The Olympic Oval in Calgary (CAN) is one of the fastest tracks in the world and proved it once again at the ISU World Allround Championships as two world records were set by Czech star Martina Sabilkova.
Already a four-time winner of the event in 2009-10-15-16, Sabilkova came to Calgary after winning both the 3,000 m and 5,000 at the World Single Distance Championships last month. But she was even more ready.
“I’ve been skating great laps here in training and my coach said I should go for the world record,” Sablíkova said. “I doubted, because I tried it here two or three years ago and I died in the last two laps. But I thought ‘OK, let’s try’.
“I don’t know what to say, those last two laps were very, very hard.”
But good enough, at 3:53.31 to break Canadian Cindy Klassen’s world mark that was set on the same track in 2006. Sabilkova also dragged her paired skater, Antoinette de Jong (NED) to the second-fastest time in the event at 3:58.25.
On Sunday, Sabilkova was fourth in the 1,500 m and had to let it all out in the final event, the 5,000 m, in which she was already the world-record holder.
She is still the world-record holder and improved her 2011 mark of 6:42.66 to 6:42.01, more than seven and a half seconds faster than anyone else in the field. That gave her the Allround title, overcoming the 2.88 second deficit to Japan’s Miho Takagi at the start of the day.
Takagi won the 1,500 m, but she is not a distance racer and despite a personal best of 7:02.72, she was more than 20 seconds behind Sabilkova and had to settle for the Allround silver, with de Jong third.
The men’s championship came down as expected, between defending champion Patrick Roest (NED) and Norway’s Sverre Lunde Pedersen. The two were close throughout.
Roest and Pedersen were 2-3 in the 500 m and then 1-3 in the 5,000 m, as Roest had a lifetime best and Pedersen labored over the final two laps. Roest’s lead was 0.88 seconds going into Sunday, but Pedersen won the 1,500 m. Did he have much left for the 10,000 m?
Not enough, as Roest won the distance and Pedersen was third. It was enough for Roest to defend his title by a little more than half a point. It was the eighth straight World Allround win by a Dutch skater and 12th in the last 13. Summaries:
ISU World Allround Championships
Calgary (CAN) ~ 2-3 March 2019
(Full results here)
Men
500 m: 1. Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu (CAN), 35.53; 2. Patrick Roest (NED), 35.74; 3. Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR), 35.85; 4. Havard Bokko (NOR), 35.88; 5. Haralds Silovs (LAT), 36.00; 6. Sindre Henriksen (NOR). 36.12; 7. Francesco Betti (ITA), 36.15; 8. Riku Tsuchiya (JPN), 36.18. Also: 16. Ethan Cepuran (USA), 37.06.
1,500 m: 1. Pedersen (NOR), 1:43.11; 2. Roest (NED), 1:43.31; 3. Sven Kramer (NED), 1:43.87; 4. Sindre Henriksen (NOR), 1:44.18; 5. Douwe de Vries (NED), 1:44.24; 6. Gelinas-Beaulieu (CAN), 1:44.93; 7. Bart Swings (BEL), 1:44.96; 8. Livio Wenger (SUI), 1:45.04. Also: 25. Cepuran (USA), 1:49.49.
5,000 m: 1. Roest (NED), 6:08.27; 2. Kramer (NED), 6:08.83; 3. Pedersen (NOR), 6:10.10; 4. de Vies (NED), 6:12.72; 5. Ted-Jan Bloemen (CAN), 6:13.20; 6. Danila Semerikov (RUS), 6:13.75; 7. Patrick Beckert (GER), 6:15.99; 8. Jordan Belchos (CAN), 6:17.90. Also: 24. Cepuran (USA), 6:44.81.
10,000 m: 1. Roest (NED), 12:51.17; 2. Bloemen (CAN), 12:53.15; 3. Pedersen (NOR), 12:56.91; 4. Kramer (NED), 13:00.93; 5. De Vries (NED), 13:01.44; 6. Semerikov (RUS), 13:18.92; 7. Henriksen (NOR), 13:30.71; 8. Silovs (LAT), 13:54.14.
Final Standings: 1. Patrick Roest (NED), 145.561; 2. Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR), 146.075; 3. Sven Kramer (NED), 146.952; 4. Douwe de Vies (NED), 147.550; 5. Ted-Jan Bloemen (CAN), 148.630; 6. Sindre Henriksen (NOR), 150.045; 7. Danila Semerikov (RUS), 150.787; 8. Haralds Silovs (LAT), 151.267.
Women
500 m: 1. Miho Takagi (JPN), 37:2; 2. Ireen Wust (NED), 38.46; 3. Antoinette de Jong (NED), 38.52; 4. Nana Takagi (JPN), 38.67; 5. Ida Njatun (NOR), 38.69; 6. Mei Han (CHN), 38.80; 7. Elizaveta Kazelina (RUS), 38.86; 8. Nikola Zdrahalova (CZE), 38.91. Also: 23. Cariljn Schoutens (USA), 41.70.
1,500 m: 1. M. Takagi (JPN), 1:52.08; 2. Wust (NED), 1:53.48; 3. Ivanie Blondin (CAN), 1:53.59; 4. Martina Sabilkova (CZE), 1:53.70; 5. Carlijn Achtereekte (NED), 1:53.93; 6. de Jong (NED), 1:53.96; 7. Maryna Zuyeva (BLR), 1:54.83; 8. Evgeniia Lalenkova (RUS), 1:55.09. Also: 22. Schoutens (USA), 2:01.20.
3,000 m: 1. Sabilkova (CZE), 3:53.31 (World Record; old, 3:53.34, Cindy Klassen (CAN), 2006); 2. de Jong (NED), 3:58.25; 3. Isabelle Weidemann (CAN), 3:58.51; 4. Achtereekte (NED), 3:58.70; 5. Natalia Voronina (RUS), 3:59.48; 6. Wust (NED), 3:59.79; 7. Zuyeva (BLR), 3:59.80; 8. M. Takagi (JPN), 4:00.16. Also: 19. Schoutens (USA), 4:10.12.
5,000 m: 1. Sabilkova (CZE), 6:42.01 (World Record; old, 6:42.66, Sabilkova, 2011); 2. Weidemann (CAN), 6:49.68; 3. Achtereekte (NED), 6:50.12; 4. Zuyeva (BLR), 6:53.19; 5. de Jong (NED), 6:56.26; 6. Voronina (RUS), 6:59.25; 7. Wust (NED), 6:59.80; 8. M. Takagi (JPN), 7:02.72.
Final Standings: 1. Martina Sabilkova (CZE), 156.306; 2. Miho Takagi (JPN), 156.878; 3. Antoinette de Jong (NED), 157.840; 4. Carlijn Achtereekte (NED), 158.021; 5. Ireen Wust (NED), 158.231; 6. Isabelle Weidemann (CAN), 159.465; 7. Maryna Zuyeva (BLR), 159.591; 8. Natalia Voronina (RUS), 160.211.
