Short Track Speed Skating

MONTREAL - Canadian short-track speedskaters hoping to secure as many Olympic berths as possible through the World Cup faced a couple of early disappointments Thursday.

Skaters Guillaume Bastille and Tania Vincent both failed to advance past the quarter-finals in 1,500 metre races.

Fellow skaters Charles Hamelin and Olivier Jean for the men, and Kalyna Roberge and Valerie Maltais for the women, will go on to skate in the semi-finals on Sunday at the Maurice Richard Arena.

The meet will determine how many skaters each country can send to the Olympics. Canada automatically gets one spot per distance, and a team in the 3,000 and 5,000 relays, but will be aiming to have the maximum three men and three women in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 events.

The rankings from the end of this week will be combined with the results from another meet in Marquette, Mich., next weekend. Skaters in the top 32 spots in each distance will go on to Vancouver, the top 36 spots for the 1,500 metres.

The countries to watch for are Korea, China and the United States, with powerful skaters that the Canadian team are scrutinizing carefully in Montreal. The World Cup this week is a chance to gather intelligence about your rivals before the big show in February in Vancouver.

Some of the top male competitors include Korea's Lee Ho-Suk and J.R. Celski on the American side. Celski is not at the meet this week because of a significant leg injury that he is still recuperating from. He told reporters this week he intends to be on the ice in Vancouver.

On the women's side, two-year world champion Wang Meng is the one to beat.

Canada's men's Olympic squad also features Hamelin's brother Francois, Francois-Louis Tremblay of Alma, Que., and Guillaume Bastille of Riviere-du-Loup, Que.

The women's team includes Jessica Gregg of Edmonton and Marianne St-Gelais of Roberval, Que.