Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong (NED) and Irene Schouten (NED) took the last two women’s titles at the ISU World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen on Sunday, but Ragne Wiklund (NOR) left the competition as the most decorated female skater. The Norwegian 3000m champion claimed silver behind both Rijpma-De Jong in the 1500m and Schouten in the 5000m. Martina Sáblíková (CZE) won her 18th World Single Distance medal with bronze in the 5000m. Only the recently retired Dutch legend Sven Kramer (21) has won more.
Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong celebrates her 1500m victory @ISU
Rijpma-De Jong finds perfect balance
The women’s 1500m competition was a textbook example of why this distance is the most difficult in speed skating. Saturday’s 1000m champion Jutta Leerdam (NED) exploded from the start, posting the fastest intermediate times up until the 1100m split, only to completely disintegrate in the final lap. She stopped the clock at 1:55.32.
1000m specialist Kimi Goetz (USA) had similar problems but kept it together in the last lap a little better, to finish 0.06 ahead of Leerdam.
With just three pairs to go, Goetz and Leerdam led the field. In the third-last pair, Wiklund showed what stamina could do for a good 1500m time. Trailing Goetz and Leerdam at the 1100m split, the Norwegian 3000m champion posted the fastest final lap of the field to take the lead in 1:54.30.
In the penultimate pairing Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong (NED) found the perfect balance. The European Allround champion opened faster than Wiklund, maintained her pace well, and finished faster than Goetz and Leerdam in 1:53.54 to seal the gold.
Rijpma-De Jong gave the home fans plenty to cheer on the final day in Heerenveen @ISU
The 27-year-old was moved to tears when heard the national anthem on the podium. She explained:
“I put so much pressure on myself, making it difficult for myself very often, that just costs a lot of energy.
“Yesterday (silver in the 1000m) was relaxed, but today I was so nervous I even was nauseous before the race. To close off the season like this is fantastic.”
Rijpma-De Jong went through a host of emotions on the podium @ISU
Stamina leads to silver
Wiklund’s final lap proved to be good enough for silver. The Norwegian youngster had to skate alone because pair-mate Li Qishi (CHN) withdrew. Wiklund commented:
“It was a really good race. A bit surprised that I had to do it alone. But I managed to get myself together. I didn’t know how fast it was during the race.
“I just hoped that it would be good enough for the podium, but it was not that big a surprise that Antoinette managed to go faster.”
Ragne Wiklund scooped silver in the 1500m in Heerenveen @ISU
Bronze not enough for Takagi
Miho Takagi (JPN) ended up in third, skating 1:54.39 in the final pairing. After winning three bronze and a silver at the Winter Olympic Games in Bejing, the Japanese skater was disappointed with her two bronze medals at the Worlds:
“Of course, this result was not so good for me. I am not happy with this time and this third place, but I’m proud of myself and Johan [coach Johan de Wit, NED], because this year was so hard for us.”
“I feel that I can be better. I’m very motivated because of this season and I want to come back stronger next year.”
Miho Takagi collects her 1500m bronze on the final day of the Worlds @ISU
Schouten defies Olympic curse
Irene Schouten had also had a difficult season after winning three individual gold medals and a bronze at the Olympics, but the queen of Beijing made amends in the final 5000m. She finished in 6:41.25, smashing her own track record by almost four seconds and finishing almost five seconds ahead of Wiklund.
Schouten felt she had defied an Olympic curse:
“In this whole Championships, Bart Swings (BEL) is the only Olympic Champion to also win a World title. That shows how difficult it is,” she said.
Irene Schouten won a gold, silver and bronze in Heerenveen @ISU
The Dutch skater also collected a 3000m silver and Mass Start bronze in Thialf after taking a break from competition in January.
“I’m glad to finish the season like this,” she said. “If I would have continued with what I was doing in December, it would have been three times nothing here.”
Wiklund thrives
Wiklund did not have much time to prepare for the 5000m after already having skated the 1500m earlier, but was happy with the performance:
“It went a lot better than I thought it would. During the warmup I was just really happy with my 1500m and didn’t think much about the 5k. I got the first laps easy and went out a lot harder than I planned to do.
“It came quite easy and I decided to give it a shot. Then with six laps left I knew I needed to let her go if I wanted to make it to the finish line.”
Ragne Wiklund on her way to her second silver of Sunday in the 5000m @ISU
Going home with one gold and two silvers was beyond expectations.
“It’s amazing,” Wiklund smiled. “I was hoping to have at least one medal with me going home, but three I couldn’t have imagined.
Wiklund ends Heerenveen as the most decorated female skater @ISU
Ten-time 5000m champion Martina Sáblíková (CZE) was happy to take bronze in 6:47.78. She commented:
“I’m very content with my race and with my time. I’ve never been so fast in Thialf. I knew who was skating in the last pair so. Irene is Irene. She can skate a track record and I knew I couldn’t do that today.
The 35-year-old has no retirement plans yet.
“I hope to be back on the ice again next year,” she laughed.
Martina Sáblíková now has 18 Worlds medals to put her second on the all-time list @ISU
Program
The World Single Distance Championships start with the 3000m for Women, the 5000m for Men and the Team Sprint events for both genders on Thursday. On the following two days the program is similar for both genders. Friday features the Team Pursuit and the 500m, and Saturday starts with the Mass Start semi-finals, followed by the 1000m, to conclude with the Mass Start finals. On Sunday both genders will contest the 1500m gold, before the event closes off with the 10,000m for men and the 5000m for women.
Where to Watch
Viewers will be able to watch the races via their national broadcasters’ 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.
Subscribe to the ISU Newsletter to receive the latest information about events, and to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive notifications when live streams start or new videos are published.
For further information on the ISU World Speed Skating Championships, visit the event webpage here.
.png)
