Polish sprinters had a field day on Sunday to conclude the season’s final World Cup in Quebec City. Marek Kania, Piotr Michalski and Damian Zurek (POL) edged out Norway by .09 seconds to take Team Sprint gold. Individually, Kania (silver) and Michalski (bronze) seized their first medals of the season in the 500m, only to be beaten by the unstoppable Jordan Stolz (USA), who took his fourth gold medal of the weekend. Finishing sixth, Wataru Morishige (JPN) secured the 500m World Cup Trophy.
Poland reached the top of the podium in the Team Sprint on Sunday at the ISU World Cup in Quebec, Canada © ISU
Patience pays off for Poland
With Kania, Michalski and Zurek, Poland has a lot of sprinting potential, but somehow hadn’t shown its best this season. At the final day of the World Cup season, they managed to piece everything together, reaching the top of the podium after previously settling for silver and bronze medals.
With opponent Canada crashing out of the race, Kania, Michalski and Zurek stopped the clock in 1:18.71. Norway (Henrik Fagerli Rukke, Bjørn Magnussen and Håvard Lorentzen) edged out World Cup leaders USA by .01 seconds in the final pairing to take silver, with Austin Kleba, Cooper McLeod, Zach Stoppelmoor (USA) taking the bronze.
Norway took silver on Sunday in the final Team Sprint of the World Cup season in Quebec, Canada © ISU
Michalski said the Polish sprinters grew throughout the season.
“It’s patience and just honest work. We have trust in our coach (Artur Was). He planned it all. Of course we also had some bad races this season, but all of us have had pretty good results.”
Training together also helps, Michalski added.
“We spend more time together than we spend with our families. From my experience, a strong team makes a strong result. A couple of years ago, we only had Artus Was and then Artur Nogal and later I came, but it was not enough people on a high level. Now Polish sprinting is a serious thing and we make each other stronger.”
The United States went home with the Team Sprint World Cup Trophy. Stopplemoor said:
“We are stoked.”
With their third-place finish Sunday, the United States clinched the Team Sprint World Cup Trophy in Quebec, Canada © ISU
McLeod also was pleased with their performance.
“I think it was a pretty good race. The Polish team, they all had themselves a fantastic day, getting a couple of 500m medals for the first time this season, and the Norwegians are always good. We set our national record by half a second, so we can’t complain.”
Another record for Stolz
Less than an hour before their Team Sprint victory, Kania and Michalski were celebrating silverware in the individual 500m, but Stolz came out on top again. The 19-year-old American seized his fourth gold medal of the weekend in a track record time of 34.36, which was .01 seconds faster than Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) had been in 2022.
It was another gold medal and track record for Jordan Stolz on Sunday in the 500m at the ISU World Cup in Quebec, Canada © ISU
Stolz set the 1500m track record on Saturday, but his 500m mark still came as a surprise. With Dubreuil as a pairmate, Stolz opened faster than he had ever done.
“I didn't expect that, especially that 9.5 (opener), I didn't expect that either. I felt weird not feeling Laurent come up beside me, but yes, I was feeling really good. I think it’s my fastest opener in a race. I was just trying to skate with good technique and keep it together, because I was feeling a little tired from the other races.”
Dubreuil had an outside shot at the World Cup Trophy, trailing the 500m ranking leader Morishige by 19 points before the final race.
Laurent Dubreuil was fifth in the 500m on Sunday and unable to catch Wataru Morishige on the season leaderboard © ISU
The Japanese skater had already finished in 34.85 before Stolz and Dubreuil took the ice. At 34.81, Dubreuil was faster than Morishige, but it wasn’t enough to take the trophy. With Morishige eventually finishing sixth, Dubreuil had needed to win to get to the top of the leaderboard. He swallowed the disappointment with a sad smile.
“I just didn’t have it today. It happens.”
Morishige was happy to hold on to the top spot. After winning four of the first five races at the first four World Cup events, he had been struggling with the pressure of being on top.
“Up to World Cup 4, I was doing well, but in World Cup 5 and 6 I had a couple of tough races, but over the whole season I’ve shown that I was the best. In the beginning of the season, I was aiming to just skate stable races, but towards the end of the season I felt more and more pressure, because winning the World Cup is very big for me.”
By finishing sixth, Wataru Morishige secured the 500m World Cup Trophy on Sunday in Quebec, Canada © ISU
Kania was just happy to take his first World Cup medal of the season, the second of his career after a bronze in Stavanger in 2021.
“I think that I'm in shape now, and it's getting better every week. Last week in Salt Lake City, I skated a personal best in the 500m. Now I was fourth yesterday and second today, so I’m gearing up well for Calgary.”
Kania benefitted from skating against the fast-starting Yuma Murakami (JPN).
“I skated a bit better on the last straight, because I had Murakami very close to me. I saw him and I was chasing him and I was mentally better. I had a bit of a slow opener, but the lap was very fast today.”
Marek Kania took silver in the 500m at the ISU World Cup on Sunday in Quebec, Canada © ISU
For Michalski, taking bronze was confirmation of an important decision he made after a bad first half of the season.
“It's actually a process that I started in the new year, and it's now finally showing up in the results. I changed pretty much everything: my boots, my blades, the whole setup. I changed everything because I had nothing to lose. After the Polish World Cup (in December), I decided to start to change things and right away it felt good, but my body needs to adjust to the new skating. It looks like I was right on time.”
Piotr Michalski changed 'everything' about his skating and was rewarded with bronze on Sunday at the ISU World Cup in Quebec, Canada © ISU
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ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series events 2023/24:
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