Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating Championships-Chelyabinsk

The Essent ISU World Cup series started this weekend. For the first time in history an international competition took place in Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Friday

Compared to the previous years there seemed to be a shift in the Ladies' 500m. World record holder Jenny Wolf (GER) who finished in 7th place did not make the podium; neither did Olympic Champion Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR), who was fifth. Jing Yu (CHN) won in 37.81, and behind her three skaters finished in 38.22. Annette Gerritsen (NED) was the first to race but last of the three, coming in at 38.228, later both Maki Tsuji (JPN) and Thijsje Oenema (NED) finished in 38.223 and shared silver.

On the 3000m, Claudia Pechstein (GER), almost 40 years old, was the first of the favourites to race. She set a strong time, 4:07.81, a track record. Then Ireen Wüst (NED) skated, andstarted like a whirlwind, too fast, as she slowed down considerably in the final lap, but her4:07.16 was another track record. Olympic champion Martina Sáblíková (CZE) skated against her main rival Stephanie Beckert (GER), the Olympic silver medalist. Sábliková skated herrace behind the lap times of Wüst, but took the win in the final lap: 4:06.54. StephanieBeckert was a shadow of her reputation. There were personal bests for Janneke Ensing and Linda de Vries (both NED), the latter skated 4:07.96 and reached fourth place.

Saturday

Saturday started with the second 500m races. First were the women where Sang-Hwa Lee(KOR) showed her strength with 38.09. Jenny Wolf (GER) in the next pair, not as explosivein the first 100m as in the past, finished behind her in 38.22. In the final pair, Jing Yu (CHN),who had also won the first 500m, was superior again and lowered the track record to 37.65.Dutch skaters Oenema and Boer finished in fourth and fifth place. Yu now leads with 200 points, Oenema has 140 and Lee 130.

In the Ladies' 1500m everybody struggled to stay at speed in the final lap, but most were twoseconds slower than in the preceding lap, even Marrit Leenstra (NED), who usually doesn’t have problems maintaining her speed. Still her time of 1:58.27 was good for bronze and atrack record. Ireen Wüst (NED) later improved the track record to 1:57.02. After her,Christine Nesbitt (CAN) started faster, but in the last two laps she lost to Wüst and finished insecond place with 1:57.44.

Sunday

In the Ladies' 1000m, the first to set a track record was Laurine van Riessen (NED), 1:16.93.In the next pair, her team mate Marrit Leenstra brought it to 1:16.77 and the Dutch continuedto do well, as Margot Boer met last year’s World Cup winner Heather Richardson (USA), andtook the race with 1:16.52 against 1:17.30. In the final pair, however, Olympic ChampionChristine Nesbitt (CAN) impressed with a strong race (her lap times 27.7 and 29.8 were thestrongest in the field) and took the victory in 1:15.97.

The Team Pursuit for the Ladies had its best pairing when Canada met Russia. The Canadians started fast but each successive lap was a bit slower and so they eventually clocked 3:02.07.The Russians had the most even race in the field, each lap about as fast as the previous onebut not enough to beat Canada, therefore taking bronze with 3:03.37. In the final pair, the Dutch team started faster than the Canadians, had a similar schedule, but lost in the final lap, where one of the skaters could not stay in touch with the team, which finished behind Canadain 3:02.72.

Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating – Chelyabinsk (RUS) - Medal Winners

500m Ladies