Seven-time Olympic medalist Miho Takagi (JPN, centre) skates to the top of the podium in the 1500m. @ ISU
Miho Takagi (JPN) was undefeated at 1500m in last year’s World Cup and picked up where she left off at the start of the new season in Stavanger on Saturday. The 28-year-old Japanese woman was the only skater to finish in less than one minute 57 seconds, stopping the clock at 1:56.55.
Home favorite Ragne Wiklund (NOR) needed little under a second more and took silver. In the women’s Team Pursuit, Beijing 2022 Olympic champions Canada got the band back together to beat the Netherlands and Japan.
Takagi’s combines power and stamina
Takagi is the only skater in the women’s field who is able to win medals in short as well as longer distances. Her sprinting power gave her the edge over Friday’s 3000m winner Wiklund.
Exploding from the start, Takagi was a second faster than Wiklund at the 300m split, and held on to that lead until the end. Wiklund eventually needed 0.94s more to reach the finish line.
“I'm satisfied to show that I have speed so early on in the season,” the Norwegian said. “So I think the opening will come with time.”
Takagi herself was happy to be back on the ice, after doubts about whether she’d continue speed skating at international level: “I like speed skating a lot and because of corona[virus] we couldn’t skate for an audience, so [to have the audience back] makes me really happy.”
The versatile Japanese wants it all in the World Cup: “I also skate the 500m, the 1000m, the 3000m and the 5000m,” she said.
Marijke Groenewoud (NED) has similar ambitions. The 23-year-old Dutch skater took 1500m bronze in 1:58.19 on Saturday.
“I haven’t done too much speed training so far this season, so I just couldn’t go any faster,” Groenewoud said. “This will be a busy season, because apart from the 1500m, I also want to skate well in the 3000m, the Team Pursuit and the Mass Start.”
Canada now the Pursuit Team to beat
Having chased the near-unbeatable Japanese women for almost four years, Canada finally managed to get the upper hand in the Team Pursuit last season, Olympic gold their ultimate reward.
Flying the flag: Canada's women strike gold in the Team Pursuit. @ ISU
Isabelle Weidemann explained: “We spent four years building this team. We put a lot of energy not just in the team, but also individually. So we took a little bit of time to step back from that.”
Ivanie Blondin added: “It was a nice summer to go through and decompress, also take some time away from each other a little bit, because it was a lot of time spent together. Press the reset button.”
In Stavanger, the former hunters became the prey. “It's a privilege to be to be in that position,” Valérie Maltais (CAN) said. “And we're ready to take on that role for a little bit.”
In a close battle on Saturday, Blondin Maltais and Weidemann clocked 3 minutes, 1.81 seconds to take gold ahead of the Netherlands.
Marijke Groenewoud (left) made it two medals from two events on Saturday with silver in the Team Pursuit. @ ISU
Antoinette de Jong, Groenewoud and Irene Schouten finished 0.48 behind with Japan (Momoka Horikawa, Ayano Sato and Miho Takagi) in third.
For all information about the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series, please visit the webpage here.
World Cup Standings - Men
World Cup Standings - Women
Where to watch
Viewers will be able to watch the World Cup sessions (local time) via their national broadcaster/channel.
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 on the Where to watch webpage here.
ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series events 2022/23:
Nov 11 - 13, 2022 Stavanger /NOR
Nov 18 - 20, 2022 Heerenveen/ NED
Dec 09 - 11, 2022 Calgary /CAN
Dec 16 - 18, 2022 Calgary /CAN
Feb 10 - 12, 2023 Tomaszów Mazowiecki /POL
Feb 17 - 19, 2023 World Cup Final - Tomaszów Mazowiecki /POL
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 1985 and usually consists of six or seven events including the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Final. The events take place across North America, Europe and Asia.
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 particular distance.
The results from the World Cup competitions in the first part of the season are the main qualifying method for the ISU Speed Skating Championships and also for the Olympic Winter Games.
A number of World Cup titles are awarded every season, for Men: 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, combined 5000 m / 10000 m, Team Pursuit, Mass Start and Team Sprint. For Women 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, the combined 3000 m / 5000 m, Team Pursuit, Mass Start and Team Sprint. For further information please visit isu.org.
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