c Some of the teams travelled on Monday from Holland to Moscow and were confronted with the tragedy at the airport, but all teams arrived safely. Twelve personal-best times were skated for the ladies
Ladies
In the 500m for ladies, Jenny Wolf (GER) won her 7th and 8th World Cup 500m race this season. These were the 44th and 45nd World Cup races in the 500m, and her 57th including the 100m, in her career; this took her past Anni Friesinger, who has 56 wins (only Niemann and Blair have more). First Wolf skated 37.80, then 38.01. Margot Boer (NED) got silver both times and Heather Richardson (USA) took the bronze; a “first” for her in the 500m. With only one sprint weekend to go, the World Cup final, Wolf now has a safe lead with 920 points, Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR) has 650 and Boer 570. Annette Gerritsen, silver medallist in the World Sprints, finished in fourth place; the second day she and Laurine van Riessen (both NED) had the same time as Richardson, but finished behind her in the thousands.
In the 3000m, Olympic Champion Martina Sáblíková (CZE) won her first World Cup race this season. First, Ireen Wüst (NED) broke the track record that Friesinger set in 2005 and finished in a strong 4:05.41. In the next pair, Sáblíková followed that schedule and took her win in the final lap with another TR, 4:04.03, while Brittany Schussler (CAN) took third with 4:10.45. But then they needed to wait to see what Stephanie Beckert (GER) would do. She was heading to a time similar to Wüst’s, but when she tried to make extra speed in her final lap, the blade of her skate broke off under the strain, and she fell. She finished the race a lame duck on one skate, and got only 5 points. Diane Valkenburg (NED) won the B-division in 4:08.69. Beckert still leads with 275 points, but one more victory by Sáblíková would take her back into the lead, as the Czech champion has 260 points. Then follows Jilleanne Rookard (USA) with 236 points.
In the 1500m, Christine Nesbitt (CAN) won her fourth race this season and is still unbeaten. She finished in 1:56.80. She beat Wüst who clocked her fastest 1500m of the season, 1:56.93, and Sáblikova was third with 1:57.50. These three ladies are also the three main favourites for the World Championships Allround in Calgary, the weekend of February 11.
With two more World Cup weekends to go for the allround skaters, Nesbitt has 400 points, Leenstra has 246, Wüst 230 and Schussler 215.
On Sunday there was a 1000m and the Team Pursuit. Nesbitt won the 1000m again, ahead of Wüst and Richardson. Wüst was the first of them to race, and finished in 1:15.94, the first on this track below 1:16. But the new track record didn’t last long, as Nesbitt raced to 1:15.59, taking her advantage in the opening and the first full lap of 27.5. Richardson lost to Wüst mainly in the final lap but reached the podium in 1:16.18. Overall, Richardson leads with 560 points, while Nesbitt is second with 500, and Kodaira is third with 339; Boer follows with 320.
In the Team Pursuit, the Dutch ladies had the best team; Wüst, Valkenburg and Leenstra won in 3:01.13, Norway was second with 3:03.02 and Germany third with 3:04.11. This made the Netherlands the World Cup winner with 300 points, while Norway and Germany both have 250 points, but Germany had one victory and Norway none, so Germany finished second in the ranking and Norway third.
