Irene Schouten celebrates her 3000m win at the ISU World Single Distances Championships in Calgary, Canada @ISU
“I really wanted this one, because I know I actually am the best. I can say that now, can’t I?” Irene Schouten (NED) indeed showed she is the best in the 3000m as the ISU World Single Distances Championships began on Thursday. Isabelle Weidemann (CAN) finished second and Martina Sábliková (CZE) third. All three medalists had their own bumpy run-up to the tournament. In the women’s Team Sprint, Carolina Hiller, Maddison Pearman and Ivanie Blondin (CAN) won the first Canadian title of the championships on home ice in Calgary.
Overcoming adversity
Just a week before the start of the World Single Distances Championships, Schouten was struggling with a fever.
“I focused completely on the World Championships this year, because I didn’t want to live like a zombie (the rest of the year), because that would not make me happy, and I accepted to lose a race every once in a while. It all went well, but then I got sick after the World Cup in Quebec and I thought, this just can’t be. I sat down crying in my hotel room.”
Schouten’s trainers told her to rest.
“They also said, when you step on the ice it’s just technique. Normally I always want to go fast and now everyone went faster than I did. But in the end it may have been a blessing in disguise that I didn’t train too hard.”
By the time she stepped on the ice in the final pairing of the 3000m on Thursday afternoon, Schouten had recovered from her illness. But Weidemann (CAN) had given her another challenge, skating a time of 3:58.01 in the fourth of 10 pairings.
Schouten started faster than Weidemann, but halfway through the race her lap times went up, whereas Weidemann had been able to keep it flat until the final three laps. Schouten never really got nervous.
“I think that everyone felt a bit the same after the opener and the first full lap: that feels easy. Normally I try to save some energy for the final laps, but this time it really kicked in hard quickly. I managed to keep the lap times within limits, but it was tough. Yet, my final laps are my strong point and I trusted that. Heading into the final lap I saw I still had a 0.4-second advantage (over Weidemann’s split time), and I knew that if I just kept my rhythm I would make it.”
Schouten kept her rhythm, stopping the clock at 3:57.10 to beat Weidemann by .91 seconds.
Isabelle Weidemann was in first place until the final 3000m pairing Thursday in Calgary, Canada @ISU
The 3000m Single Distance title was one of the few international titles that Schouten — a triple Olympic champion, five-time single distance World Champion and World Allround champion — hadn’t yet won.
“Therefore I’m very happy and proud."
Weidemann was also happy to win her first individual medal at the World Single Distances Championships. She, too, had to overcome challenges this season.
“The season has not been ideal, a little bit of a whirlwind, so that I got to skate my best race of the season at these championships is really awesome. I was racing really poorly in the fall. I didn't feel like I was racing to my full potential and training was not going great, so my coach and I sat down and we made this sort of last-minute decision to go home after the first two World Cups and take a bit of a pause and reset. We rewrote the training program to see if we could kind of jumpstart the season again.”
It worked.
“As skaters we tend to do a lot of volume, a lot of training all the time. I've done that for over 10 years, and didn't really take a break after the Olympics, so it adds up for sure. I think I was feeling that, for the first time in my career, where I was like, I'm very deeply exhausted. It didn't take very long, just a week for me to feel better. But I'm really glad we made that decision.”
After she skated on Thursday, Weidemann had to wait out another six pairings before she knew her result. Still leading when Schouten took the ice, she knew she had at least secured bronze.
“I was really nervous. My coach and I had to go to walk outside. We came back in again before the last pair. That would have been my first individual medal as well.”
Bronze went to Sáblíková, who stopped the clock at 3:58.33.
Martina Sábliková took bronze, finishing just .23 seconds behind Weidemann in the 3000m race on Thursday @ISU
Sáblíková, 36, became the second speed skater to win a medal at 14 different editions of the World Single Distances Championships, after Claudia Pechstein (GER), who reached the podium at 16 events.
“I didn’t know that until someone told me. I’m so happy with my race. It was very stable and good. The two final laps were very hard, but I’m so happy that I don’t feel like in Salt Lake City (at the fifth World Cup three weeks ago). I didn’t feel well mentally, because of a personal problem in my life, so it was really hard to struggle with that. I didn’t feel very well on the ice, so I thought even about flying home from Salt Lake City, but they said, OK, you can try to prepare for the Worlds. And I trained and started feeling better and then I said, OK, I like this rink and I like Calgary. I have many friends around here. So I said, OK, we’ll try, and this week I felt very strong on ice.”
Home celebrations in Team Sprint
After Weidemann gave the enthusiastic home crowd a reason to cheer, Hiller, Pearman and Blondin seized the first home title of the Championships in Calgary. With Hiller starting, Pearman in second place and Blondin taking care of the last lap, the Canadians stopped the clock at 1:25.14.
Carolina Hiller, Ivanie Blondin and Maddison Pearman thrilled their home crowd by winning Team Sprint gold on Thursday @ISU
Key to the Canadian success was team composition. Hiller and Pearman knew exactly how fast they had to start to avoid dropping their third wagon in the beginning, Blondin explained.
“Those girls, they're very patient with me off the start in which, thank god, they do hold back a tiny little bit in the first 50 meters. As soon as I'm in the corner, I can always crank it. I would say I'm really good at drafting, so as long as I can get myself up to speed and draft, I'm always able to crush it. I train with the boys constantly, so I'm always doing overspeed.”
Blondin and her teammates celebrated the title with their male counterparts, who grabbed men’s Team Sprint gold a little later. Blondin said it should give a boost to the entire Canadian team.
“It’s a great start getting two World Championship (titles). I think it just brings the mood of the team up. We're all a very big family, so it was nice to be able to celebrate everyone together.”
Sarah Warren, Erin Jackson and Brittany Bowe (USA) finished second in 1:26.04, while Poland’s Andzelika Wójcik, Iga Wojtasik and Karolina Bosiek took bronze in 1:26.63.
The United States and Poland joined Canada on the Team Sprint podium at the ISU World Single Distances Championships @ISU
Bowe was OK with silver.
“It's really fun to skate together and getting our first medal of the weekend, I'm really excited about it. I think we did an awesome job. The Canadians, they skated out of their mind today, so congratulations to them, but yeah, we are really happy with getting the first medal for Team USA and hopefully it's just a nice little kickstart going into the weekend.”
World Cup Trophy winners the Netherlands finished fourth after Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong was not able to keep up with Jutta Leerdam and Marrit Fledderus at the start.
Jutta Leerdam acknowledges the crowd after Netherlands finished fourth in the Team Sprint on Thursday @ISU
Rijpma-de Jong skated most of three laps without being able to take advantage of the draft, as Netherlands finished in 1:26.86. She said she was “gutted” by the result.
“It’s a shame. They (Fledderus and Leerdam) had a real good start and I feel guilty not to be able to finish it off. If we stick together, we would have been able to get a world title. I really like this event, so I’m gutted that we couldn’t show our best today.”
Program
Thursday 15 February:
3000m Women
5000m Men
Team Sprint Women
Team Sprint Men
Friday 16 February:
Team Pursuit Women
Team Pursuit Men
500m Women
500m Men
Saturday 17 February
1000m Women
1000m Men
Mass Start Women Final
Mass Start Men Final
Sunday 18 February
5000m Women
10000m Men
1500m Women
1500m Men
