Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating – Changchun (CHN)

The world’ best sprinters gathered this weekend in the Chinese city of Changchun to skate both the 500m and 1000m twice. Sang-Hwa Lee out-skated Jenny Wolf in the ladies’ 500m. In the 1000m Christine Nesbitt improved the track records.

Until this weekend, German world-record holder Jenny Wolf had won all her 500m races. This week, she had been suffering from a back problem, and had to watch Olympic Champion Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR) skate to victory in both races. In the first race, Sang-Hwa Lee skated in the penultimate pair and set a time of 38.24, while in the final pair Wolf reached 38.29. Nao Kodaira (JPN), with 38.51, kept Margot Boer (NED) off the podium for the first time this season.

With her now aggravated back problem, Wolf heard just 50 minutes before the second 500m race that the doctor would allow her to start. Understandably, she skated less aggressively than usual towards 38.44 and had to wait and see what happened in the final pair. Lee was paired with the Chinese Jing Yu, who had won the B-division the previous day. It was a close race, won by Lee with 38.22; Yu finished in 38.27 ahead of Wolf. In fourth place was Beixing Wang (CHN), the skater who last beat Wolf in the World Cup and who made her return this weekend in the World Cup after a long training break this summer. Wolf is still leading with 550 points, while Sang-Hwa Lee climbed up to 470 points. Margot Boer is third with 410.

Olympic Champion Christine Nesbitt (CAN) had won every 1000m race this season. This time, she again won twice – first in 1:16.07, a new track record, then in 1:16.55. She then announced that next weekend she will not take part, as skating every race except the 5000m four World Cup weekends in a row is the limit, even for someone as strong as she is.

Heather Richardson (USA), who had her first World Cup podium finish in Berlin at 1000m, continued to perform well, finishing in second place in both races this weekend, in 1:17.49 and 1:17.59 respectively. The podium was surprisingly completed by Judith Hesse (GER), whose preferred distances are 100 and 500m, but who managed here to maintain her speed to the end and posted 1:18.04, with the result that Margot Boer again finished in fourth place. In the second race, it was Nao Kodaira who took third, with 1:17.98. Nesbitt leads with a perfect 400 points, and Richardson follows with 290. Boer has 260.