Racing
Associated Press 21y

Holzer wins race by almost 10 seconds

KEARNS, Utah -- Kristine Holzer's skating career is barely
four years old, but on Tuesday she looked like a seasoned veteran
when she routed the 5,000-meter field as the U.S. Speedskating
Long-Track Championships concluded.

Holzer, whose battles with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis as a
child kept her out of sports, sliced more than eight seconds off
her personal-best time for the distance as she won in 7 minutes, 18.93
seconds.

Second place went to Katie Krall (7:28.52), while Maria Lamb
(7:30.94) was third.

Later Tuesday, the men's 10,000-meter race was captured by Shani
Davis, whose time of 13:53.39 was nearly a half-minute better than
Nate DiPalma's second-place time of 14:22.17. Third in the 10,000
was Clay Mull (14:26.97).

Holzer is embarking on a speedskating career at 28, making up
for time she lost because of her childhood arthritis.

"I really wasn't in sports until I was 20,'' she said. "It was
like, 'Now that you have outgrown arthritis and can do anything,
what would you do?'''

Her first choice was rowing. In 1998 at the U.S. Rowing Senior
National Trials she placed second in the open woman doubles.

But that summer, while training in Lake Placid, N.Y., Holzer
became intrigued by a short-track skating competition. That fall
she joined a U.S. Speedskating training program at Butte, Mont.

Holzer moved the following spring to Calgary so she could train
year-round on the Olympic oval there. Uncomfortable with the quick
starts needed in sprint events, Holzer preferred the longer races,
which required the same endurance and mental stamina that she honed
during years of sculling.

"I really like the mental challenge of the longer distances,''
she said. "It really requires a lot of persistence and patience.''

Although Holzer struggled throughout the 2001-02 season, she has
steadily improved this winter.

At the long-track championships she set personal records in
every event she entered except the 500-meter race, and was crowned
national champion in both the 3,000-and 5,000-meter events.

Although she'll be almost 32 when the Olympic Winter Games open
in Turino, Italy, Holzer intends to be on the U.S. team that
competes there.

"You can't put four years in and then stop,'' she said,
referring to her late introduction to speedskating. "You want to
see what you can do.''

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