SPEEDSKATING: World single distances: Three for the show on day two

On the next to last day of the speedskating season, the Utah Olympic Oval witnessed a wholesale rewrite of the speedskating record book not seen in a 24-hour period since March 28, 1998, when Calgary, hosting the World Single Distance Championships saw world records in four races.

In one dizzying four and a half-hour period, the men’s 500, women’s 1000 and women’s 5000m marks, the first two set in Calgary and the latter in Heerenveen, Netherlands, all fell in stunning, epochal fashion. Only the men’s 5000 survived the purge, but if the winner was 87/100ths of a second faster it, too, would have bit the dust.

The men’s 500 kicked off the second day’s program, with an estimated near-capacity crowd of 3,000 on hand. This distance in particular had seen its share of near-miss attempts at the world record, and Saturday was no exception. Hiroyasu Shimizu of Japan continued to have Jeremy Wotherspoon's number as he came as close as close can get to breaking the Canadian's 34.63 (34.64 to take the lead after the first heat. Wotherspoon was .13 behind him and Shimizu’s teammate Manabu Horii was the only other skater to go under 35 seconds for third (34.92). Casey Fitzrandolph, bidding to become the second American male skater to win a World Single Distances medal in its 6-year history (Derek Parra’s silver on the 1500 Friday was the first), was most comfortable, thank you much, in 5th.

While they rested up for the second and deciding heat, the women kicked off the first of their two races, the 1000 meter (the women’s 5000 would be later). By this time, national and personal records were being set left and right. Including one set by allround world champion German Anni Friesinger, who has turned out in the past 2 weeks to be quite the accomplished sprinter as well. Her near-miss time of 1:14.75 was just .18 off Chris Witty’s world standard at the halfway point of the race.

When the next three pairs were unable to budge Friesinger out of the top spot, along came the 10th pair, and a doozy of a pas de deux this would be - Catriona Lemay Doan of Canada against Friesinger’s teammate, Sabine Volker. Volker was runnerup to Witty in her record-setting skate just 6 days prior in Calgary. The German skated the race of her life, annihilating Witty’s world record and plunging it down to 1:14.14, an astounding .44 seconds faster. The 11th pair came and went. So it would be Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt vs. Witty for all the marbles. But Witty false-started. If she false-started again, she would be disqualified.

It would be an error she would live to regret.

Garbrecht-Enfeldt exploded out of the gate while Witty hesitated ever-so-slightly at the gun. The outcome was decided in the first 200 meters - Garbrecht-Enfeldt blazed to a 17.68 second opening 200, while Witty clocked 18.22. She couldn’t gain an inch on the 4-time world sprint champion, who was just .01 behind countrywoman Volker’s world record with a lap to go. The only question which remained was would Garbrecht-Enfeldt take back the 1000m world record, which she held since February 1999 until last weekend. The clock would tell the tale as she crossed the finish line.

1:14.13.

One one-hundredth of a second faster than Volker. Gold medal. Successful defense of her WSD 1000m title from last year in Nagano. Lemay Doan the bronze, and Witty a bitterly disappointing fourth. Afterward, she put some of the blame on the starter, who had called a significant number of false starts on the men’s 500 for a questionable call on her false start, and part on herself for her unusually slow first 200 meters.

In all, five skaters went under 75 seconds, and all three medalists went under Witty’s prior world record. Jennifer Rodriguez was the next best American finisher in 9th, and Amy Sannes came in 17th.

So the sport continued its recent rash of fantastic finishes in which hundredths of a second (or just a hundredth) would determine where one would wind up on the podium. In the men’s second-race 500, that figured to hold true as well.

Kyu-Hyuk Lee of Korea was the midway leader with a time of 34.84 seconds until Casdey Fitzrandolph toed the line in the 10th pair. It was this very setup which had cost the American a bronze in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The one-race format for the 500 had been abandoned for good with these Games, and the current 2-race setup put in place. Fitzrandolph was in the bronze medal position after the first race, which would, under the old Olympic setup have been the end of it when it came to who won, placed and showed. But a nightmarish second race, where three false starts between him and his pair doomed him to a 6th place finish and no medal.

The first American to go under 35 seconds in a 500 goes a little bit faster (34.72), and when the 11th of 12 pairs fails to dent his time, Fitzrandolph is assured of at least a bronze, and the second American medal of these championships for the men where there had been none since the format was created in 1996.

And so, as they have done all season, where the points margin between them on the world cup circuit dipped to as few as two points on the 500, Shimizu and Wotherspoon would have their final duel on this sprint distance. This would be a statement race and the last chance one could say to the other at the end of this season, think about how you were beaten by me for the next 2/3rds of a year.

Shimizu starts off to a 9.45 second opening 100; Wotherspoon around a 9.7. Nothing out of the ordinary; Shimizu is known for his ultra-warp speed kickoff to a 500. But Shimizu leaves him behind as he rolled to the third world record of the event and its 5th championship record - 34.32 seconds, nearly one-third of a second faster than the Canadian’s old record. Wotherspoon won the silver, and Fitzrandolph captured the bronze. Other Americans were Joe Cheek in 8th place and Kip Carpenter 12th overall.

Now the fans who were there would be treated to a marathon; the women’s and men’s 5000 meters would follow in that order. It was the final allround race of the season for the women, and it was made slightly interesting with the disclosure by Friesinger that she would not partake on it. So at least no German eins-zwei-drei (1-2-3) finish.

That, however, did not stop speculation as to whether or not Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann, the premier allrounder of her generation could add to her 3000m gold from Friday. Few would bet against her. She had won the last four WSD 5000m championships . And she would be joined at the hip one more time, for the final time this season, with Claudia Pechstein. Like so many times before, Gunda’s championship fighting spirit came through.

Niemann-Stirnemann who makes up in power and sheer force of will what she may lack in technique, broke the world record in the race for the 6th time in her career, sending her prior time of 6:55.34, set on November 25 in Heerenveen, Netherlands plunging deeper than the NASDAQ, down to 6:52.44, the most time she lopped off a prior world standard in 7 years. Pechstein the silver, and Japan’s Maki Tabata won the bronze. The only American who participated was Catherine Raney and she finished third from last (14th).

The men’s 5000 would send the fans home on day 2. Questions abounded; two of Calgary’s world records were now seized by the Utah Olympic Oval. Would this be the third? Would Kearns equal the incomparable feat from WSD ‘98, when all four races on the middle day of the event yielded world records. And if so, who among the Dutch would do it? Gianni Romme? Bob de Jong? Even Carl Verheijen? The diehards left in attendance would soon find out.

It would turn out to be a Dutch sweep, as de Jong would win his first WSD 5000 title, but the major news was, it was NOT a world record. The hemorrhaging had finally been stopped in terms of Calgary losing world records. Verheijen proved he was for real with his silver medal, beating Romme head-to-head by almost 3 full seconds as Romme got the bronze.

Three Americans raced in the 5000, with KC Boutiette 8th, 1500m silver medalist Derek Parra 15th, and Jondon Trevena next from last (23rd).

So day two was over. An earth-moving kind of day which has rarely been seen in the sport. Three races close out the 2000-01 campaign Sunday. The men’s 1000, women’s 1500 and men’s 10,000 in that order. Further erosion of Calgary’s standing as the fastest speedskating facility on Earth is possible, as the first two aforementioned race world records reside in Calgary. If Kearns gets just one of the three remaining world records, they will be able to lay claim to calling themselves as the fastest. And an era will come to an end, far sooner than anyone anticipated.

The answer to this and other pressing questions will be presented tomorrow. It will be memorable, one way or the other.