Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating â€“Hamar (NOR)

The third World Cup of the season took place in Hamar this weekend. No sprint distances, but the 1500m for ladies and men and the longest Olympic distances: the 5000m for ladies and the 10,000m for men. Cathrine Grage improved her Danish record to 7:10.24, which has qualified her for the Olympic Games. Luiza Zlotkowska skates a Polish record of 7:15.41, Ivan Skobrev brought the Russian record to 13.01.41.

Ladies

The ladies started with the 5000m on Saturday. Both winners of the 3000m in the previous weeks, Martina Sábliková (CZE) and Stephanie Beckert (GER) dueled in one pair after everybody else had their race. Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (GER) was so far the only skater below 7 minutes, finishing in 6:59.62, a little faster than the 7:00.24 of Olympic champion Clara Hughes (CAN). Beckert is a slower starter and passing at 1000m, she was a little over 2 seconds behind Sábliková. After that, she didn’t lose much more, but she couldn’t gain back what she lost. Sábliková won in 6:50.07, which is a new track record and the fastest lowland time ever, Beckert skated a personal best time of 6:52.79. The podium was the same as last week on the 3000m, but now with the Czech champion on top. Overall therefore Sábliková leads with 280 points, Beckert has 250, Anschütz-Thoms 200.

Sábliková was strong again on the 1500m. Her stamina proved beneficial in the final lap, where she was much faster than others; she finished with 1:56.34 on the podium. In absence of Nesbitt, the leader in the World Cup classification, fellow-Canadian Kristina Groves took the victory with 1:55.15, and Dutch Ireen Wüst, last week’s winner, finished in second postion with 1:55.95. In the World Cup ranking, Groves now leads with 230 points, Wüst follows with 204, Nesbitt with 180 dropped to third.

Next weekend the long track circuit has some rest in preparation for the World Cup in Calgary (CAN), Dec. 4-6.

Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating –Hamar (NOR) - Medal Winners

1500m Ladies