 1:10.17 (10) 139.990
2 Dmitry Dorofeyev RUS 35.11 (1) 1:09.27 (3) 35.34 (5) 1:10.56 (14) 140.365 0.375
3 Jan Bos NED          35.23 (3) 1:09.23 (1) 35.62 (10) 1:09.91 (5) 140.420 0.430
4 Kyou-Hyuk Lee KOR    35.64 (13) 1:09.27 (3) 35.79 (14) 1:10.11 (9) 141.120 1.130
  Casey FitzRandolph USA       35.29 (5) 1:10.37 (12) 35.31 (4) 1:10.67 (16) 141.120 1.130