SPEED SKATING: Bowe, Sabilkova, Nuis and Kulizhnikov set world records on day one of the World Cup Final!

Brittany Bowe (USA) celebrates a World Cup title and a 1,000 m world record! (Photo: ISU)

The Utah Olympic Oval, sitting at 1,380 m altitude, has always been a favorite of speed skaters, but Saturday’s performances were truly record-breaking: four new world records on the first day of the ISU World Cup Final.

The cheers were loudest for American Brittany Bowe, who had to skate a world record to win! Coming into the meet, the 1,000 m world mark was 1:12.09 by Nao Kodaira of Japan. But in the final event of the night, Bowe took to the ice for the next-to-last pair immediately after seeing Japan’s Miho Takagi outlast Kodaira as both went under Kodaira’s record! Takagi skated 1:11.713 and Kodaira, 1:11.776.

But with Austrian star Vanessa Herzog on her inside. Bowe’s time of 1:11.610 claimed the record and won her the 1,000 World Cup title, which she also won back in 2015.

“Going after Miho and Nao, both going 1:11.7, that’s a tough act to follow,” Bowe said. “I knew I had to have a close-to-perfect race. If I had the opener that I’m capable of, and if I could do a 6.3 lap, I had a chance to beat it. I looked up on the scoreboard in my first lap and it was 6.3, and I just wheeled my way to the finish line.”

Czech star Martina Sabilkova, who set world marks in the 3,000 and 5,000 m at the World Allround Championships in Calgary, said she was hurting coming into the 3,000 m. Well, maybe not that much, as she broke last week’s record at 3:52.027, taking more than a second off of the Calgary time of 3:53.31. She also claimed the seasonal title in the 3,000/5,000 m distance.

The men’s competition was no less fierce, with Russian Pavel Kulizhnikov sprinting to a world mark of 33.616 in the first of the two 500 m races. He improved on his own world record of 33.98 from 2015, also set at the Utah Olympic Oval. He’ll have another shot at a new record on Sunday.

Dutch star Kjeld Nuis removed Olympic champ Shani Davis (USA) from the record books in the 1,000 m, finishing in 1:06.183 to eclipse Davis’s 2009 record of 1:06.42. The win was also enough to give Nuis the seasonal title in the 1,000 m.

Patrick Roest won the men’s 5,000 m, but Russian Alexander Rumyantsev ended up the seasonal winner in the 5,000/10,000 m.

The World Cup Final continues on Sunday; summaries so far:

ISU Speed Skating World Cup Final
Kearns, Utah (USA) ~ 9-10 March 2019
(Full results here)

Men

500 m I: 1. Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS), 33.616 (World Record; old, 33.98, Kulizhnikov, 2015); 2. Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN), 33.835; 3. Yuma Murakami (JPN), 34.113; 4. Min-Kyu Cha (KOR), 34.227; 5. Ryohei Haga (JPN), 34.238.

1,000 m: 1. Kjeld Nuis (NED), 1:06.183 (World Record; old, 1:06.42, Shani Davis (USA), 2009); 2. Thomas Krol (NED, 1:06.255; 3. Kai Verbij (NED), 1:06.347; 4. Kulizhnikov (RUS), 1:06.476; 5. Havard Lorentzen (NOR), 1:06.513. Also: 9. Joey Mantia (USA), 1:07.348.

1,000 m World Cup Final Standings: 1. Kjeld Nuis (NED), 342; 2. Kai Verbij (NED), 304; 3. Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS), 303; 4. Thomas Krol (NED), 298; 5. Havard Lorentzen (NOR), 297. Also: 10. Joey Mantia (USA), 219.

5,000 m: 1. Patrick Roest (NED), 6:03.706; 2. Marcel Bosker (NED), 6:08.904; 3. Ted-Jan Bloemen (CAN), 6:09.645; 4. Alexander Rumyantsev (RUS), 6:10.785; 5. Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR), 6:10.982.

5,000/10,000 m World Cup Final Standings: 1. Alexander Rumyantsev (RUS), 322; 2. Marcel Bosker (NED), 320; 3. Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR), 317; 4. Patrick Roest (NED), 282; 5. Patrick Beckert (GER), 270.

Women

500 m I: 1. Nao Kodaira (JPN), 36.474; 2. Vanessa Herzog (AUT), 36.850; 3. Angelika Golikova (RUS), 36.9032; 4. Brittany Bowe (USA), 37.168; 5. Konami Soga (JPN), 37.190.

1,000 m: 1. Bowe (USA), 1:11.610 (World Record; old, 1:11.713, Miho Takagi (JPN) in prior pair; pre-meet world record: 1:12.09, Nao Kodaira (JPN), 2017); 2. Miho Takagi (JPN), 1:11.713; 3. Kodaira (JPN), 1:11.776; 4. Yekaterina Shikhova (RUS), 1:12.469; 5. Olga Fatkulina (RUS), 1:12.986.

1,000 m World Cup Final Standings: 1. Brittany Bowe (USA), 397; 2. Miho Takagi (JPN), 310; 3. Nao Kodaira (JPN), 298; 4. Vanessa Herzog (AUT), 277; 5. Daria Kachanova (RUS), 256.

3,000 m: 1. Martina Sabilkova (CZE), 3:52.027 (World Record; old, 3:53.31, Sabilkova, 2019); 2. Esmee Visser (NED), 3:54.023; 3. Natalia Voronina (RUS), 3:54.064; 4. Isabelle Weidemann (CAN), 3:55.582; 5. Maryna Zuyeva (BLR), 3:55.731. Also: 10. Cariljn Schoutens (USA), 4:07.050.

3,000/5,000 m World Cup Final Standings: 1. Martina Sabilkova (CZE), 370; 2. Esmee Visser (NED), 343; 3. Natalia Voronina (RUS), 335; 4. Isabelle Weidemann (CAN), 322; 5. Ivanie Blondin (CAN), 272.