Short Track Speed Skating

MARQUETTE, Mich. - Apolo Anton Ohno earned a narrow victory in the 500 meters at the U.S. short track national championships Saturday night, when crashes sent two skaters to the hospital.

The five-time Olympic medalist barely got his right skate blade in front of Jeff Simon in the final at the hockey rink on the Northern Michigan University campus.

Ohno was timed in 41.928, with Simon crossing the line in 41.967. Travis Jayner was third and Jordan Malone fourth. The victory allowed Ohno to pad his first-place point total in the overall standings.

The top five men and women earn spots on the Olympic team for Vancouver.

J.R. Celski underwent surgery after crashing and slicing open his left leg with his right skate blade in a 500 meter semi-final heat.

He hit the boards coming out of a turn and bounced off them. The first few inches of his right blade cut into his left leg near the knee, spilling blood on the ice.

Celski yelled as emergency personnel rushed onto the ice and applied pressure to try and stop the heavy blood flow. The race was cut off while he was tended to for several minutes before being removed on a stretcher.

U.S. Speedskating president Brad Goskowicz said Celski was undergoing surgery at Marquette General Hospital to determine the extent of his injury.

Simon hit the boards skates-first earlier in the heat, but he wasn't hurt. Anthony Lobello Jr., a 2006 Olympian, was disqualified for impeding Simon.

Celski, a 19-year-old skater from Federal Way, Wash., was second behind Ohno in the overall point standings when he was injured.

U.S. Speedskating said in a statement that Celski's total of 4,752 points would be enough for him to be nominated to the Olympic team.

The only thing still in question was Celski's standing in the individual classifications for the 500 and 1,000 meters.

He won the 1,500 earlier in the meet, ensuring that he can finish no lower than second in that classification, no matter the outcome of Saturday's races.

Celski was the second skater taken off by stretcher on the meet's final night. Maria Garcia, a 2006 Olympian from Carson, Calif., crashed hard into the boards in her 500 semifinal heat, forcing the race to be stopped.

Garcia was taken to the same hospital as Celski and was being evaluated, Goskowicz said.