| Calgary summary |
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| Monday, 05 March 2007 | |
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4 March 2007 Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating –Calgary (CAN) The World Cup season is now completed after the World Cup Finals took place this weekend in Calgary, the fastest ice of the world. On all distances there was one more race to determine to whom the World Cups were handed out, only on the 500m, like always, there were two races. In Erfurt the World Cup team pursuit was decided. It was an exciting weekend, with 2 World Records, 3 track records, 27 national records and 122 personal bests. Ladies In the 500m ladies, Jenny Wolf was leading, and Sang-Hwa Lee had still a chance to win the Cup. However, where Jenny skated a personal best both days (37.72 and 37.71), finishing second on day 1 and third on day 2, Lee was only seventh on Friday, and lost 80 points to Wolf. At that point, Lee was 152 points behind her, which meant that Wolf had taken the cup after the first day, because the maximum amount of points given this week was 150. The winner both days was Beixing Wang, who lowered her personal best to 37.32 on the second day after winning in 37.61 the first day. Sayuri Osuga completed the podium, with a third (37.83) and second (37.66) place. Beixing Wang finished third overall, Sang-Hwa Lee easily kept her second position behind Wolf. In the 1000m, the winner was already clear. Chiara Simionato was the most consistent skater, Shannon Rempel was second. Anni Friesinger had won most races, but also been absent a couple of times. Still, she was third in the ranking. Because of a flu, she had to abstain from skating this weekend. In the order of the best two skaters nothing could change, and as Marianne Timmer (fourth) was absent for family reasons, only Annette Gerritsen could overtake Friesinger with not lower than a second place finish. Kristina Groves (CAN) had skated a fast time of 1:14.51, when Wüst, whose personal best was 1:14.70, started. She opened in 18.19, skated a 27.4 and a 28.2 lap, and improved the Dutch record to 1:13.86. She was paired with Cindy Klassen, who “didn’t have her day”, as she said, and finished with 1:14.78 in fifth position. In the next pair, Christine Nesbitt also improved her personal best time to 1:14.42, taking second place. Fourth was surprisingly Fei Wang from China, who took over 2 seconds off her personal best to set a Chinese record of 1:14.56. Friesinger was in second place, while Gerritsen, with a personal best of 1:15.61 kept her fifth position in the ranking. In the 1500m, Anni Friesinger, leader with 480 points, still was ill. This gave Ireen Wüst, 150 points behind her with 330 points, the possibility to win the cup, provided she would win. Kristina Groves had skated an excellent race and improved her personal best time to 1:53.58, therewith faster than Cindy Klassen who skated 1:53.80 a bit earlier. For Wüst, who had never been below 1:54 before just like Groves, it was clear that she had to skate the best 1500 of her life, if she wanted to take the lead. She opened in 25.25, had it follow by a 27.9 and 28.9 lap and finished with a 30.29 lap in 1:52.38, a Dutch record. Only Cindy Klassen has ever been faster. Her last lap would have been the fastest ever, if not Martina Sábliková had earlier skated a 30.20 to take three seconds of her Czech record and finish fifth with 1:54.55. Like in the 1000m, Fei Wang was fourth with a Chinese record of 1:54.35. Wüst had taken the Cup from Friesinger, also with 480 points, but Wüst had more points in the best of her races. Third is Kristina Groves, who overtook Christine Nesbitt for the third position. In the 3000m ladies, it was clear that Sábliková couldn’t be overtaken by anyone, so she could skate relaxed, knowing she would collect her World Cup afterwards. For second and third position, it was extremely tight between Claudia Pechstein, Daniela Anschütz and Renate Groenewold. Groenewold after a good start of the season had missed a race and was also on antibiotics today. She went off with the best hopes, staying close to pairmate Anschütz, but she had to let the German move away from her in the last two laps. Groenewold, with 4:01.14 finished sixth in the end, while Anschütz improved her pb to 3:58.59. In the final pair Sábliková and Pechstein were paired. Pechstein didn’t leave a big gap, but Sábliková won the 3000 in a Czech record time of 3:57.04. Claudia Pechstein finished fourth with 3:58.76, behind Kristina Groves, who made her third podium this weekend, with a personal best of 3:58.62. Also Paulien van Deutekom with 3.59.18 finished close to the podium. Pechstein’s fourth place was not enough to keep Anschütz behind her, and Pechstein finished third in the Cup ranking. In the 100m, Jenny Wolf kept her lead and won the Cup skating the best time in any 100m race, 10.28. In second place finished Sayuri Osuga and third Sang-Hwa Lee. Judith Hesse kept her second position in the World Cup ranking and Sang-Hwa Lee stayed third. Jenny Wolf’s 100m victory was the 300th victory of a German lady in World Cup history. Out of 669 victories, 300 have been German now. Men In the 500m men, it seemed most likely that Pekka Koskela should win, although it was possible for several skaters to acquire the Cup. However, the Finnish sprinter had trained on outdoor ice at home after the Heerenveen World Cup, and wasn’t used to the fast gliding ice in Calgary. It cost him dearly, as his 34.92 and 34.86 were only bringing him to place 11 and 13, his lowest ranks of the season. Because of that, he came 28 points short of the victory overall, and was absolutely disappointed. In spite of having been absent in two 500m races, Keiichiro Nagashima had won more 500m races than anyone else, four this year, and had a good chance of being the one to take the cup away from Koskela. On his first day, he improved his pb to 34.72 and finished in third position, but on the second day, his 34.62 was only good for fifth place. Because of that someone else took the honour: Tucker Fredricks from the USA won the first day with a pb of 34.64, the second day he finished even faster, 34.48, which was then good for third place. Like in the 1500m ladies, the two top skaters were tied in points, but Fredricks won the Cup because his 150 points was the highest amount of points on the 500m. Koskela ended third in the ranking. The first 500m was special for a funny reason: Behind Fredricks’ 34.64, Dmitry Lobkov skated 34.71 and Mika Poutala, Joji Kato and Keiichiro Nagashima all finished with 34.72 in bronze position. Five people on the podium in stead of three, has never happened since the introduction of the hundredths. On Saturday, most times were faster and Yuya Oikawa won with a personal best of 34.42, while Kang-Seok Lee (34.43, Korean record) came really close, and also Tucker Fredricks’ pb of 34.48 was not far behind. The 1000m men was between Erben Wennemars, who held an 80 points lead over Kyou-Hyuk Lee. Jan Bos was in third position but could be overtaken by Shani Davis or Stefan Groothuis. But neither Bos nor Groothuis could grab that overall bronze. The winner of the 1000m was Denny Morrison with a Canadian record of 1:07.24. Yevgenij Lalenkov improved the Russian record to 1:07.82, then Shani Davis raced to 1:07.78, and took the second place. In the final pair a tired Wennemars finished 7th with 1:08.18. But those 40 points were enough, as Kyou-Hyuk Lee didn’t finish second but only fourth, with 1:07.88, a Korean record. Wennemars won the cup, Lee finished second and Davis took third place. In the 1500m men, the final race between Fabris and Wennemars decided the World Cup winner. They were tied in points before the race. During the last 1500m races, Fabris was invincible, but on the fast ice here, the good start of Wennemars could give the Dutchman the win. But first comes Shani Davis, the world record holder (1:42.68). He opens in 23.40. Not the fastest opening today, but faster than he did at his WR. He then passes in 48.36, a 24.9 lap, and is about half a second faster than his WR schedule. 1100m he does in 1:14.64, still half a second faster, and with a 27.6 last lap he lands on 1:42.32, a new World Record. Denny Morrison skates 1:43.43, the second time. For Morrison this could be enough to keep rank 3 in the World Cup, provided not more than one of the two 1500m heroes in the final pair would beat his time. In his opening, Wennemars took a full second, 23.18 versus 24.11 of Fabris. Then the Dutchman had a 25.6, where Fabris only had 26.3. After that, they both have a 26.5, so Fabris was not losing anymore, but the gap was too big. Wennemars sprinted to the end in a 27.9 lap, fearing a last effort of Fabris in the final 100m to bring the Italian close by, but his 27.2 is not enough. This time the victory is for the Dutchman who also won the 1000m Cup. The time of Wennemars, 1:43.24, is a Dutch record. Fabris doesn't improve his best time, he finishes 8th with 1:44.26. So Morrison takes bronze on the distance as well as in the ranking. In the 5000m for men, many skaters struggled a bit to reach their best times. Nothing was at stake for Sven Kramer, who had won all 5000m races and was already certain of the overall in. Carl Verheijen was second and Fabris third, and that was how it stayed, as Carl Verheijen finished in second place behind Kramer like in all his races this season. Enrico Fabris could with a mediocre race still be overtaken by Eskil Ervik, but Fabris finished third and stayed on the podium. The time of Fabris was 6:14.20, Carl Verheijen skated 6:12.75, but Sven Kramer couldn’t help going faster than he was before. Starting with 17.75 he let it follow by a 28.3, a long row of low 29 laps and then back to a 28.8, and two 28.6 laps. His winning time was a new world record: 6:07.48. In the 100m, Yuya Oikawa won in 9.55, beating Joji Kato (9.74) and Polish Maciej Ustynowicz (9.83). Pekka Koskela, who didn’t make it to the A-final, just managed to stay ahead of Kato in the ranking for third place, but had to see Ustynowicz pass him to rank 2. Oikawa, who raced in 3 of the 4 100m races this season and won them all, took the Cup. Coming weekend, the season is concluded by the World Championships Single Distances in Salt Lake City, another fast icerink, where world records may be lowered again. Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating –Calgary (CAN) - Medal Winners 500m Ladies Friday 1 Beixing Wang CHN 37.61 2 Jenny Wolf GER 37.72 P 3 Sayuri Osuga JPN 37.83 500m Men Friday 1 Tucker Fredricks USA 34.64 2 Dmitry Lobkov RUS 34.71 3 Mika Poutala, FIN, 34.72 N Joji Kato, Keiichiro Nagashima JPN 34.72 500m Ladies Saturday 1 Beixing Wang CHN 37.32 N 2 Sayuri Osuga JPN 37.66 3 Jenny Wolf GER 37.71 P 500m Men Saturday 1 Yuya Oikawa JPN 34.42 P 2 Kang-Seok Lee KOR 34.43 N 3 Tucker Fredricks USA 34.48 1000m Ladies 1 Ireen Wüst NED 1:13.86 N 2 Christine Nesbitt CAN 1:14.42 P 3 Kristina Groves CAN 1:14.51 P 1000m Men 1 Denny Morrison CAN 1:07.24 N,T 2 Shani Davis USA 1:07.78 3 Dmitry Lalenkov RUS 1:07.82 N 100m Ladies 1 Jenny Wolf GER 10.28 2 Sayuri Osuga JPN 10.46 3 Sang-Hwa Lee KOR 10.49 100m Men 1 Yuya Oikawa JPN 9.55 2 Joji Kato JPN 9.74 3 Maciej Ustynowicz POL 9.83 1500m Ladies 1 Ireen Wüst NED 1:52.38 N 2 Kristina Groves CAN 1:53.58 P 3 Cindy Klassen CAN 1:53.80 1500m Men 1 Shani Davis USA 1:42.32 WR 2 Erben Wennemars NED 1:43.24 N 3 Denny Morrison CAN 1:43.43 3000m Ladies 1 Martina Sáblikova CZE 3:57.04 N 2 Daniela Anschütz GER 3:58.59 P 3 Claudia Pechstein GER 3:58.76 5000m Men 1 Sven Kramer NED 6:07.48 WR 2 Carl Verheijen NED 6:12.75 3 Enrico Fabris ITA 6:14.20 |