No rest for the gilded...

He has been pretty much Norway's last link to the glory years of the '90s. This weekend, in his farewell competition in his native land, Adne Sondral made history.

Sondral, the 2001 World Single Distance and 2002 Olympic bronze medallist on the 1,500m, did what no other male skater save one accomplished in a World Cup season, by winning a 500, 1,000m and 1,500m race in the same season. Only Igor Zhelezovski of Belarus (when it was part of the former Soviet Union) accomplished the fear a decade earlier.

It was the first world cup gathering after the Olympics, and it yielded some eye-raising surprises. Of the four races contested on Saturday (two 500m and two 1,000m races, two skaters recorded their first-ever victories on the Valle Hovin Oval in Oslo in its first major international meet since the 1992 world sprint championships.

Aki Tonoike of Japan, 1998 World Junior champion, took full advantage of the absence of two-time Olympic 500m champion Catriona Lemay Doan of Canada and four-time world sprint champ Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt of Germany as she swept both 500m and 1,000m events on Saturday. On the former, she bested Svetlana Zhurova of Russia (silver) and the red-hot Anzhelika Kotyuga of Belarus (bronze). The latter race saw her outskate Kotyuga (this time a silver) and triple 2002 Olympic medallist Sabine Volker of Germany (bronze).

For American women on Saturday, Amy Sannes had the best finish on the 500 (9th), while Becky Sundstrom was 26th. Jennifer Rodriguez, winner of double Olympic bronze last month, skated only the 1,000m and finished fifth in it. Sannes was 14th here, Sundstrom 17th.

Dimitry Lobkov was the other surprise winner on the 500m, with Japan's Toyoki Takeda getting the silver, and Casey Fitzrandolph, fresh off his 500m Olympic title, the bronze. Sondral began his weekend winning streak with a victory on the 1,000m, as he outdid Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon and the Dutchman Erben Wennemars (silver and bronze, respectively). Here, Fitzrandolph wasn't as fortunate, as he fell during the race, which happens to the best, worst and all in between at some point.

Beside Fitzrandolph getting his eighth medal of the World Cup season, Kip Carpenter, 500m Olympic bronze medalist was ninth, while Marc Pelchat was last out of 20 skaters on the 500. Carpenter was seventh on Saturday's 1,000m, Joe Cheek (bronze medalist on the 1,000m at Salt Lake City) was 12th and Nick Pearson 17th.

On Sunday, a Svetlana from Russia won the women's 500m race that day, but it wasn't the Svet one would think would pull it off.

Svetlana Kaikan stunned the sparse crowd with her first-ever world cup medal on the 500m, with two Japanese skaters, Tonoike and Yukari Watanabe second and third, the latter winning her first career medal. The American women didn't do good here, with Sannes 16th and Sundstrom 18th.

Sondral's final day of competitive speedskating in Norway saw him roar to victory on the 500m, which ensured he joined Zhelezovsky in that aforementioned exclusive club of victories on the three fastest distances in a season. The order of finish beside Sondral was exactly the same, only with Lobkov, Takeda and Fitzrandolph silver, bronze and fourth, respectively. The big winner in the season's points standings was the American, who gained 66 points on the weekend on Wotherspoon as the World Cup Final looms next weekend at Inzell, Germany. Here are the top 5 points ranking on the men's 500m with two races left, with all to play for...

1. Wotherspoon 574
2. Fitzrandolph 531
3. Gerard van Velde (NED) 436
4. Mike Ireland (CAN) 400
5. Takeda 372

Lobkov moved himself into sixth place, overtaking Jan Bos of the Netherlands (321-317).

Volker gained a sum total of 90 points on Lemay Doan, but is still a longshot to overtake the Canadian, as the women also have two races left. Here are their points standings:

1. Lemay Doan 600
2. Volker 520
3. Zhurova 470
4. Andrea Nuyt (NED) 436
5. Kotyuga 393

On the 1,000m, Volker edged Rodriguez for the win on the distance's penultimate race of the 2001-02 campaign. The German clinched the season's kilometer points title in the process with Kotyuga again scoring a podium finish (bronze). Sannes was seventh and Sundstrom ninth, a rare top 10 finish for her. So what follows at Inzell is merely the pecking order behind Volker:

1. Volker 510
2. Rodriguez 395
3. Tonoike 330
4. Kotyuga 282
5. Nuyt 242

Sondral closed out his Norwegian career much the same way Bonnie Blair did hers on native soil, with his third consecutive victory of the weekend, with Ireland getting the silver and Carpenter the bronze. Nick Pearson was the next highest American ranked 10th, Fitzrandolph 11th and Cheek 16th out of 20. The Norwegian has a mathematical chance of winning the men's kilometer World Cup points crown, but he'll need a lot of help, with one race remaining. Here are its standings:

1. Wotherspoon 450
2. Sondral 355 tie Ireland 355
4. Bos 352
5. Wennemars 331

Sondral has made noises about coming across the Atlantic to Calgary for the March 21-24 Olympic Oval finale, the Calgary venue's mega event, which traditionally counts for nothing except the opportunity to skate personal bests and world records one last time. He wants to close out his career per the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten among others, by trying one last time to wrest back the 1,500m world record from Parra. He was scheduled to call it a career at Inzell next weekend, so we'll have to wait and see if he is serious about doing it.

The World Cup Final next weekend will decide several other distances' points races. Like the men's 1,500m, for instance, where there is still a lot on the line.

1. Dustin Molicki (CAN) 293
2. Derek Parra (USA) 286
3. Wennemars 280
4. Sondral 274
5. Petter Andersen (NOR) 250

The combined 5,000m/10,000m men's points race is equally undecided:

1. Gianni Romme (NED) 380
2. Bob de Jong (NED) 340
3. Carl Verheijen (NED) 243
4. Frank Dittrich (GER) 240
5. Jochem Uytdehaage (NED) 221

Anni Friesinger of Germany had already clinched the season's 1,500m and 3,000m/5,000m combined world cup points titles before the Olympics even began.

The future of the sport was on display in Collalbo, Italy at the 2002 World Junior Speedskating Championships this weekend, and the success of the Dutch bench was never more evident as they swept both gender's gold medals.

The championships are for male and female skaters age 19 and under, and its champions (and medalists) have produced some of the greatest skating talents of this generation. Want examples? How about the Heidens (Eric and Beth), Rintje Ritsma, Monique Garbrecht (pre-Enfeldt), Anni Friesinger, and the current man of the hour in Norway, Sondral. All of them cut their competitive teeth in this competition.

Bjorn Nijenhuis and Remco Ol De Huevel led a 1-3 Dutch podium finish at Ice Rink Ritten, with Ivan Skobrev of Russia snagging the silver medal. Shani Davis of the United States, who was at ground zero of the controversy, which bedeviled the national short track team before the Olympics tried out the long track format here and was in contention for a medal after three distances, but was disqualified on the final distance. He finished 15th. Tucker Fredericks (18th) and Brady Thompson (47th) were the other American men who competed.

Even though Nijenhuis didn't win a distance (on the junior worlds schedule, the men skate 500m, 3,000m, 1,500m and 5,000m in that order) he finished fifth in three of them and seventh on the other. No skater could match that consistency as both Skobrev and Olde Huevel had double-digit finishes on the 500m.

Elma de Vries improved on her bronze medal finish last year and was no lower than fourth in any race, with three podium finishes (the women skate 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m and 3,000m) in skating to victory. It was only the fourth time in the 30 year history of the Junior Worlds that both winners came from the same country. Eriko Ishino of Japan took the silver and Judith Hesse of Germany captured bronze, edging out North America's best finish, Brittany Schussler of Canada (4th). Only Maria Lamb was in the top 20 when America itself was concerned. Heidi Stangl was 25th while Rebekah Bradford was 38th out of 50 skaters.

The World Speedskating Championships happen the weekend after next in Ijsstadion Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands, and three countries, including the host nation, settled on who would attend the final major event of the speedskating season. There will be no World Single Distance Championship meet this time, nor will there be in any Olympic year, since the 1998 edition in Calgary produced nine world records in an electrifying weekend of racing which may never be equaled again.

In Skien, Norway, attended by the country's monarch ruler King Harald, Eskil Ervik and Annette Tonsberg secured their places for the March 15-17 competition by capturing the men's and women's allround crowns, respectively. Norway can add a second male skater, but that will be decided before the championships. It will be one of three candidates selected by the Norwegian Skating Federation -- Stian Bjorge, Oystein Grodum (second and third this weekend) or possibly Lasse Saetre, the bronze medalist on the Olympic 10,000m at Kearns last month.

In Alkmaar, Holland, the Dutch will send into their mecca of the sport three men and the maximum of four women.

Olympic hero Jochem Uytdehaage and Carl Verheijen had already pre-qualified, so only the winner of the competition would get the final men's ticket. Finishing no worse than second in three of the four races and winning two of those will get the job done every time, and Gianni Romme did just that, only faltering on the 500m (if you can call 6th place faltering). Romme was jobbed out of a chance to defend his 2000 world championship last year in Budapest, Hungary due to not skating a certain amount of seconds faster than the man who eventually bumped him off the team, Rintje Ritsma. He will have the chance, to a certain extent, defend a crown he never actually lost, in a manner of speaking.

As for Ritsma, his possible final chance at world championship glory ended, as he did not compete on the Sunday races. Ids Postma was second and Jarno Meijer was third.

Renate Groenewold and Tonny de Jong pre-qualified with their world cup and Olympic performances, so two spots were up for grabs. When the smoke cleared, Marja Vis secured her first career national title, with Wieteke Cramer the silver. Sandra t'Hart came in third, but might as well have been last.

Vis' worst showing was fifth on the 500m, Cramer's was sixth on the 3,000m, which turned out to be her undoing, even though she won the 5,000m.

As with the Dutch, the North American Qualification for the world championships in Ste. Foy, Quebec, Canada also had folks who had earned starts due to their World Cup and Olympic resumes. Rodriguez and Parra were the automatic bids for the U.S., while Cindy Klassen was the Canadians sole guaranteed rep. The other six men and three women's spots were determined in a two-day event which began on Friday. For the hosts, only the winner of the women's event would advance to the championships.

On the men's side, Kevin Marshall swept to victory by winning the 500 and 5,000m on Friday, while getting a fourth on the 1,500 and fifth on the 10,000m. Canada actually will send more male skaters to Heerenveen than the Dutch, as they maxed out their quota of four with Marshall, Dustin Molicki, Jamie Ivey and Steve Elm. Joining Parra for the stars and stripes will be J.P. Shilling, the highest ranked Yank in fourth overall, and Jondon Trevena, sixth overall. No KC Boutiette, as it appears his last race was the Olympic 5,000m. It is unknown whether or not he will race at Inzell next weekend.

As for the women, it was a meet marked by the pullout of 5,000m bronze medallist Clara Hughes of Canada due to illness. Kristina Groves beat back her challengers and won the women's competition, joining Klassen in mid-month. The Americans got the better of their northern neighbors and will send three skaters to Canada's two; Catherine Raney and Ann Driscoll, who were runnerup and third, respectively in the overall classification will join Rodriguez in a week and change.

Next time, a complete wrapup of the world cup final at Inzell, which concludes the season next weekend and we'll throw in a world championship preview for good measure.