ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Heerenveen
(NED)
Kyou-Hyuk Lee from Korea and Jenny Wolf from Germany were
crowned the ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Champions of 2008.
Wolf is the 500m world record holder, and won the distance
convincingly both days, but the real clue to her overall win
was vastly improved performances on the 1000m. Kyou-Hyuk Lee
defended his title from last year, coming from behind by winning
both of the distances the second day, and beating his main
rival Jeremy Wotherspoon (CAN) head-to-head in the final pair.
Ladies
Defending champion Anni Friesinger (GER) was perhaps the main
favourite, but had to expect competition from her teammate
Wolf and a strong Dutch team. The excellent Canadian skaters
Cindy Klassen and Christine Nesbitt give priority to the allround
championships this year and did not start, and another highly
considered favourite, Beixing Wang (CHN), was at a disadvantage
her luggage with her skates was delayed in transport.
Jenny Wolf expectedly won the first 500m, but her winning
advantage was larger than expected. Her 37.64 was a new rink
and championship record, and the fastest 500m time ever on
a lowland rink. She was 0.72 ahead of second-placed Annette
Gerritsen (NED), a substantial lead already. Compared to other
possible contenders such as Marianne Timmer (NED), Chiara
Simionato (ITA) and Ireen Wüst (NED), Friesinger’s
seventh place in 38.70 also looked promising.
Wüst’s improved long distances, so evident when
she won the European Championships in Kolomna, Russia, last
week-end, may have hurt her sprinting, but her 1000 m is still
good. Paired against Marianne Timmer, she reached 1:15.64
versus 1:16.75, which would prove to be good enough for the
second and third places. These times were beaten two pairs
later by Friesinger, who ended up winning the 1000m in 1:15.88.
The two allrounders Friesinger and Wüst were more than
a second ahead of third-placed Timmer. As far as the overall
classification went, however, the biggest piece of news was
Jenny Wolf’s sixth place, which meant she stayed in
the lead after the first day. Among her main rivals, Gerritsen
disappointed with an eighth place, and Beixing Wang disappeared
from contention with 1:19.10 in 17th place. She withdrew before
the second day, her chances destroyed by having to skate on
new skates because of the lost luggage debacle.
Halfway, the two German ladies Wolf and Friesinger had built
up a lead to their closest competitors, the Dutch trio of
Gerritsen, Timmer and Wüst. Wolf was 0.32 ahead of Friesinger,
but the distance to Gerritsen in third was already almost
a second.
The next day, Jenny Wolf won the 500m again, even improving
on her performance from the day before! 37.60 was a rink record,
a championship record and the best lowland time ever. Korean
Sang-Hwa Lee improved from third place Saturday to second
on Sunday, in 38.27, but her 1000m is too weak for her to
be a championship threat. Annette Gerritsen was third in 38.44.
Wolf now had a lead of 2.97 seconds on Friesinger going into
the last distance, this should normally be sufficient as she
had only lost 1,48 the day before, and now would have to lose
twice as much for her title to be in danger. A very exciting
battle for third place could be expected between Timmer, Gerritsen
and Simionato.
Paired against Friesinger in the final race, Wolf managed
to hold on and only lost 1.27, finishing in seventh place
on the 1000m with 1:17.09. Friesinger’s 1:15.82 was
only good enough for second place both overall and on the
final distance. Home favourite Ireen Wüst won the distance
in 1:15.59. In the final standings, third place went to Annette
Gerritsen (NED), who skated much better on the 1000m than
the day before and also secured the third place on this distance
with 1:15.91. In her fifteenth championship start, Marianne
Timmer was fifth, narrowly behind Chiara Simionato (ITA).
This was Jenny Wolf’s first world sprint championship,
and it was the first double German podium in the sprint worlds
since the GDR double of Christa Rothenburger and Karin Enke-Kania
in 1988. Wolf said it was a dream come true, and her strength
was partly thanks to increased self-confidence after her world
record at the end of last year.
Men
The race between the top men was much closer than between
the women. Four-time champion Jeremy Wotherspoon of Canada
won the first 500m in a new rink record of 34.81, ahead of
defending champion Kyou-Hyuk Lee of Korea with 34.99. Interesting
for the overall standings was the 6th place of Jan Bos (NED),
who with his normally excellent 1000m looked to be a strong
podium candidate.
Indeed Bos won the first 1000m in an exciting duel with Wotherspoon,
the winning time was 1:09.13. Wotherspoon made 1:09.47, which
was good enough for third place, just behind Bos’ teammate
Simon Kuipers in 1:09.46. These times meant that Wotherspoon
was in the lead after the first day, narrowly ahead of Bos,
with Kyou-Hyuk Lee in third place – all three are former
world sprint champions. Two outsiders for the title disappeared
from contention: Dmitrij Lobkov (RUS) injured his knee when
falling after the finish on the 500m, and Pekka Koskela (FIN)
withdrew because of a groin injury which has troubled him
for the past two months.
The next day, defending champion Kyou-Hyuk Lee won the 500m
in 34.85 ahead of Wotherspoon in 34.96, but the main drama
was the fall of Jan Bos, whose skate caught during his race
against Wotherspoon. Joon Mun (KOR), whose 500m on Saturday
had been somewhat disappointing, now was third in 35.01, and
suddenly also looked like a podium contender overall.
The final 1000m would be all-decisive. Having fallen on the
500m, Jan Bos started early and set a mark of 1:08.94 which
would be difficult to beat – although he was out of
contention overall. It would stand as the best time all the
way until the last pair of the distance. But before that,
Simon Kuipers and Joon Mun had battled it out for bronze.
Joon Mun took the lead in the pair and managed to hang on
until the end, thus defending the third place overall. And
then it was time for the final pair – and what a pair
it would prove to be. Kyou-Hyuk Lee started very strongly,
but Wotherspoon caught up in the first full lap, and looked
like he would be able to hold on. But then Lee unleashed a
final sprint which brought him to the line in 1:08.82, while
Wotherspoon faded and only got 1:09.54. This meant Lee had
won the final 1000m, ahead of Bos – but more importantly,
he was world champion again! Joon Mun got the third place
both on the distance and overall, an excellent performance
by the Korean team.
Wotherspoon explained that he was happy after all with silver.
“When I saw Bos fall in front of me, I hesitated for
a moment and lost my rhythm. Because of that, I had a bad
entry to the last turn and lost a lot of speed there. I could
have gone a tenth faster, which would have been enough to
take the title. But for my first race in Europe in two years,
I think I had a good weekend.” Lee was enjoying the
Thialf ambience, but had no time to comment on his races.
ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Championships –
Heerenveen (NED) - Medal Winners
500m Ladies
1 Jenny Wolf GER 37.64 TR, CR
2 Annette Gerritsen NED 38.36
3 Sang-Hwa Lee KOR 38.46
1000m Ladies
1 Anni Friesinger GER 1:15.58
2 Ireen Wüst NED 1:15.64
3 Marianne Timmer NED 1:16.75
500m Ladies
1 Jenny Wolf GER 37.60 TR, CR
2 Sang-Hwa Lee KOR 38.27
3 Annette Gerritsen NED 38.44
1000m Ladies
1 Ireen Wüst NED 1:15.59
2 Anni Friesinger GER 1:15.82
3 Annette Gerritsen NED 1:15.91
500m Men
1 Jeremy Wotherspoon CAN 34.81 TR
2 Kyou-Hyuk Lee KOR 34.99
3 Kang-Seok Lee KOR 35.13
1000m Men
1 Jan Bos NED 1:09.13
2 Simon Kuipers NED 1:09.46
3 Jeremy Wotherspoon CAN 1:09.47
500m Men
1 Kyou-Hyuk Lee KOR 34.85
2 Jeremy Wotherspoon CAN 34.96
3 Joon Mun KOR 35.00
1000m Men
1 Kyou-Hyuk Lee KOR 1:08.82
2 Jan Bos NED 1:08.94
3 Joon Mun KOR 1:09.20
Overall Ladies
1 Jenny Wolf GER 152.315
2 Anni Friesinger GER 153.160
3 Annette Gerritsen NED 153.510
Overall Men
1 Kyou-Hyuk Lee KOR 139.170
2 Jeremy Wotherspoon CAN 139.265
2 Joon Mun KOR 140.080
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