Team USA in the Men's Team Pursuit during the ISU World Cup Speed Skating at Arena Lodowa, Poland © ISU
Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran (USA) took home their second World Cup trophy in the Team Pursuit, after also having won the event last season. Team USA had to leave the gold medal in the third and final race this season to Norway, but silver was enough to keep the Olympic Champions at bay in the ranking. Kjeld Nuis became the all-time most successful Dutchman in 1500m World Cup races, while Peder Kongshaug (NOR) took his career first individual World Cup medal in second place.
Team USA beats individual quality
Team USA beat the Netherlands by a 1.21s margin in the second pairing of the Team Pursuit, clocking a time of 3 minutes and 42.75 seconds, but Norway managed to skate just 0.05s faster in the final pairing.
Despite losing, Emery Lehman (USA) was happy to take home the World Cup trophy once more.
“It's so good because, if you think about it, the Dutch, the Norwegians… If you look at each skater individually, they're all really good skaters – most people would probably say better than us three,” said Lehman.
“Losing to them, we don't consider it really like a defeat, because they’re really good.
“It was good for that [losing after having won the first two World Cup races this season] to happen now. Better to be surprised now and know people are coming [than in a few weeks from now at the World Championships].
“It doesn’t really break our confidence. We know we're really strong as a team. If anything, it's good to be tested, it's good to lose every once in a while and not think that you're unbeatable, which I don't think any of us think we are.”
Kongshaug (NOR), who had won his first individual World Cup medal in the 1500m a little over two hours before, was surprised he and teammates – Sander Eitrem and Sverre Lunde Pedersen – had been able to beat the Americans.
Team Norway in the Men's Team Pursuit during the ISU World Cup Speed Skating at Arena Lodowa, Poland © ISU
“It was amazing. Sander [Eitrem] had a really bad experience in the 1500m. He broke his blade yesterday, so he has changed his equipment totally, and the race was his first time on those blades,” said Kongshaug.
“You saw he was unsteady in the whole [1500m] race, so we just agreed we have to take this [Team Pursuit race] as a practice run. We did not start too fast, but try to be steady.”
Like Team USA, Norway keeps the same formation and the same order throughout the race, with the skater up front being pushed from behind.
“I’m first, Sander [Eitrem] second, and Sverre [Lunde Pedersen] third,” said Kongshaug, “so we have a really big engine in the middle. I’ve never felt so much pushing from behind.”
The Netherlands also switched to the pushing strategy this season, but they are not able to skate in sync as well as their rivals. Patrick Roest was the front man, with Marcel Bosker and Beau Snellink pushing from behind.
“We can’t be satisfied,” Roest said, after coming in third. “The gap with the Americans and the Norwegians is just too big.”
Bosker saw room for improvement looking ahead to the World Championships in March.
“A 1.2 second gap seems big, but it’s not too big. If we skate better, and I think we can, we have to be able to close it,” said Bosker. “Just get rid of the mistakes we made today. I could have pushed Patrick better.”
Milestone for both Nuis and Kongshaug
Kjeld Nuis surprised himself in the 1500m. The Olympic champion had been beaten by Patrick Roest last week at the Dutch national championships, but managed to bounce back on a track he did not consider his favorite.
Clocking a time of 1 minute and 46.71s, the Dutchman took his twelfth World Cup win in the distance to pass Rintje Ritsma (NED) and climb to ninth place on the all-time 1500m World Cup medal table
“This is very good,” Nuis said. “I’m really happy with this. I didn’t expect it on this ice. It’s just not my track, so I was moaning a bit all day, but then I thought: just go for it!”
Kjeld Nuis (NED) in the Men's 1500m during the ISU World Cup Speed Skating at Arena Lodowa, Poland © ISU
Nuis was much faster than Roest at the 1100m split, but Roest had been the only one to skate a final lap under 29 seconds.
“I thought that he was going to win today, but he was too far behind. I really hadn’t expected this,” Nuis said.
Roest’s final lap eventually did not get him further than bronze in 1:47.62.
“It didn’t feel good,” Roest said. “I hadn’t even expected to be on the podium today. I’m just not fully rested after having skated a 10,000m at the Dutch national championships last week.”
Kongshaug took home his career first individual World Cup medal in 1:47.41.
Peder Kongshaug (NOR) in the Men's 1500m at Arena Lodowa, Poland © ISU
“It's been a longtime coming,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of fourth places the last two years, so this was an amazing feeling, and I hope it will bring confidence for the next races as well.
“In Calgary [World Cup in December] and also at the Europeans [January]. I felt really bad, but now I feel the shape is coming. And so I went in with a lot of confidence and also saw the opportunity for the podium.
“I felt like it was actually a pretty messy race. I almost fell in the outer [corner], so I feel like there's still something to improve on.”
Program
The first of two back-to-back Tomaszów Mazowiecki World Cups starts with the 1500m and the Team Pursuit for Men, and the 500m and 3000m for Women on Friday. 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 both genders.
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
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