Hello Family and Friends!

Well...our trip to Japan was very exciting and full of fun adventures! Thank you to all who have sent your good wishes to Casey! He must have felt all your prayers this weekend...he ended the weekend overall very successfully.

Ruthie, Jeff, Jessi, Nate and myself had a wonderful time with our host family in Tokyo and Nagano. We had a personal tour guide and chaufer all week long. Thank you Yoko and Diceka for our fabulous tour around Tokyo! Thank you too, to Mom, Hiroko and Aya! We all had a wonderful time experiencing Japan as you do everyday. Sleeping on totomi mats, visiting the hot springs and the Zenkoji Temple, eating authentic Japanese food, shopping at the local food market and seeing all Japan has to offer in it's beauty was experiences we will never forget! Of course, the highlight of our trip and the main reason we were there was to watch Casey race in the World Sprint Speedskating Championships.

SATURDAY

Casey started the competition on Saturday paired with fellow training partner Mike Ireland from Canada in the 500m. He was excited about this pair, because Mike has a very fast start and would get Casey down that first hundred meters fast. Casey and Mike were neck and neck at the first 100m with a 9.7. At the finish Mike edged Casey by a tenth of a second. Casey finished 6th with a time of 35.50. The winner Jeremy Wotherspoon (training partner from Canada) finished in a time of 35.25.

In the first 1000m race of the weekend, Casey is paired with a Japanese skater. The crowd will be cheering all the way around and Kobayashi is a fast starter!! Casey opened in a 16.5, neck and neck with his pair. He skates a solid race and finishes with a time of 1:10.84. This puts in in 8th place for the 1000m just off the winning time of 1:09.46. Overall, after two races Casey is sitting in 6th place. Just out of 5th place by 2 hundredths of a second and out of 4th place by 9 hundredths. (not too shabby for a guy who's taken 14 months off!) :)

SUNDAY

So Casey is sitting in 6th place going into the second day of racing. One 500m and one 1000m race to go! In the 500m race of the day, Casey is paired with Janne Hanninen of Finland. He has a solid opener and finishes with a time of 35.55. Not far off Saturday's time. And gives him a 6th place finish in this second 500m race. Overall, after three races, he is still in 6th place.

For his last 1000m race for the weekend, Casey is paired with the gentleman in 5th place (Hiroyasu Shimizu from Japan). The crowd is loud and Casey takes advantage of the motivation. They have a good fast start and a great solid first lap. Coming out of the second to last turn, Casey has a slip and looses some momentum. He fights all the way to the end of the race and finishes with a time of 1:11.05. This time will be good enough to hold his 6th place finish in the overall standings! WOW! A 6th place finish at the World Championships! Very impressive. He has been working so hard! I am so proud of him! He has shown such courage and determination this season! So many coaches and athletes are impressed by his outstanding results this year! He's right back in the mix and right on track for this year. Now it's back to training and more World Cups.

Casey travels home to Milwaukee for a short trip and will be back up in Calgary this Thursday after a month away! Most of the US team are skipping the China World Cup this weekend for various reasons. Thus, he will train a few weeks here in Calgary and then it's off to Europe and Collabo, Italy for the third world cup of the season. Thank you again, for all your support! If you want to know more about the competitions and results, you can go to isu.org to find out more.

Talk to you all soon,

Jennifer FitzRandolph