SPEEDSKATING: Calgary Day 2: Good things come in threes

The Final Inner

It was Sprint Day at the Olympic Oval in Calgary on Day 2 of the Essent ISU World Cup Final and a correction is necessary - after this went to press last night (and after midnight Eastern time), Johan Rojler of Sweden no longer has a world junior record on the 5000. Japan's Hirako Hiroki, skating in the B division of the 5000 went 6 minutes, 31.46 seconds; 1.46 seconds faster than Rojler’s hours-old junior standard.

It was ladies first on the 500 meters, the penultimate race and the penultimate day of the 2000-01 season and where Catriona Lemay Doan had not lost more than once on a 500 on home Calgary ice since November 1997.

Then history began to take shape in the final 4 pairs of the race, as it usually does whenever a world cup speedskating event comes to Western Canada.

Sabine Volker of Germany set a national record with her first-ever time under 38 seconds (37.95). Lemay Doan toes the line in the pair after next and opened in an electrifying 10.27 for her first 100 meters, right on the money with world record pace. She crosses the line in 37.42 seconds, just 2-100ths of a second off her world record of January at the Canadian sprints. Then Svetlana Zhurova, speedskating's Russian Rocket, swamps Japan's Eriko Sanmiya by 7/10ths of a second - and scores a 37.79. She gets the silver, Volker the bronze, Lemay Doan the win - and for the first time in women’s speedskating history, all of the podium finishers went under 38 seconds in a 500 meter race. It was Lemay Doan’s 8th win in 9 world cup 500's this season and solidified her season points title over Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt of Germany, who finished 4th.

So here is the battle for who gets to finish runner-up behind the ‘Cat with one race left:

1. Lemay Doan 870
2. Garbecht-Enfeldt 650
3. Zhurova 573
4. Sanmiya 531
5. Volker 387

The men’s 500 followed. Casey Fitzrandolph who won silver on the 1000, set a national record of 34.84 and the first American to go under 35 seconds on a 500 and grabbed the lead with 4 pairs left. Kyu-Hyuk Lee of Korea equaled Casey’s time in the next pair, and when the next 2 pairings failed to change the top 2, it was down to Canada’s Mike Ireland and Japan’s legendary Hiroyasu Shimizu. The defending Olympic champion on the 500 rises to the occasion and beats Ireland in 34.67, just outside of Jeremy Wotherspoon’s world record of 34.63.

After these fireworks, here are the men’s 500 points standings with one race remaining:

1. Shimizu 762
2. Wotherspoon 700 (and with the winner of the final race Sunday getting 100 points at least, this one isn’t over yet)
3. Toyoki Takeda (JPN) 516
4. Manabu Horii (JPN) 418
tie Ireland 418

The final 1000's of the season closed out day 2. The countdown really began with three pairs remaining for the women. Garbrecht-Enfeldt was the first to break 75 seconds (1:14.86) in her race with 1998 world junior champion Aki Tonoike from Japan and took the lead. The next to last pair saw Chris Witty and Lemay Doan head-to-head. A trivia note here - this pairing, on November 23, 1997 at Calgary had loads of historical significance. It was the klapskate’s first unveiling at an indoor venue. World records were falling left and right. Lemay Doan had set two WR’s and tied a third that weekend, and was bidding to become the first skater to break or tie four world records in four consecutive races. Witty foiled her bid to set the first senior world record of her career herself. Could the same thing happen here?

They went off. Witty nearly broke the 18 second barrier for the opening 200 meters, but was still behind Lemay Doan (17.84) with 2 laps left. Witty closed the gap on her Canadian rival to .08 at 600 meters, and then Witty’s famous final lap, as good as anyone’s in the business, served her most well as she gained 8/10ths of a second on Lemay Doan and crossed the line in...

1:14.58. Witty’s first world record 1000 meter race since March 29, 1998 at the World Single Distance Championships in Calgary. She had to hold the celebration as one pair remained - Volker and Sanmiya would close out the 1000m world cup season.

Volker started at warp speed; .17 ahead of Witty at 200 meters, .03 ahead of her world record pace with a lap to go. Unfortunately for Volker, she faded just slightly in the stretch and finished in 1:14.65. Volker and Garbrecht-Enfeldt were runner-up and 3rd, respectively as the Americans capped a tremendous day on the sprint and geniunely built momentum toward’s next weekend’s home game, the World Single Distances at Salt Lake City.

It was the first time in women's speedskating history that all three medal winners went under 75 seconds on the 1000 in the same race.

The final women’s 1000m season points standings shook out thusly:
1. Garbrecht-Enfeldt 830
2. Witty 691
3. Sanmiya 650
4. Tonoike 575
5. Lemay Doan 528

So Calgary had its second world record of the meet. And with the home team’s double-edged threat of Wotherspoon and Ireland, the crowd was pumped up for the men’s 1000.

One potential spoiler was Gerard van velde of the Netherlands, who after a retirement from long track skating 2 years ago, returned this season and came within a half-second of the world record. Sergei Klevchenja of Russia took the lead with four pairs left - and then the fireworks began.

Ireland, the 2001 World Sprint champion, skated against Takeda in the 8th of 11 pairs. He had been in the shadow of his more famous teammate Wotherspoon for most of the past couple years. It was this season, however, where he began to forge an identity to the fans as a world class skater all his own. One minute, 8.34 seconds later, Ireland made an indelible impression on the Finals, breaking Wotherspoon’s world record by 1/100th of a second. The crowd went wild.

Lee and Fitzrandolph did what they could, but they couldn’t top the prior pair; Lee was 4th overall, Fitzrandolph 8th.

Then it was Wotherspoon’s turn against the Netherlands’ Erben Wennemars. The 1998 and 1999 World Sprint champion blazed to a 16.41 opening 200m (.05 faster than countryman Ireland’s pace). He was .09 ahead of Ireland’s time with a lap left; would ‘Spoon’ take the world record back? He didn’t run out of gas on the final turn like he did the prior day, and kept going all the way home. His time?

1:08.35. Silver medal. Klevchenja won the bronze.

Here’s how the final top 5 in the season’s 1000m points standings played out:

1. Wotherspoon 652
2. Sondral 616 (his 5th place finish doomed his 1K title hopes)
3. Ireland 499 (his WR edged out Lee, Wennemars and Takeda)
4. Lee 490
5. Wennemars 482

So tomorrow the final act will unfold. Three world records so far including Friday’s memorable women’s 3000, and four more eminently doable ones on tap. The 500m races will open Sunday’s session (women’s, then men’s), and the 1500m (women’s, then men’s) will end it. There’s still a lot more drama left, and it should be quite a curtain-dropping on a world cup season to remember.

Stay tuned.