Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating – Baselga di Pinè
(ITA)
The allround skaters gathered this weekend at the outdoor
rink in Baselga di Piné in the Italian Dolomites for
the seventh of nine Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating events
. This event took place at a crucial time, just a week ahead
of the ISU World Allround Speed Skating Championships 2008
in Berlin (GER).
Saturday
On Saturday, true to the spirit of outdoor racing, it was
snowing. The snow even at one point turned into rain which
added an additional challenge for the competitors. During
the B-races in the morning, it was quite exciting and Jan
Bloemen (NED) won the Men’s B-division in a good time
of 6:35.43.
In the A-division 1500m ladies, the continuous snow did present
a challenge for Anni Friesinger (GER) and Cindy Klassen (CAN),
starting in the final pair. Friesinger started out well, with
a beautiful first turn and a 26 flat opener, but after about
500m, lost ground and finished in ninth place. Kristina Groves
from Canada won with 2.01.06. Czech Martina Sablikova, who
has proven before to be a good outdoor skater, finished in
second place with 2.02,93 and ahead of Canadian Christine
Nesbitt (2.02,98). Nesbitt skated in pair 9, Groves in pair
8 and Sablikova in pair 7. Jorien Voorhuis in pair 6 finished
with 2.03,10 in fourth place. Catherine Raney in pair 5 in
fifth (2.03,16). Christine Nesbitt keeps the lead in the World
Cup ranking with 490 points. Kristina Groves has improved
her position with 450 points. They will have a show-off in
Heerenveen (NED) to decide the final World Cup winner on this
distance. Friesinger with 312 is still in third place. Anni
Friesinger: "… Groves skated super, she deserved
to win."
During the first four pairs in the 5000m men, in the first
pair, Mark Ooijevaar had the fastest time of 6:49.76, but
in the fourth pair times got close to 8 minutes and the referees
decided to cancel the distance, which meant that there were
no points given for the B-division race.
Sunday
Because of Saturday’s weather , Sunday’s races
started with the A-division as early as 9.30h. The weather
cooperated nicely, it was dry and consistent all day.
In the 3000m ladies, Martina Sablikova skated in the last
pair. She knew what she needed to do to secure the overall
World Cup win already this weekend. German Claudia Pechstein
had to defend her second place in the ranking, helped nonetheless
by the fact that Hughes was third and had withdrawn for the
day. With 160 points behind the leader Sablikova, there was
little manoeuvrability. She skated a very decent race, starting
with 2.0 and 2.7, 3.1, 3.6, faster than her countrywoman Katrin
Mattscherodt who was at that point leading with 4:15.03. Pechstein
took over the lead with 4.14,20.
Sablikova was light-footed on the ice. She was the only one
who seemed to glide on the earlier 1500 distance where she
finished second, now she managed to start with a series of
four 32 laps, before finishing with 3.3, 3.3 and 3.2. 4.11,08
was not a track record, but it was certainly enough, not just
to win here, but also to have a 180 point lead in the ranking,
which was a good gap. The Czech skater Sablikova has 580 points.
Pechstein has 400, Hughes 285.
The 1500m men had a good field of athletes; the best three
skaters in the ranking, the Dutch Wennemars, Kuipers and Tuitert
were all there, and so was Shani Davis (USA) as was Enrico
Fabris (ITA).
Enrico Fabris was the first to skate a track record, but
it would be broken three more times. First by Mark Tuitert
(NED), 1.47,68, then in the second to last pair between Wennemars
and Kuipers (NED). Wennemars (NED) lead in the ranking with
a small margin to Simon Kuipers. Kuipers knew he had to open
fast and take an advantage on the first 700m in order to be
able to win the pair. He opened in 23.30, Wennemars 23,58.
Both showed top times, and a 26.2 first lap, passing fastest
at 700m in 49,52 and 49,87. Kuipers managed a 7.8 next lap,
where Wennemars had trouble with his short stroke and high
rhythm to follow Kuiper's pace, made with long strong strokes.
Then a final 9.9 lap for Kuipers, he is dying a bit, but not
as much as the losing leader in the ranking, who with a 1.6
lap finishes in a mere 1.49,79. Kuipers had a new track record,
1.47,39. He was especially happy with over-taking the position
of leading Dutchman. In the last pair, we saw Shani Davis
(USA). Davis opened in 23,95. A 6.2 lap like in the previous
pair, but 50,17 was still slower. Then a 7.6 lap, 1.17,83,
somewhere between Kuipers and Wennemars, but his 29.0 final
lap made up for that, he took the win on the distance with
the fourth Track Record of the day in 1.46,85.
In the Team Pursuit, the Norwegian men and the Russian ladies
took the highest honours. The Japanese ladies finished in
second place, and the Polish ladies team made it to the podium
as well. In the men’s field, the Norwegians were closely
followed by first the Dutch, then the Russians. The best four
teams will skate in Heerenveen, where the last race will decide
on the winning nation. For the ladies, these are Russia, Germany,
Japan and Canada, for the men Norway, Canada, the Netherlands
and Russia.
Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating –Baselga
di Pinè (ITA) - Medal Winners
1500m Ladies
1 Kristina Groves CAN 2:01.07
2 Martina Sáblíková CZE 2:02.93
3 Christine Nesbitt CAN 2:02.98
1500m Men
1 Shani Davis USA 1:46.85
2 Simon Kuipers NED 1:47.39
2 Mark Tuitert NED 1:47.68
3000m Ladies
1 Martina Sáblíková CZE 4:11.09
2 Claudia Pechstein GER 4:14.20
3 Katrin Mattscherodt GER 4:15.03
5000m Men
- CANCELLED DUE TO BAD WEATHER
Team Pursuit Ladies
1 Yekaterina Abramova, Yekaterina Lobysheva, Galina Likhachova
RUS 3:11.62
2 Masaki Hozumi, Hiromi Otsu, Maki Tabata JPN 3:11.91
3 Karolina Ksyt, Katarzyna Wójcicka, Luiza Zlotkowska
POL 3:15.57
Team Pursuit Men
1 Håvard Bøkko, Sverre Haugli, Christoffer Rukke
NOR 3:53.10
2 Ted Jan Bloemen, Carl Verheijen, Erben Wennemars NED 3:53.38
3 Yevgenij Lalenkov, Ivan Skobrev, Alexej Yunin RUS 3:53.47
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