Dijs (NED) powers to career-first World Cup medal in Calgary

: 09 December 2022

Calgary, Canada

Wesly Dijs races to victory, and his first World Cup medal, in the 1500m at the Calgary Olympic Oval ©ISU

Wesly Dijs (NED) had been good in training, but he had not been able to show his best self in ISU World Cup races this season so far. Starting the third event on the circuit on Friday in Calgary, the Dutchman finally managed to race the way he trains. Winning the 1500m, the 27-year-old seized his career-first World Cup medal.

Connor Howe (CAN) came in sixth to retain his lead in the World Cup ranking, before coming second in the men’s Team Pursuit with Canada. Team USA won the Team Pursuit to conclude the day’s action at the Calgary Olympic Oval.

Dijs converts training form to competition

Kjeld Nuis (NED) set the bar in the third pairing of the 1500m, when he posted a time of 1 minute and 43.02s. The Olympic Champion had not expected his effort to be worth a medal, but eventually only two others managed to skate faster, his compatriot Dijs being the first.

Dijs finished in 1:42.93 in the fifth of ten pairings. Ning Zhongyan (CHN) was the only other skater to finish inside1:43, taking silver just 0.02s behind Dijs.

The Chinese skater faced Jordan Stolz (USA) in the eighth pairing and crushed the American winner of this season’s first World Cup 1500m race. Coming level from the outer corner at the final back stretch, Ning had priority. Stolz had to make way, lost pace and finished 11th in 1:44.25.

With the top-eight all finishing within one second of the winner, the 1500m was very competitive. Dijs made the difference in the first and second full laps and managed to maintain his pace towards the end. He was not really surprised to end up on the podium.

“I knew it was possible,” he said. “I skated really well in training, but I was still sort of searching how to translate that into good races. To win, feels a big relief. I like skating on high altitude tracks [like Calgary]. I come from the sprint side and [on a fast track] it’s easier to start fast and maintain the speed.”

Nuis suffers from slow start

Nuis was happy for his teammate, but the Olympic Champion was not satisfied with his own performance:

“Wesly has been skating super-good all week. We train a lot together. Of course, I’m gutted to finish just 0.09s behind him, but he’s never won before and this is a great day for him. People were joking: 'hey how did you stumble upon that podium today?' I hadn’t expected my time to be good enough for a medal. I skated a bit cowardly, started too slow. That’s unnecessary. I think it’s a mental thing. I’m happy with the medal, but I’m absolutely not happy with my race.”

Howe shifting from studying to skating

Howe retained the lead in the World Cup, despite only coming sixth. The 22-year-old student is constantly shifting focus between his studies and sports at the University of Calgary Campus, where the Olympic Oval is situated.

Hayden Mayeur, Connor Howe and Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu of Canada skate to second in the Team Pursuit ©ISU

“It was all right, but not the best. I lost a bit of energy and speed at the end and my crossover didn't help, but it was OK,” said Howe. “I do a math major and an urban studies minor. I’m doing two courses now. I had an exam this week and I’ve got one more next week [during the fourth World Cup leg in Calgary] on Saturday, which is a day off of skating. I try to balance it, not get too stressed, take a little time to study. It's probably a good way to get my mind off of racing. too.”

In the Team Pursuit, Howe and teammates Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, and Hayden Mayeur took silver in a time of 3 minutes and 36.48s.

“It gives us lots and lots of encouragement,” Howe said. “ We've been working hard on it [Team Pursuit] the past couple years, and looking forward to the Olympics, were trying to build up and get to podium potential. So this is a good sign. We’re trying out new things a bit, a new team with more middle-distance guys, just to get to the speed easier. It seems to be working, and if we think it's good, we’ll work on that towards the next Olympics and hopefully be medal contenders.”

Team USA better than the sum of its parts

Casey Dawson, Ethan Cepuran and Emery Lehman seized gold in the Team Pursuit, maintaining a 100 percent record after also winning the first Team Pursuit race in Stavanger, Norway.

Dawson skated in the front, with Lehman and Cepuran pushing in that order. Lehman had a tough race.

“I haven’t been skating all that well, but these guys have, so it was nice because we joke in practice that I have to keep up with Casey,” he said. “Ethan didn't want to push me into Casey, so I had to keep up with him regardless.”

Casey Dawson led Team USA to victory in the Team Pursuit in Calgary ©ISU

Cepuran said the success of Team USA was a shared desire to reach the top.

“One of the things that makes us so good as a team, is that we all want to win. Individually we're not quite there yet, so we really look at the Team Pursuit as an opportunity to possibly become World Champions and to be something better than ourselves individually.”

Lehman added that each team member was improving but said they still had much to improve on.

“We definitely use the training for the Team Pursuit to help our individual distances, which I really think showed last year. We had some really good times and this year a little bit of a slower start, but it's the first year of four (towards the 2026 Olympic Games), so we're happy with where we're at, but we definitely know that there's room to improve.”

Program

The first Calgary World Cup starts with the 1500m and the Team Pursuit for Men, and the 500m and 3000m for Women. On Saturday the Women will skate the 1500m and the Team Pursuit, while the Men take on the 500m and the 5000m, and the Sunday schedule features the 1000m and Mass Start.

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 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