Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland

#SpeedSkating

The Dutch returned to winning ways on the final day of a tough first World Cup weekend in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland. Hein Otterspeer, Thomas Krol and Kjeld Nuis (NED) swept the podium of the Men’s 1000m and the Dutch also won the Men's Team Pursuit. Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN) won the second 500m.

Shinhama takes 500m gold 

After finishing second on Friday, Shinhama took advantage of a bumpy ride by Tingyu Gao (CHN), who won Friday’s 500m in a track record (34.26 seconds).

The Chinese sprinter was 0.07s slower in his opener and lost another 0.60s in the full lap due to a couple of mis-strokes to clock 34.93s for eighth place on Sunday.

With 34.69s Shinhama was also slower than his first race but only by 0.15 seconds, clocking 34.69. The 2020 World Sprint Champion kept Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) 0.03s behind.

Shinhama

Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN) © International Skating Union (ISU)

The Canadian, who took 500m bronze on Friday, was happy with one step up to silver on Sunday.

“Hopefully one more (step up) next week. The time was actually just a bit slower. Shinhama beat me again and Gao had a major slip in this first corner but I'm happy with my race.

“My 1000m was pretty good too (fifth in 1:08.98), so it's a really good weekend to start up this season.”

Dubreuil thinks he has more potential than he showed just yet. 

“I made some mistakes again but Friday I did as well. Doing a perfect race is very tough.

“It's reassuring before a race, knowing that you can do a mistake and still have a good result, instead of feeling like you need a perfect race to be on the podium. Then there's no margin for error.”

Third place went to Wataru Morishige (JPN) on Sunday. Shinhama’s 21-year-old countryman, who had come 11th in 34.97s on his World Cup debut on Friday, appeared to be a quick student, 0.23s faster in his second 500m race.

“I adjusted my style a little bit, which suits this track better,” Morishige explained. 

Dutch podium sweep in 1000m

When Otterspeer (NED) got onto the ice for his 1000m race on Sunday the Dutch men had collected only one medal (Patrick Roest, bronze in the 5000m on Friday) in the first World Cup weekend.

The 33-year-old Dutchman hammered out a time of one minute, 8.67 seconds to break Pavel Kulizhnikov‘s (RUS) track record time of 1:09.23.

Dutch sweep

Thomas Krol, Hein Otterspeer and Kjeld Nuis (NED) © International Skating Union (ISU)

“I was looking forward to it because I was really good at training races. I had a good Dutch Nationals (Dutch national single distance championships).

“The World Cups are really important to see where everyone's at. I'm glad I took to the win today.”

Otterspeer switched teams from Jumbo-Visma to Reggeborgh last winter, joining Kjeld Nuis instead of Thomas Krol.

“My time at Jambo-Visma was done. I came to a point where I had the choice and I chose Reggeborgh. It’s a nice team. It is really good for me, it really works and I'm glad it paid out already.”

After Otterspeer and his Japanese pair-mate Ryouta Kojima (sixth in 1:09.04), another six skaters were faster than the previous track record but none was able to beat Otterspeer’s time.

Krol stopped the clock at 1:08.69 for second place and Otterspeer’s new teammate Nuis seized bronze in 1:08.83, after having finished sixth in the 1500m on Saturday.

“I’m glad that I managed to regroup and took silverware after yesterday,” the Olympic Champion said. “Yesterday we messed it up. Today the eagerness was back and it felt really good.”

More Dutch delight in Team Pursuit

Marcel Bosker, Sven Kramer, and Roest followed up the Dutch podium sweep with a gold medal in the Men’s Team Pursuit.

They finished in 3:44.56, leaving Canada (Jordan Belchos, Ted-Jan Bloemen and Connor Howe 1.19s behind. Japan’s Seitaro Ichinohe, Shane Williamson and Masahito Obayashi took bronze in 3:45.81.

Dutch pursuit

Sven Kramer, Patrick Roest and Marcel Bosker © International Skating Union (ISU)

“It’s a long time since we’ve skated in this line-up,” Roest said. “We did a good job. It’s good to win and still see that there’s room for improvement.” 

Since Norway, who finished fourth without their usual anchor Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, introduced a new and successful tactic last year, other countries have learned. 

The Norwegians pushed each other instead of taking turns up front.

Bosker explained how the Dutch adjusted their race plan.

 “We’ve got our own tactics in which we take some of the Norwegian tactics as well,” he said. “Of course there were doubts but it went well and it’s something we can build on.”

Kramer agreed: “In the past we changed a lot more and now we only changed twice (up front). It’s a bit of a gamble but we saw that it gave other countries an advantage.

“We have to be happy that we leave the others behind with such a gap because they made it difficult for us over the past couple of years.”

500m Men 

ISU World Cup Speed Skating Standings 500m Men

1000m Men

ISU World Cup Speed Skating Standings 1000m Men

Team Pursuit Men

ISU World Cup Team Pursuit Women Standings Team Pursuit Men

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.

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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 Championships and during the Olympic season they are Olympic Qualifying Events. A number of World Cup titles are awarded every season; For Men: 500m, 1000m, 1500m, combined 5000m / 10,000m, Mass Start, Team Pursuit and Team Sprint. For Women 500m, 1000m, 1500m, the combined 3000m / 5000m, Mass Start, Team Pursuit and Team Sprint. For further information please visit isu.org/WorldCupSpeedSkating.