Groseclose falls short anew

GANGWON, South Korea — Speed Skater Peter Joseph Groseclose had his moment in the 1,000 meters of short track on Sunday but missed out on a semifinal berth in the Fourth Winter Youth Olympic Games at the Gangneung Ice Arena.

Groseclose placed fourth in the quarterfinal phase with a time of one minute and 28.889. China’s Xinzhe Zhang and the US’ Sean Boxiong Shuai dominated with 1:27.738 and 1:26.792 clockings, respectively. “Peter was just on the outside of the pack for a little too long,” coach John-Henry Krueger said. “In short track, you want to minimize your stay outside the pack because you’re skipping the longer distance and putting more effort just to stay with the group. That led to the result.” Great Britain’s Willem Murray (1:27.931) and Turkey’s Muhammed Bozdag (1:27.592) earned the other two semifinal spots in Groseclose’s group.

‘Today was a move going in the right direction.’

Xinzhe stunned the final field and won gold in 1:26.257. Bozdag (1:26.349) clinched silver and Japan’s Raito Kida (1:26.478) bagged bronze.

The 16-year-old Groseclose, an 11th-grader at Oakton High in Washington DC, aggressively pushed himself ahead in the opening heats to enter the quarterfinal round with a 1:30.243 clocking. Bozdag earned the other quarterfinal seat with 1:30.409.

Despite again failing to advance to the medal race, Krueger, a two-time Winter Olympics medalist, said Groseclose is headed in the right direction.

“Today was a move going in the right direction. However, I think it could have been a much larger gap between what happened yesterday, so we just have to prepare and talk about tomorrow’s event,” said Krueger, referring to his ward’s 500m race on Monday.

Groseclose, one of three Filipinos who qualified for the Winter Youth Olympics, also didn’t advance to the medal race in Sunday’s 1,500m race.