U.S. Olympic Speedskating Champs To Compete in Chesterfield

Some of the biggest names now in speedskating are expected in to compete for this year's American Cup 1 Short Track Championship.

U.S. Olympic medalists will race over two days in run-up events to the 2014 Winter Games.

Tickets are $5 at the door Oct. 1-2,  in the Valley.

Included in the roster are:

• Katherine Reutter, 23, of Champaign, IL, who trained in St. Louis as a teen and is a 2010 silver and bronze Olympic medalist, and five-time national champ overall in short track speedskating.

• Simon Cho, 19, of Maryland, who trained on his own to make the 2010 U.S. Olympic team in Vancouver, winning the bronze. Late note: An injury forced him to pull out of the Chesterfield competition. He placed first in pre-event ranking.

• J.R. Celski, 21, a Californian and former in-line skater who took two bronze medals in the 2010 Olympics with the U.S. team and a 60-stitch gash to his leg that nearly ended his career.

• Travis Jayner, 29, a Canadian who won a bronze for the U.S. in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

• Emily Scott, 22, of Springfield, MO and National Speedskating Team member.

The speedskating record for an individual on ice is nearly 30 mph. A team typically has 4-6 members. Olympic-sized short tracks are 30 meters by 60 meters.

The Missouri Speedskating Association (MOSA) sponsors the competition and has spent the past 85 years developing top skaters, with Missouri putting a skater on every U.S. Olympic team since 1968.

Sept. 29-30 is practice, Oct. 1, Sat., competition begins 11 a.m., 1,500 and 500 meters. Oct. 2, Sun., begins at 9 a.m. 1,000 meters and 1,500 meters super-final.

Chesterfield's Iceplex is the largest ice skating facility in the state, and much of the Midwest.

Iceplex is located at 16851 North Outer Forty Dr., in Chesterfield 63005.

See U.S. Speedskating for more info.