Patrick Meek
Patrick Meek 
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 Patrick Meek (2009) |
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| nation |
 United States
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| birthday | November 10, 1985 | ||
| size | 175 cm | ||
| Weight | 76 kg | ||
| Career | |||
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| discipline | 5000m, 10,000m, team run | ||
| Trainer | Bart Veldkamp | ||
| National squad | since 2005 | ||
| Pers. Best times | 5000m: 6: 23.89 min (January 21, 2012 in Salt Lake City) 10,000m: 13: 26.06 min |
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| status | active | ||
| Placements in the speed skating world cup | |||
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| last change: December 13, 2013 | |||
Patrick Meek (born November 10, 1985 ) is an American speed skater who mainly starts on the long distances (5000 and 10,000 meters) and in team runs.
Career
Meek's grandfather and father were already speed skaters, so that he came into contact with the sport at the age of two and practiced it from there. At first, however, he did not train normal speed skating, but short track . From 2000 he was part of the US junior team in this discipline, of which he was a member for five years. During this time, his greatest achievement was winning the bronze medal at the national age group championships. At the beginning of the 2004/05 season, Meek played his first competitions as a speed skater. He later justified the change of sport by saying that he had had enough of the many collisions on the short track. His first big success in the new discipline was reaching third place in the team run at the Junior World Championships in Seinäjoki . There he and his teammates Michael Blumel and Paul Dyrud only had to admit defeat to the Dutch and Canadian teams.
Within a year, Meek established himself among the best US speed skaters; both at the US championships and in elimination races for places in the national team, he regularly achieved top ten results. That is why he was a member of the senior squad from 2005 and a regular participant in the Speed Skating World Cup from 2007 . In the meantime, Meek also won a US championship title over 10,000 meters - although he was the only starter - and took part in the 2007 Winter Universiade , which he called one of his “coolest speed skating experiences” and a “miniature Olympics” “Designated. At his first World Cup starts in the 2007/08 season , Meek could not place in the individual competitions in the top 30 and therefore did not achieve any World Cup points. The following season was similar, in which Meek only achieved a top ten result with the team when he finished sixth at the World Cup opener in Berlin with Trevor Marsicano and Ryan Bedford . In the following year, the American no longer qualified for the strong World Cup team in his country. In December 2009 he missed qualifying for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in sixth place in the US elimination race over 10,000 meters , although he clearly undercut his personal best. After that, the now 24-year-old couldn't return to the World Cup squad and has been competing in the second-rate American Cup ever since .
Professionally, Meek graduated from St. Louis University High in 2004 and has since studied political science at the University of Utah . His trainer is the former long-distance athlete Bart Veldkamp , who particularly praises Meek for putting “his focus entirely on speed skating”.
Speed skating world cup placements
| placement | 100 m | 500 m | 1000 m | 1500 m | 3000 m | 5000 m | 10,000 m | team | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st place | |||||||||
| 2nd place | |||||||||
| 3rd place | |||||||||
| Top 10 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| As of December 17, 2010 | |||||||||
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Skaters here are taking long route to success ( Memento from January 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Result: USA Single Distance Championships 2007
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: A tough day .... - Blog entry on Meek's website about the missed Olympic qualification
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Meek, Patrick |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American speed skater |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 10, 1985 |