Irene Schouten (NED) wins gold in the 3000m at the World Cup Speed Skating at Thialf
Irene Schouten (NED) bounced back with a track record in Heerenveen, after a surprise loss in the 3000m in Stavanger (NOR) last week. “You learn from your mistakes and thanks to last week’s mistakes, I skated a track record today,” she said. Earlier on Sunday, Min Sun Kim (KOR) took back-to-back gold in the 500m, edging out Vanessa Herzog (AUT) and Jutta Leerdam (NED) on the final day of the ISU World Cup in Thialf.
In the footsteps of a legend
Kim skated in the final 500m race versus Leerdam, who had a great start, but still did not get to the 100m line first. Despite coming off the line slower than her Dutch opponent, Kim opened faster with 10.4 versus 10.6. The Korean rocket was able to take her speed into the lap and eventually stopped the clock at 37.21s after 500m.
Coming out on top of the 500m podium, Kim follows in the footsteps of retired world record holder Lee Sang-Hwa (KOR).
Min-Sun Kim of South Korea wins gold in the 500m at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating (NED)
“I put a lot of effort in coming out on top,” said Kim. “My idol used to be Lee Sang-Hwa, she was an incredibly good skater. They say it’s very hard to stay on top, but you have to work very hard to get to the top already.”
Herzog was happy to be back on the podium after a troublesome year.
“I couldn’t train a lot, because of injury troubles last year," says Herzog. "Now I’m surrounded by people I enjoy being around [Team Novus including Dione Voskamp (NED) and Ellia Smeding (GBR)] so everything is fine again.”
Vanessa Herzog of Austria take silver in the Women's 500m World Cup (NED)
Dutch fly high in 3000m
Irene Schouten took on Isabelle Weidemann (CAN) in the 3000m. Last week the Olympic champion had been beaten by Ragne Wiklund (NOR) in Stavanger. Now in Heerenveen she was on a mission. Before Schouten took to the ice, Joy Beune (NED) had skated a time of 3 minutes and 58.72s.
“I knew we had good conditions and the pairings before mine showed good times,” said Schouten. “But those times did not scare me.”
Weidemann had been a little unwell after the Stavanger World Cup last weekend, and Schouten left her opponent far behind from the start. Even increasing her pace towards the end, Schouten shaved 0.55s off her own track record to finish in 3:54.04.
“To skate a track record, you have to be really good and you have to be a little lucky,” said Schouten.
“I just wanted to skate a good race. Last week put me on edge, because I finished second because I made too many mistakes. I didn’t skate, I just ran and did not finish my strokes, because I wanted too much. But in hindsight, thanks to Wiklund’s win last week, I skated a track record this week.”
Despite still recovering from a bad cough, Weidemann took silver in 3:57.70. Wiklund finished third in 3:58.31.
Program
The Heerenveen World Cup starts with the 1000m and the Mass Start for both genders on Friday. On Saturday the wWmen will skate the 1500m and the Team Sprint, while the Men take on the 500m and the 5000m, and the Sunday schedule features the 1500m and the Team Sprint for Men and the 500m and the 3000m for Women.
World Cup Standings - Men
World Cup Standings - Women
Where to watch
Viewers will be able to watch the World Cup sessions (local time) via their national broadcaster/channel.
For countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list on the Where to watch webpage here.
ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series events 2022/23:
Nov 11 - 13, 2022 Stavanger /NOR
Nov 18 - 20, 2022 Heerenveen/ NED
Dec 09 - 11, 2022 Calgary /CAN
Dec 16 - 18, 2022 Calgary /CAN
Feb 10 - 12, 2023 Tomaszów Mazowiecki /POL
Feb 17 - 19, 2023 World Cup Final - Tomaszów Mazowiecki /POL
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