Home News Product Reviews Health & Fitness Features Healthy Eating

ARCHIVE NEWS

If it is not your content, try to search here:
Speed/Short Track Skating - 16. November 2013.

Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating – Salt Lake City (USA) – Day 1


 
The second Essent ISU World Cup of this season started today on the faster than ever Olympic Oval of Salt Lake City. Like Calgary, Salt Lake City is at altitude and the weather helped lower the air pressure. Sang-Hwa Lee lowered the world record for the 500m that she set last week. This week the new mark is 36.57. Antoinette de Jong (NED) skated a world record for Juniors in the 3000m of 3:59.49.
 
On the first day there were 107 new personal best times, including 27 NRs: for Austria (Vanessa Bittner, 38.35; Bram Smallenbroek, 1:45.95), Belgium (Bart Swings, 1:45.23; Jelena Peeters, 4:04.00), China (Beixing Wang, 36.85), Estonia (Saskia Alusalu, 4:19.61), Finland (Elina Risku, 38.83), France (Benjamin Macé, 35.47 and 1:43.70), Hungary (Konrád Nagy, 1:45.69), Italy (Francesca Lollobrigida, 4:05.35), Japan (Nao Kodaira, 37.29), Kazakhstan (Yekaterina Aydova, 37.64; Denis Kuzin, 1:43.60), Korea (Sang-Hwa Lee, 36.57; Bo-Reum Kim, 4:04.62), Latvia (Haralds Silovs, 1:44.66), the Netherlands (Michel Mulder, 34.26; Koen Verweij, 1:42.28), Poland (Zbigniew Bródka, 1:42.89; Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus, 4:02.12), Russia (Olga Fatkulina, 37.19; Denis Yuskov, 1:42.36), Chinese Taipei (Ching-Yang Sung, 34.64; Darren Ta-Yuan Huang, 1:48.83), USA (Heather Richardson, 36.97; Mitchell Whitmore, 34.29).
 
Ladies’ 500m
The Ladies’ 500m, the opening race, immediately saw a world record for Sang-Hwa Lee. In pair 7 Olga Fatkulina (RUS) skated a NR well under her old mark, 37.19. Fast as it was, it did not bring her to the podium. For the first time in history, all Ladies on the podium skated a time below 37 seconds. In pair 8 Heather Richardson brought the US record down to 36.97, and in the next pair Beixing Wang took the Chinese record with 36.85. In the final pair, Sang-Hwa Lee combined the fastest opening with the fastest lap ever (10.16+26.41) to reach 36.57, taking another big chunk off the world record. Jenny Wolf (GER) was fourth with 37.15. Lee said: “I did not expect to have the ice this fast, but like in Calgary I went out to do my best and ended with a world record. I did not expect a world record here, it is a new feeling for me.”
 
Ladies’ 3000m

As in the 500m, more than half of the Ladies skated personal best times. There were some tight races, one of them between two Poles for the Polish record, which Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus won by a quarter of a second in 4:02.12. The final two pairs were much tighter, such as the one featuring two Dutch Ladies, Antoinette de Jong and Jorien Voorhuis. De Jong set a Junior world record last week just above 4 minutes and wanted to go faster. Voorhuis also aimed for her first sub-4 and as the fastest time at that point was the 4:01.00 posted by their countrywoman Linda de Vries, the winner of this race, with one pair still to race, was sure of bronze. In the end, De Jong finished in a 3:59.49, 0.02 ahead of Voorhuis. In the final pair it was even tighter between the two best skaters of last week. This time it was Martina Sábliková (CZE) who won in 3:57.79, Claudia Pechstein (GER) was second in 3:57.80. Ireen Wüst (NED), who last week was also on the podium, did not race, deciding that to compete over four distances both weeks would not be wise.
 
De Jong said: “I thought as everybody was faster than last week that I could be faster too. I tried to open faster, and go on like that, keep rest in my strokes. Last week I felt I had to do it on my own. Here my pair mate skated next to me and in front of me. Now I am the only Junior who ever was below 4 minutes. Cool. I hope I will improve technically, there is still much to learn.”
 
 
Tomorrow’s program has the second 500m and the 1500m for the Ladies, and Team Pursuit.
 
Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating – Salt Lake City (USA) - Medal Winners Friday
 
500m Ladies
1    Sang-Hwa Lee    KOR    36.57 WR
2    Beixing Wang    CHN    36.85 NR
3    Heather Richardson    USA    36.97 NR



3000m Ladies
1    Martina Sábliková    CZE    3:57.79
2    Claudia Pechstein    GER    3:57.80
3    Antoinette de Jong    NED    3:59.49 WJ
Thank you so much, if you tweet or share
UP
Have you read it?
England Women squads named for white-ball tour to New Zealand
Gilles & Poirier Golden at ISU Four Continents Championships
Please follow us