“I literally owe my life to speed skating,” says Laurent Dubreuil. Both his father and mother were Olympic speed skaters back in 1988 and 1992.
Ivanie Blondin (CAN) won her career first gold medal racing over a classic speed skating distance when she triumphed in the ladies 3000m in four minutes, 4.86 seconds in Erfurt on Sunday.
Kjeld Nuis (NED) equaled the track record to secure his second 1000m gold of the World Cup in Erfurt on Sunday. The world champion matched the time set by Shani Davis (USA) in 2009 when he finished in one minute 8.40 seconds to beat Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR) in the final pair.
After clinching her career first World Cup victory in Saturday’s 500m in Erfurt, Vanessa Herzog (AUT) struck gold again in Sunday’s 1000m, clocking one minute 15.26 seconds. Hege Bøkko (NOR) came second in 1:15.52, and Yekaterina Shikhova (RUS) finished third in 1:16.06.
Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR) took his third 500m World Cup win of the season by clocking 34.85 seconds in Erfurt on Sunday. Jan Smeekens (NED) came second in 34.95 and Alex Boisvert-Lacroix (CAN) took bronze in 35.00.
Following the discussions between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), PyeongChang Olympic Organizing Committee (POCOG), the National Olympic Committees (NOC) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (KOR), the IOC President Thomas Bach announced today that a delegation from DPRK will participate at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
Ireen Wüst (NED) took her first World Cup win of the season when she grabbed gold in Saturday’s 1500m in Erfurt. Marrit Leenstra (NED) took silver and Ida Njåtun (NOR) collected the bronze medal.
Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) clinched his career first 5000m World Cup gold in a track record time of six minutes and 14.66 seconds in Erfurt on Saturday.
Kjeld Nuis (NED) showed that he is ready for his Olympic debut in PyeongChang next month when he won the World Cup 1000m in Erfurt on Saturday in one minute and 8.57 seconds.
Vanessa Herzog (AUT) won the second ladies 500m in 37.88 seconds in Erfurt on Saturday, to become the first Austrian World Cup winner since Emese Hunyady in 1997.
Denis Yuskov (RUS) maintained his unbeaten 1500m World Cup record this season when he won gold in Erfurt on Friday. Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) took silver and Marcel Bosker (NED) secured his first career World Cup podium with the bronze medal on his 21st birthday.
Jorien ter Mors (NED) was happy to be back at the top of the podium when she won the ladies 1000m in Erfurt on Friday. Marrit Leenstra (NED) took silver and Yekaterina Shikova (RUS) grabbed bronze.
Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) took his first 500m World Cup win of the season in Erfurt on Friday. The world record holder skated 35.03 seconds in a super-competitive field. All top-10 finishers were within 0.15 of the winner.
Karolina Erbanova (CZE) refused to get carried way after winning the ladies 500m at the ISU World Cup in Erfurt on Friday. “This is a funny distance,” she said. “There are maybe eight or 10 girls who can medal at every World Cup.”
“When I was only a few months old, my mother already took me on a horseback.” Antoinette de Jong smiles when she’s talking about horses. Had she not become an Olympic Speed Skater, she would definitely have pursued an Olympic career in equestrian events.