Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating – Kolomna (RUS)
The third Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating event took place
in a new high tech ice rink of Kolomna, Russia, 100km southeast
of Moscow. The event saw track records set at the highest
levels. 36 personal bests were set as well as 7 national records
for Poland; Denmark, Austria, Ukraine, Czech Republic, France,
and Switzerland.
Ladies
The ladies skated the 5000m on Saturday. Martina Sáblíková
from Czech Republic lived up to her record, winning the distance,
as she had done at the previous two World Cups. She took the
podium with 6:53.67, leaving the silver medal for Clara Hughes,
Canada, who posted 6:56.63. Third place was for the German
skater Daniela Anschütz-Thoms, who with 6:58.58 kept
multiple Olympic Champion Claudia Pechstein behind her, finishing
with 6:59.96.
Sáblíková’s performance was a
great win, made even more interesting by some exceptional
skating in B division. There were 12 skaters in the A-division,
outside of this contingent in the B-Division Gretha Smit from
the Netherlands took the spotlight. She showed that she has
real potential on her favorite distance, and won the B-division
in a new track record time of 6:53.63, 0.04 of a second faster
than the winning time of Sábliková.
On Sunday, the ladies skated the 1500m. Anni Friesinger (Germany)
won in a new track record of 1:55.39, and her opening of 25,43
won the race for her. Christine Nesbitt from Canada was slower
in the laps, opening in 26,24 and finishing in the end in
1:56.00, which gave her second place. The battle for the last
podium spot took place in the final pair, where Daniela Anschütz-Thoms
had her second third-place finish of the weekend leaving Kristina
Groves the fourth place.
In the 1500m rankings, Nesbitt leads, Groves is second with
Friesinger third.
Men
The 1500m men saw a close podium with the three fastest men
skating in the last three pairs. Erben Wennemars in pair eight
brought the track record down to 1:46.07. In the next pair
Enrico Fabris came very close with a 27.6 final lap, but had
to settle for second place, 1:46.09. Finally it was Håvard
Bøkko from Norway, who overtook Simon Kuipers in the
final lap, and finished in 1:46.12. This distance had to do
without one of the top two competitors of the season, Shani
Davis from the USA, was not present, because of this he dropped
to place 5 in the overall rankings whereas Wennemars is now
firmly leading with 260 points, Fabris with 170 and Kuipers
with 164 points follow.
There was some drama in the 10,000m men, the last distance
of the weekend. Without the two leaders Fabris and Kramer,
who both won one 5000m race with a new world record, the race
was mainly between the Dutch and Håvard Bøkko,
who came so close to victory the first day. Carl Verheijen,
one of the main favorites but fell before he finished his
first lap. With a wound on his ankle, he was unable to finish
his race. His pairmate Bob de Jong had only the clock left
to battle with. De Jong’s time, 13.17,77 was in the
end good for third place. In the final pair, Håvard
Bøkko and Dutchman Tom Prinsen raced excellently and
stayed below the time of De Jong. After much acceleration,
Bøkko could celebrate the first world cup victory in
his life, and he did so with a personal best time of 13.06,53.
Tom Prinsen’s 13.16,11 was just outside his personal
best, but it made him the fastest Dutchman. Bøkko took
the lead in the World Cup ranking. He commented that he was
not surprised, he knew he had it in him. Again, a very strong
time by the winner of Division B, Tristan Loy from France,
whose 13.14,92 was the second time of the day.
The harvest of this weekend is track records on all distances,
36 personal bests, especially on the longest distances, and
7 national records. They were for Poland, Katarzyna Wójcicka
7:18.56; Denmark, Cathrine Grage 7:20.45; Austria, Anna Rokita
7:11.72; Ukraine, Maxim Pedos 14.08.63; Czech Republic, Milan
Sáblik 14:04.71; France, Tristan Loy 13:14.92; Switzerland,
Roger Schneider 13:26.33.
Next week, sprinters and allround skaters will gather in
Heerenveen, the Netherlands, for a three-day-event.
Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating –Kolomna
(RUS) - Medal Winners
1500m Men
1 Erben Wennemars NED 1:46.07 TR
2 Enrico Fabris ITA 1:46.09
3 Håvard Bøkko NOR 1:46.12
5000m Ladies
1 Martina Sáblíková CZE 6:53.67 TR
2 Clara Hughes CAN 6:56.63
3 Daniela Anschütz-Thoms GER 6:58.58
1500m Ladies
1 Anni Friesinger GER 1:55.39 TR
2 Christine Nesbitt CAN 1:56.00
3 Daniela Anschütz-Thoms GER 1:57.10
10,000m Men
1 Håvard Bøkko NOR 13:06.53 P & TR
2 Tom Prinsen NED 13:16.11
3 Bob de Jong NED 13:17.77
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