Breakdown: What happened in Marquette?

The United States short track speed skating roster is beginning to take shape for the Vancouver Olympics.

Unfortunately, the Olympic Trials that ended Sept. 12 in Marquette, Mich. were marred by two injuries  -- both “serious,” according to US Speedskating, but the skaters are expected to make full recoveries.

J.R. Celski, who earned a spot on the Olympic squad by winning two races, fell during a semifinal heat of the men’s 500m Saturday afternoon. He hit the padded wall and bounced off, and in the process his right skate blade sliced into his left leg near the knee.

Blood was visible on the front of the blade, and wire photos showed it pouring out of the wound. Fellow skater Walter Rusk, who was not competing at the time, jumped onto the ice from the crowd and immediately applied pressure to the cut on Celski’s leg. Emergency personnel took over and brought Celski to the hospital, where he later had surgery.

US Speedskating spokesperson Peri Kinder told UniversalSports.com on Monday that Celski is now in Salt Lake City and will be working with Dr. Eric Heiden during the rehabilitation process.

He is expected to fully recover in time for the Games in February.

Also injured Saturday was former Olympian Maria Garcia during a women’s 500m quarterfinal race. She hit the ice hard during a fall and emergency workers took her off the ice on a backboard before bringing her to the hospital for evaluation. Garcia is expected to recover.

Ohno, Reutter roll
The star of the meet was 27-year-old Apolo Ohno, who, after finishing second to Celski twice earlier in the week, reeled off victories in the 1,000m, 1,500m, 500m and the second 1,000m on Friday and Saturday. The five-time Olympic medalist is still unsure whether or not he’ll compete beyond the upcoming Games, but he will enter Vancouver as one of the favorites to win gold.

“It feels really good,” Ohno told the Associated Press on Saturday. “We have a very, very strong team.”

On the women’s side, 21-year-old Katherine Reutter won five events -- the nine-lap time trial, the 500m, 1,000m and both 1,500m races -- to qualify for her first Olympics. And with 6,952 points, she was the top female point-getter at the five-day meet.

Ohno won the men’s point race with 6,912. Celski was second with 5,014.

The name game
Five men and five women qualified for the Olympics based on their performances in Marquette. Their positions on the roster will be determined later in the fall, depending on how they fare at the final two events on the ISU World Cup circuit -- Montreal and Marquette. A meet in Beijing takes place this weekend, and the field will travel to Seoul next weekend for the second stop in the four-meet series.

Kinder said that in order for all 10 skaters to travel to Vancouver, the U.S. needs to qualify both a men’s and women’s relay team. The full U.S. squad will be announced after the final World Cup event in November.

For now, here are the 10 skaters that qualified to compete for spots in Vancouver:

MEN
Apolo Ohno
J.R. Celski
Jordan Malone
Travis Jayner
Simon Cho

WOMEN
Katherine Reutter
Alyson Dudek
Kimberly Derrick
Allison Baver
Lana Gehring

In addition to the skaters above, Jeff Simon, Anthony Lobello and Jessica Smith will also compete at the World Cup meets.

Broken leg? No problem
Perhaps the comeback story of the Olympic Trials was that of Allison Baver, who netted 3,996 points and qualified in the top 5. In February, Baver shattered the bones in her lower right leg during a violent crash.

“My leg looked like a twig,” she told the Associated Press last week.

For weeks Baver was laid up on the couch as her fractured bones fused back together following surgery. She started her rehab stint in April at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Baver finally returned to the ice on May 23 and since then, she’s trained with the national team in hopes of qualifying for Vancouver.

And now that she’s on the shortlist to travel north of the border in February, Baver will need to have continued success on the upcoming World Cup circuit to secure that spot.