Andrea Giovannini celebrates his stunning Mass Start gold medal in the final event in Calgary ©ISU
Andrea Giovannini (ITA) conquered the lead in the Mass Start ranking, winning his first World Cup race in the event since 2019. The Italian concluded a spectacular race with a gruesome escape to leave Peter Michael (NZL) in second and Vitaliy Chshigolev (KAZ) in third. In the 1000m, Hein Otterspeer (NED) edged out Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) by 0.02s to win his career fifth World Cup gold.
Otterspeer keeps youngsters at bay
After Dutch domination with Thomas Krol, Kjeld Nuis and Otterspeer seizing the top-three spots in the World Cup ranking last season, the distance has become way more international this season. Jordan Stolz (USA) and Ning Zhongyan (CHN) won the first two races in Stavanger and Heerenveen, while Nuis missed out on qualification due to injury and Olympic Champion Krol has not been his normal self this season yet.
With a sixth and an eighth place, Otterspeer had not been able to step up to the podium this season either, but that changed in Calgary.
With a time of 1 minute and 7.28s, the Dutchman kept Dubreuil 0.02s behind, while Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu (CAN) took bronze at 0.04s. Stolz had to settle for fourth place in 1:07.34, and Ning found himself back in 12th, stopping the clock at 1:07.93.
Hein Otterspeer, 34, shows age is just a number as he powers to 1000m gold ©ISU
“Apart from the start, it was a good race,” said Otterspeer. “My body is feeling well lately, so it’s nice to see [the gold medal] coming.”
His hiccup at the start was due to an effort to adjust his starting position:
“I’m taking that new position to make it easier for myself, and obviously that didn’t work out well today. But I could regroup well and still skate a really fast opener.”
At 34, Otterspeer was the oldest skater in the men’s 1000m field, but he managed to keep all the youngsters at bay.
“I know I can do it, but that’s what they think too. I never lost sight of a podium spot. [The new generation] is spoken of highly, but eventually they’re beatable too. I’ve got so much experience, I’ve got the speed and more years of training than those guys. You have to prove it time and again.”
Dubreuil and Gélinas-Beaulieu suffer for medals
Dubreuil used to be a 500m specialist, but after his Olympic silver medal in Beijing last year, the Canadian is in the mix for a 1000m medal on regular basis too.
“It's not like I'm one of the outsiders anymore. I'm a legitimate favorite in the 1000m and if that's as good as it gets for me, I'm going to be happy with it.”
Consistency is Dubreuils' not-so-secret weapon.
“If you’re about tenth in the world, you might hope for some inconsistency and be third one time and 20th the next, but once you're among the best in the world, then you like being consistent, because it means that you don't miss chances.”
Despiite his 1000m medal, Dubreuil still fears the distance every time he goes to the line. For a 500m specialist, the final lap is excruciating:
“Unbelievable pain, extreme burning in the legs, it’s just like a whole body failure kind of thing. Everything just shuts down and it feels like there's razor blades in your lungs when you breathe.
“It's not something that's pleasant for sure. I have a love-hate relationship with the distance. I'm happy after I've done it, but the 10 minutes leading up to it, I hate myself for signing up for it.”
Gélinas-Beaulieu suffered too, not just because of the final lap in the 1000m, but because he was hampered by asthma attacks last week.
Canada's Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu celebrates after claiming the bronze medal in the 1000m ©ISU
“Yesterday, after the 5000m, I slept only four hours, barely breathing I arrived here, and I was thinking not to do the 1000m, because my lungs were so bad. But then we figured out a plan to ease the symptoms a little bit, and the doctor was very helpful. It made me more confident to attack this race.”
His decision to start, led to his first-ever World Cup medal in an individual race.
“It's amazing. I'm, 30 years old now. I've been skating since I'm very young, but I took a four-year break from 19 to 23, and I came back skating, thinking I had the potential to go on the podium in an individual race. Doing that at 30 years old, is a good accomplishment. It shows that I can still have a lot to offer.”
Giovannini closes weekend with spectacular win
With the men’s Mass Start, the first of two back-to-back World Cup weekends in Calgary ended with a bang. Both semifinal races already made for good entertainment with attacks all over the place, and the final was even better.
Among others, Viktor Hald Thorup (DEN), who had won the second semifinal in a solo breakaway, tried his luck again in the final. None of the attacks was successful, until Michael attacked about seven laps from the finish line. The 33-year-old from Wellington got a decent gap and managed to stay out, but Giovannini went after him.
The Italian eventually caught up and immediately over took Michael on the penultimate lap. He could already celebrate his victory some way before crossing the line. Michael held on to second place to seize his career-first World Cup medal in the Mass Start.
Chshigolev also escaped from the pack to take a bronze medal.
(L-R) Peter Michael, Andrea Giovannini and Vitaliy Chshigolev on the podium after the Mass Start Final ©Gertty Images
Giovannini said: “The race was really tactical, and I saw the moment to go by instinct. I expected the bunch to come back, but I saw no one was taking the lead. I thought good, and push, push, push.
“When I went, I thought maybe it's too big a gap [with Peter Michael], but I thought 'just give it a try'. When I saw I could get him, I thought okay, I have to have speed to pass him straight away.
“I’m really happy to go on top of the ranking now, but there are still three more Mass Starts, so it's still a long way.”
Michael said he took heart from his semifinal race.
“I'd seen how hard both semis were. Everyone was hurting a little bit. What definitely gave me a little bit more confidence, is that my semifinal race was a little bit quicker [than the other semifinal]. That gave me a little peace of mind that maybe there could be a chance
“I thought this could be the moment, if you don't take your opportunities, you never know.
”It's definitely a long way out, and the legs definitely felt it. I wouldn't say it was too early, I'd used a little bit too much energy after the start.
“I'm a firm believer of it's going to hurt either way, so I might as well keep digging. I did have a little moment of pause to quickly try to suck in some air, because I thought if Giovannini is dead and just makes it to me, maybe we can have a little go. But he did arrive a little bit fresher. So then I really had to just keep digging to make sure that I could hold second.”
For all information about the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series, please visit the webpage here.
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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
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