Jordan Stolz (USA) wins the Men's Allround title in Inzell, Germany © ISU
“I’ve been beaten by a phenomenon,” Patrick Roest (NED) said after four distances at the ISU World Allround Championships in Inzell on Sunday. Jordan Stolz (USA) concluded the tournament with a world points record in the big combination to become the youngest World Allround champion since 18-year-old Eric Heiden in 1977. Roest had to settle for silver and Hallgeir Engebråten (NOR) was happy to grab bronze. His mentor Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) waved farewell to speed skating with seventh place overall.
Track record in 1500m
If Patrick Roest (NED) would have had any hope left to challenge Jordan Stolz (USA) for the Allround title on Sunday, the 19-year-old American smashed it with an unmatched 1500m to start the final day. In the final paring, Stolz left pair-mate Roest .66 behind in the opener already. Stringing together two 25s laps and a 27s lap he was the first skater ever to finish the 1500m under 1:42s at the Max Aicher Arena. With 1:41.78, Stolz took .80s off the track record set by Thomas Krol (NED) in 2019.
Roest clocked 1:43.37 to come in second in the 1500m. The threefold champion faced a 33.38s gap towards leader Stolz in the final 10,000m.
Bart Swings (BEL) took third place in the 1500m in 1:43.76, climbing to fifth in the overall, after three distances, before finally placing sixth.
Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) was third on Saturday night, but the 31-year old Norwegian was anxiously looking at Hallgeir Engebråten and Sander Eitrem (NOR), who were close behind in the overall ranking. In the 1500m, Pedersen managed to keep his young teammates at bay, however. Pedersen came in fourth in 1:43.97, to put forward his candidacy for a podium place.
Stolz in control behind Roest
Even though he faced a 33-second gap towards Stolz, Roest did not want to throw in the towel in the final distance of the 10,000m. With a 23-second gap over third ranked Pedersen he was happy to gamble.
Patrick Roest (NED) in the Men's Allround 10,000m in Inzell, Germany © ISU
“This was the last distance and I wanted to go all-or-nothing, but to win (the overall) today, I had to skate a World Record, and I just didn’t have that level.”
Roest set out with 30.6s laps to try and build a quick gap over pair-mate Stolz in the 25-lap race. The American kept skate lap-times between 31.0 and 31.5. Gradually losing ground, Stolz knew that he could keep the loss limited, and eventually Roest had to pay the price for his bold start.
With five laps to go Roest was half a lap ahead of Stolz, which was not even close to threatening the American, and Roest just couldn’t keep up the pace. Stolz gradually gained back a little ground, eventually finishing 12.95s after Roest, who clocked 12:51.81 to come second in the distance behind Davide Ghiotto (ITA), who had already skated a track record time of 12:40.61.
“I have to be happy because it’s the best points total I ever skated (in the big combination),” Roest said. “There’s just one guy who’s better and I have to live with that.
“He (Stolz) is just incredibly strong, he can handle all distances and he even defeats long distance specialists in their own event. What he does is quite special.”
The statistics prove just how special Stolz’s World Allround debut win was. With a points total of 144.740, he was .821 points better than the previous big combination world record set by Roest at the 2019 World Allround Championships at the high altitude Olympic Oval in Calgary.
Another track record for Jordan Stolz (USA) in the Men's 1500m Allround in Inzell, Germany © ISU
Apart from being the second youngest man in history to win the Allround title, Stolz also became the fifth American man to win the championships, after Eric Heiden (1977, 1978, 1979), Eric Flaim (1988), Chad Hedrick (2004) and Shani Davis (2005, 2006). Hedrick (2004) is the last man to win the world allround title on his debut in the competition.
“I’m glad to have it along with the other Americans,” Stolz said about winning the title. “It’s a really big honor.”
How did he pull off those flat races in the long distances after having won the World single distance titles in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m last month in Calgary?
“We've trained it in the beginning of the season. Then we did all the World Cups and kind of neglected that aspect, but then when I came here (in Inzell) for about two weeks, all I did was laps.
“I just have a good feel for the lap times.”
Does Stolz think he could compete with the best distance skaters in the future?
“Not while maintaining (my speed) in the 500m. If I were to just focus on the 5000m and the 10,000m, I could do that, but I don't think I can do both.”
Working towards the Olympic Games in Milan, the American youngster will most likely keep focused on the shorter distances.
Engebråten beats mentor Pedersen for bronze
Behind Stolz and Roest, Engebråten eventually seized the overall bronze, beating Pedersen by a big margin in the 10,000m. With 12:55.42, Engebråten finished third in the distance, while Pedersen clocked 13:14.56 to drop to seventh in the overall.
Hallgeir Engebraten (NOR) celebrates after he competes in the 10000m Men AllRound race in Inzell, Germany © ISU
Engebråten was happy to be able to skate at a top level this season, after he was almost forced to quit due to health issues last year. He explained:
“It’s just such an amazing story. One year ago, I wasn't sure if I was able to skate anymore. I didn’t have any answers. I suffered from asthma, it was way too bad after races and hard exercises. We’ve been working hard to work on a solution and eventually managed to get it under control.”
Taking Allround bronze meant everything to him:
“(The Allround) has always been the biggest thing since I was a little kid. It’s my biggest goal to win the Allround championship. I always loved to see Håvard Bøkko (NOR), Pedersen and Sven Kramer (NED) when I was a little kid, and now, to be able to stand on the podium myself: it’s a dream come true.”
Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) waves goodbye to the Men’s AllRound race in Inzell, Germany © ISU
While 24-year-old Engebråten is still at the beginning of his career, Pedersen waved farewell to the Inzell crowd, after the final race in his career.
“I’m very proud and satisfied,” he said.
“The 10,000m was emotionally tough before the race, and it was hard to keep up with Hallgeir, and the pace he had.
“I hoped that I could get some extra energy, but I was pretty empty. I’m glad to finish with my best skating this season and my best skating for a long time.”
Speed Skating tradition
Although the single distance format tends to get more attention because it’s Olympic style, the long track Speed Skating championships were traditionally decided by racing multiple distance tournaments. The first ISU World Allround Speed Skating Championships were held in 1893, when Jaap Eden (NED) took the title in Amsterdam (NED). The first World Single Distances Championships were held over a century later in Hamar (NOR) in 1996.
In the traditional Allround format skaters a classification is made up after four distances. Men skate the 500m and the 5000m on the first day and the 1500m and the 10,000m on the second. The women’s distances are 500m, 3000m, 1500m and 5000m.
The World Sprint Championships were first held in 1970. In this format both the men and the women skate the 500m and the 1000m twice.
In Inzell (GER), the Sprint Championships are held on Thursday and Friday, and the Allround Championships are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
Samalog score
In both the Sprint and the Allround tournaments the final ranking is based on the so-called samalog score over four distances. The samalog system converts times into points, with the 500m as starting point. For a 500m race, the number of seconds counts as the number of points. For the 1000m the number of seconds is divided by two to calculate the number of points; for the 1500m it’s divided by three, for the 3000m by six, for the 5000m by 10 and for the 10,000m by 20.
Program:
Thursday 7 March 2024
19:00 - 1st 500m Women
19:00 - 1st 500m Men
19:00 - 1st 1000m Women
19:00 - 1st 1000m Men
Friday 8 March 2024
18:30 - 2nd 500m Women
18:30 - 2nd 500m Men
18:30 - 2nd 1000m Women
18:30 - 2nd 1000m Men
Saturday 9 March 2024
12:45 - 500m Women
12:45 - 500m Men
12:45 - 3000m Women
12:45 - 5000m Men
Sunday 10 March 2024
13:15 - 1500m Women
13:15 - 1500m Men
13:15 - 5000m Women
13:15 - 10000m Men
