Klass(en) of the ice...

The third leg of the World Cup speed skating season rolled into what was once, and to a lot of Dutch still is, the Mecca of the sport, Ijsstadion Thialf.

There, the all-rounders had their final World Cup of the calendar year.

Two distances would be contested for the first and only time in a non-continental or world championship setting, with two more questions out there, waiting to be answered. Would the German women be able to close ranks and get back on top of the podium after last weekend's shutout, and would the success of the Russian men continue; specifically, Yevgeny Lalenkov and Aleksandr Kibalko?

The distances, which would have their one and only one airing in this format in the season, were the women's 5,000 meters and the men's 10,000m. Both races are clearly an endangered species in a World Cup setting. Nevertheless, the opportunity presented itself for Claudia Pechstein and Anni Friesinger to reassert themselves as the class of the women's distance skaters.

The race's first pair marked a return to action of Olympic 5,000m silver medalist Gretha Smit of the Netherlands, shortly after bruising three ribs in a pileup during one of that country's ice marathon races (of 50 kilometers or so), as that season is running concurrently with the speed skating one. It would mark the first time in a good while that sisters would skate in the same race as Jenita Hulzebosch-Smit would make her Heerenveen debut.

After five of ten pairs, a Russian, Svetlana Vysokova, led the field, with the big guns to follow, including Jenita, who took over with three pairs remaining.

Cindy Klassen, who is emerging as Canada -- and North America's -- first real world all-round championship threat in a generation, had an off day here, finishing 11th. Her pairmate, Barbara de Loor of the Netherlands vaulted into first with Pechstein and surprise winner from last weekend Clara Hughes paired head to head.

Hughes hung tough, but from 1,400 to 3,400 meters, Pechstein slowly built a lead, two/tenths of a second or so on each lap and that was the difference. Pechstein returned to the top of the podium, Hughes was runner-up and de Loor third. Jenita Smit was fourth and Vysokova continued the Russian resurgence in all-round this season in fifth.

The women's 3,000m/5,000m combined points standings with two races remaining (all races run this weekend have two races left in the season), are:

1. Pechstein, 320 2. Hughes, 290 3. Klassen, 199 4. de Loor, 181 5. Daniela Anschutz (GER), 171

The only American in the field, Catherine Raney finished ninth. Her better event, the 1,500m, where Jennifer Rodriguez would join her, was still to come.

The men's metric mile (1,500m) was the other race on Saturday.

Lalenkov and Kibalko had been the sparkplug for their country's return in good standing to the speed skating all-round arena, and were looking to close the gap on Derek Parra, the bronze medalist in the world all-round championships in March.

Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands, who held the 1,500m world record briefly in Salt Lake City last February before Parra vaporized it was the leader in the clubhouse with a track record.

No one had been able to challenge it until the eighth of 10 pairs, where Uytdehaage's teammate Erben Wennemars smoked to a new TR and the lead, paired with Kibalko.

So Parra and Lalenkov, in their first head-to-head meeting of the year, would see if they could spoil the home team's chances. Neither did, however, and Wennemars' time held up for his first 1,500m win of the season. Lalenkov was runnerup, and Parra third, with Uytdehaage and Kibalko bringing up the rear of the top 5. Chris Callis was another bright spot for the red white and blue, finishing sixth, while Tim Hoffman had a day he'd rather forget, finishing last out of 20.

The men's 1,500m points standings so far are:

1. Parra, 290 2. Lalenkov, 260 3. Wennemars, 240 4. Kibalko, 171 5. Uytdehaage, 118

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Sunday would yield the last women's 1,500m and men's 10,000m races on an international competition level of 2002.

Klassen had been a buzzsaw, much like her German opposition had been in years past, winning two of the first three races. Anni Friesinger, the defending Olympic and World Single Distance champion is not yet up to full fitness after knee surgery and finished fifth.

The top four would eventually be decided in the last three pairs; Klassen would go against the revitalized Annamarie Thomas, the 31-year old Dutchwoman whose change in coaches has paid off in a big way, while Rodriguez and Pechstein went head to head afterward.

When the dust settled, Klassen again beat back everyone, with Pechstein once more getting the better of J-Rod, who finished fourth behind the veteran Thomas. Raney was 15th here, however.

The women's 1,500m points rankings so far are:

1. Klassen, 350 2. Pechstein, 280 3. Rodriguez, 220 4. Thomas, 195 5. Renate Groenewold (NED), 129

Speed skating's longest race closed out the weekend.

Moreso this year than any other in recent memory, the season points race is a Dutch team scrimmage; not nice for the wannabes who wanted to crash this party, but fine and dandy with the home Thialf crowd.

At the halfway point, Yuri Kohanetz of Russia was aiming to play spoiler, and Norway's Lasse Saetre did him one better with three pairs remaining before the quartet of Orangemen went to work.

Uytdehaage routed his Polish pairmate, but could finish no better than sixth. Bob deJong cleaned Parra's clock in the next to last pairing, and Saetre was still in the lead. >[? So it came down to Verheijen, the reigning World Single Distance champion on the 10 and Gianni Romme, the silver medalist on the 10,000m at Salt Lake City this past February. Verheijen sent the locals home happy and won his second all-round race of the young season. Saetre second, deJong was third, and the all-round world cup season came to a close for the year.

The Dutch 5,000/10,000m combined points standings (well, that's not exactly true, but it may as well be) are:

1. Verheijen, 320 2. de Jong, 270 3. Uytdehaage, 210 4. Romme, 186 5. Saetre, 165

The all-rounders will not resume competition until February 15, 2003 in Baselga di Pine', Italy, where a team pursuit event (2,400 meters for women, 3,000m for men) will be added to the normal fare (men's and women's 1,500m, women's 3,000m, men's 5,000m).

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Those of the sprint persuasion on the World Cup circuit need wait only two more weekends until the start of their season in Asia.

With Casey Fitzrandolph on the sidelines for the '02-03 campaign, others will have to step up for the Yanks, including Joe Cheek, 2002 Olympic bronze medalist on the 1,000m and Kip Carpenter, bronzer himself on the Olympic 500m. Nick Pearson will join them on the 500m and 1,000m this season, while newbies Tucker Fredericks and Lucas Mills will have a go on the 500m only.

The women's national sprint team is pretty much J-Rod, C-Witty and not much else. Rodriguez pre-qualified for both sprint distances, as did Witty, the slam-bang surprise Olympic champion on the 1,000m at Salt Lake City. The only other two members of the team will be Becky Sundstrom (both distances) and Elli Ochowicz (500m only).

On the men's side of the aisle, look for strong challenges from Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon, eager to erase the almighty-bad Olympics he had, where he fell on the 500m and finished out of the top 15 on the 1,000m. Hiroyasu Shimizu of Japan is back for another go-round, as is Jan Bos, Jakko Jan Leeuwangh and Wennemars of the potent Dutch team.

It will be another Canadian, however, that everyone will be focusing on this season, as it will be the final round of going left on a competitive basis for this champion skater, and with it, the last link to Maple Leaf greatness on the shortest of races.

Catriona Lemay Doan will ultimately be remembered as the prime beneficiary of the klapskate technology which triggered a revolution in speed skating in 1997. Her times plummeted when she laced up her pair, a thought so distasteful to her at the time she once wanted them banned.

But, once the skates rejeuvenated her career, she worked her butt off to keep herself at the top, fighting back challenges from Germans Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt and Sabine Volker, as well as Witty and Russian rocket Svetlana Zhurova (on the 500m, anyway) to remain the pre-eminent female sprinter of the past half-decade.

Her numbers are staggering on the 500m, her signature race. Just two losses on the 500m on Calgary's Olympic Oval ice in three years. Two-time world sprint champion, both in Olympic years. Holder of the only speed skating world record NOT set at the Utah Olympic Oval.

Next month, however, she will embark on a farewell tour, the 15th and final year of her speed skating career, which goes back to 1988 at that year's junior world championships. In a nice example of things coming full circle, the World Sprint Championships will most likely be her final Canadian-based competition, as it's in Calgary in mid-January.

When she goes, and possibly Susan Auch will leave at the same time with her next March, an era in Canadian speed skating, as well as sprint speed skating will be over.

The success of Klassen and Hughes will soften the blow for the Canadian Amateur Speed Skating Association (CASSA), but it will take years to rebuild the women's sprint side of things.

Garbrecht-Enfeldt, Witty, Volker and '98 Olympic 1,000m champion Marianne Timmer of the Netherlands will try their darndest to send Lemay Doan to retirement on a not-so-nice note.

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I'm taking next weekend off, not only for Thanksgiving, but also since there is no World Cup speed skating, either.

The sprinters finally toe the line for real December 7 and 8th in Nagano, Japan. Once the first two sprint events are out of the way, this, and the following weekend in Harbin, China (the first time a World Cup event has ever visited the world's most populous nation), the remainder of the year will be for national all-round and sprint championships, which will be duly reported here.