VANCOUVER - Allison Baver was knocked into a wall again. This time she got up, continued to skate, and advanced into Saturday's 1,500-meter semifinals anyway, through the arcane rules of short-track speedskating.
And then: "A tactical mistake," she said. She let too many skaters move ahead of her, too many for her to make a charge at the end.
"I wish I would have just slapped myself in the face and reminded myself to take control of the race and be in front of certain girls," said Baver, a native of the Reading suburb of Sinking Spring. "Usually I skate a lot more aggressively, from the front. Part of it was my confidence a little bit. That split-second when I wanted to go to the front I was like, 'Oooh.' I just wasn't sure of myself. And I think that just comes with my injury a little bit. Not knowing my body 100 percent."
