Copenhagen (Denmark) Nov 20: The second stop of International Skating Union (ISU) speed skating World Cup events, doubling as the qualifiers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, started at the Sormarka Arena in Stavanger, Norway on Friday.
In the Men's 1,000m Division A, the Netherlands again proved too strong with a clean sweep of the top three positions, as they did at this year's first ISU Wtournament in Poland last week, albeit this time with Kai Verbij replacing last weeks winner Hein Otterspeer in the triumvirate.
Thomas Krol took the first position with 1:08.661, followed by Kai Verbij who was just 0.02 seconds behind, and Kjeld Nuis who skated into the third position with a time of 1:08.741.
Ning Zhongyan, the only Chinese competitor in a race of twenty competitors, was on the verge of breaking the dutch grip and settled for the fourth position with a time of 1:08.839.
The Women's 1,000m Division A proved to be a deja-vu affair with the top three results from the Arena Lodowa in Poland last week, repeated on the Norwegian circuit.
Once again, the current 1,000m world speed skater record holder Brittany Bowe of the USA, clinched the top spot with a time of 1:14.168, followed by Japan's Miho Takagi who again took second place with a time of 1:15.014, which was enough to pip fellow national Nao Kodaira by 0.99 seconds, who took third.
All three skaters recorded times faster than the previous week's race in Poland.
China's best-placed finisher was Li Qishi who came in seventh in 1:15.904, an improvement on her time over the same distance, in Poland. The other two Chinese skaters Jin Jingzhu and Han Mei placed 14th and 15th with the finish time of 1:17.158 and 1:17.255 respectively.
The final blue ribbon race of the first day, the women's 5,000m Division A, proved to be a thrilling affair with three of the twelve competitors: Norway's Ragne Wiklund, Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida and Japan's Ayano Sato recording personal best times at the Sormarka Arena.
However, the eventual race winner Irene Schouten of the Netherlands eclipsed the field with the fastest performance of the race, if not a personal best, of 6:52.837, followed by Canada's Isabelle Weidemann by 2.11 seconds more and, in a great day for Wiklund, the handsome reward of third place with a time of 6:56.469 for her personal best time.
The ISU WC weekend runs through Sunday in Stavanger, which features a short but intense program, including events that are contested only once this WC season such as the Men's and Women's Team Sprint races and the Women's 5000m and the Men's 10,000m.
Source: Xinhua
