Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
Vancouver, Feb 14, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Katherine Reutter stood first in the qualifying heat of the women’s 500m short track speedskating on Saturday, going up to the quarterfinals. She completed the race in 44.187 seconds, closely followed by Alyson Dudek, who stood second at 44.560 seconds. Besides having qualified for the women’s 500m short track speedskating, Katherine Reutter also qualified in the semifinals of the women’s 300m relay, going up to the finals, forming part of the four skater team of the United States. The finals of the relay are going to be held on Wednesday.

It is not very surprising that Katherine Reutter managed to secure the first position in the 500m short track speedskating, considering that she holds the 8th position in the world in that category. However, that does not take away the significance of the win one bit, as this is the first time that she is taking part in the Winter Olympics. Moreover, she was not into speedskating really; as a child, she was training to be a figure skater. After the win, she is waiting for the 1000m and the 1500m, which she considers her strongest points.

Katherine Ruetter commented, after she won in both the races, that she would want to see a real race when she goes up in the quarterfinals and the finals, and that she would fight to win, referring to the fact that in 2006, the United States Olympics speedskating team had not managed to take home a single trophy. Just before the race, she admits, she had been nervous, and even more so when the race began with a false start from her.