Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland

Two stars from Florida dominated the ice in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on Saturday. Erin Jackson (USA) won her second gold medal in the 500m, again breaking the track record, and Brittany Bowe (USA) added a 1000m gold for the Sunshine State. Canada wrapped up an exciting second day of World Cup Speed Skating with gold in the Women’s Team Pursuit.

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Thriving under pressure 

“(I felt) pressure in a good way,” Erin Jackson said after following up her maiden World Cup gold with a back-to-back win in the 500m on Saturday. 

“When the pressure is not there I get a little too relaxed sometimes. With the added pressure (after Friday’s victory), I think it helps me skate my best.”

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Erin Jackson (USA) © International Skating Union (ISU)

The 29-year-old former inline skater was paired with Nao Kodaira (JPN).

“It's something special to be able to skate side by side with her, someone I've looked up to since I started in the sport.”

Jackson’s admiration did not stand in the way of her ambition, however. The American opened in 10.37 seconds, taking an early lead over the Olympic Champion. Kodaira started from the outer lane but was not able to catch up on the backstretch.

With a final time of 37.55s, Jackson shaved another six hundredths off the track record she had set on Friday.

Teammate Bowe, who came 10th in the 500m, was impressed: “With Erin’s situation, she's still learning how to skate. She's had some remarkable strides throughout training.”

Kodaira was 0.04s slower than she had been on Friday and finished in 37.78s, to take the bronze medal. 

Angelina Golikova (RUS) again had the fastest opener of the field in 10.34s. Adding a 27.28s full lap, she clocked 37.63s to take silver after Friday’s fourth place. 

“Yesterday I was more nervous, because it was the first start at the World Cup (this season),” she said. 

Brilliant Bowe still reigns in 1000m 

Brittany Bowe carried on where she had left off last season - winning World Cup races. The 33-year-old American was the only one to skate under one minute and 15 seconds in 1:14.78, breaking her own 2019 track record by 0.60s.

“(I’m) really excited to be back,” Bowe said.

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Brittany Bowe (USA) © International Skating Union (ISU)

“I had a great summer and fall of training and I’m excited to get back out here racing with the whole world competing. So, really nice to start that one on a win.

“We've prided ourselves on not trying to do anything different but we look at each year but in totality of a quad and we just continue to build from year to year.”

Bowe had a difficult backstretch with Daria Kachanova (RUS) coming from the inner corner. 

“It was close. I'll have to go back and look at the video but I know I was yelling at her coming out of the corner to make sure she knew I was there.

“It could have been a disaster but I had to keep going full steam ahead. Thankfully there wasn't a collision.”

Kachanova held back and avoided interfering with Bowe’s race. It cost her a good result, finishing 11th in 1:17.04.

After the race Kachanova apologized to Bowe.

“I said ‘that's racing’,” Bowe said. “I just yell because I wanted to make sure. It was probably as close as it could have been without interference.”

Japan’s Miho Takagi (1:15.38) and Nao Kodaira (1:15.71) took silver and bronze in the 1000m.

Canada wins Team Pursuit

Canada’s Valérie Maltais, Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann finished the day on a high note, winning the Women’s Team Pursuit in 3:00.28. 

Olympic Champions Japan (Miho Takagi, Misaki Oshigiri, Ayano Sato), who missed all international competition last season, came second in 3:01.51 and the Netherlands (Ireen Wüst, Antoinette de Jong, Irene Schouten) took bronze in 3:02.69.

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Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais (CAN) © International Skating Union (ISU)

Despite winning, Weidemann said Canada’s race was far from perfect:

“There's a lot we want to continue improving on. I don't think it was our best race. We made some mistakes.

“We were a little bit scrambly. It was our first one in a long time. So it was just figuring it out again.

“But it was a really great first one and I think we're excited to keep building off of it.”

500m Women 

ISU World Cup Speed Skating Standings 500m Women

1000m Women

ISU World Cup Speed Skating Standings 1000m Women

Team Pursuit Women

ISU World Cup Team Pursuit Women Standings Team Pursuit Women

The event entry quotas for the individual distances will be determined by the Special Olympic Qualification Classification (SOQC) based on results from the different ISU World Cup Speed Skating Competitions and the full details are available in ISU Communication 2405.

For full entry lists and further information regarding the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series please visit: isu.org/speed-skating. Results are here and you can follow the discussion on social media by using #SpeedSkating.

Where to Watch

Viewers will be able to watch either via their national broadcaster / channel and for countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list in the Where to Watch news here

Subscribe to the ISU Newsletter to receive the latest information and the “Where to Watch” news. You can also subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive notifications when live streams start or new videos are published.

Highlights, clips, interviews, behind the scenes:

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Follow the conversation with #SpeedSkating.

For further information on ISU Speed Skating visit https://www.isu.org/speed-skating

ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series 2021/22:

Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL) – Nov 12 – 14, 2021

Stavanger (NOR) - Nov 19 - Nov 21, 2021

Salt Lake City (USA) - Dec 03 - Dec 05, 2021 

Calgary (CAN) – Dec 10 - Dec 12, 2021

Final – Heerenveen (NED) – Mar 12 - Mar 13, 2022 

About ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series

The ISU World Cup Speed Skating is a Series of international Speed Skating competitions which takes place annually. The Series started in 1984 and usually consists of six or seven Events including the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Final. However during the Olympic season the Series consists of five Events.

Skaters can earn points at each competition, and the Skater who has the most points on a given distance at the end of the Series is the World Cup winner of that distance. The World Cup Competitions held from November to December serve as qualifying events for entry quotas at the ISU European, World Single Distances, World Sprint and World Allround Speed Skating.