Philippines curlers, speed skater miss podium

MANILA, Philippines — So close yet so far.  

That befell curlers Marc Pfister and Kathleen Dubberstein, and speed skater Peter Groseclose as they came a whisper from handing the Philippines a breakthrough Asian Winter Games medal in Harbin, China yesterday.

Pfister and Dubberstein blew an early 4-0 lead in the first two ends and succumbed to China’s Whang Zhiyu and Han Yu, ranked 15th in the world, in a heartbreaking 6-5 result in the battle for the bronze.

For Groseclose, he gave it his best in the men’s 1500-meter and 500m events but it wasn’t enough.

The 17-year-old Winter Youth Olympian was sixth in the first of three 1500m sekis laps with a clocking of 2:32.688 then landed No. 3 in the third of the four 500m quarterfinal laps with a time of 42.331.

Groseclose will try again to nail a medal in this quadrennial event as he races in today’s 1000m quarterfinal at the HIC Multifunctional Hall.

“Personally, I think I could have done better on my last rocks, but the way I missed the shots was very marginal. So if we can work on honing those skills, I think we can do great next time,” said Dubberstein.

However, it’s not the end of the world for both curlers who will get another crack at a medal as Pfister joins the men’s squad and Dubberstein the women’s in the team events unfurling today.

In the slalom event at the Alpine Skiing Slalom Stadium in Yabuli, Heilongjiang province, Proulx Tallulah finished 16th out of 45 skiers in her two total runs with a 1:53.42 clocking.

Meanwhile, another alpine skier Francis Ceccarelli is set to compete in the men’s slalom slated at 10 a.m. today.