Japan’s skaters came out on top on home ice in the men’s field at the season-opening ISU World Cup in Obihiro on Friday. Tatsuya Shinhama, Wataru Morishige and Yuma Murakami (JPN) swept the podium in the 500m and Masaya Yamada (JPN) added gold in the 1000m at the Meiji Hokkaido Tokachi Oval. Bart Hoolwerf (NED) pipped world champion Bart Swings (BEL) to the line in the Mass Start to conclude Friday’s action.
Japan takes a clean sweep in the 500m
It’s been a while since Shinhama was on top of the 500m World Cup podium, but home ice has inspired him at the start of a brand new international season. The 2020 World Sprint Champion hammered out a time of 34.52s in the 500m, beating pair-mate Murakami by 0.30s in the penultimate pair. Morishige had already set 34.69s in the seventh of 10 pairings to complete an all-Japanese podium in the shortest distance.
Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN) led a home 1-2-3 in the 500m at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Obihiro © ISU
It had been a long time coming, Shinhama explained. “In Beiing [at the 2022 Olympic Games] we already imagined, what if all of three us end up on the podium together? We always wanted to dominate the distance, we’ve been talking about it a lot, but we never thought we would achieve it here on home soil.”
Shinhama did not have much time to prepare. After a mediocre post-Olympic season by his own standards, he was forced to start the 1000m in the B Division, which meant that he had to race the double distance before skating the A Division 500m. He won the B Division race to gain an A Division ticket for the next 1000m World Cup race, but he did not have much time to recover for the 500m.
“After that 1000m, I felt my leg a little, so I did not want to be at the starting line to be honest. I just had minimum preparation [for the 500m]. I thought: any result will be fine, we’ll see how it goes. I was able to get into the right state of mind.”
Morishige was the only one to skate his full lap under 25s in the 500m, but he lost it with a first 100m of 9.7s, against Shinhama’s unmatched opener of 9.49s.
Obihiro-born Murakami was happy to be on the podium in front of family and friends, but he was not satisfied with his race.
“So-so,” he reflected. “Next time [in Sunday’s 500m] I hope to do better.”
Career first for Yamada as Stolz goes the distance
In the men’s 1000m the gold was seized by another Obihiro native. 27-year-old Masaya Yamada grabbed his career first World Cup win in 1 minute and 8.35s, leaving Ning Zhongyan (CHN) 0.19s behind in second place. World champion Jordan Stolz (USA) came away with the bronze medal.
Obihiro native Masaya Yamada (JPN) added to the home haul by winning his first World Cup gold in the 1000m © ISU
The 19-year-old American won both the 1000m and the 1500m at the first World Cup in Stavanger last year. “It’s a little bit different from last year,” he said.
Stolz changed his training routine when he joined Dutch coach Jillert Anema’s team in the Netherlands and Italy last summer.
“We did more cycling and more endurance,” he explained. “I would say it’s affecting [speed], but there’s going to be gives and takes on both sides.”
Stolz will also skate the 5000m in Obihiro this Sunday, making him the only man in the field to skate all classic distances at the first World Cup weekend.
“I feel like I’m in a good position. It may not be a golden position right now, but for the future this is better. Obviously we’ve done some endurance training so we’ll see what comes off that, and if I can stay in shape until the end of the year and particularly March [World Allround Championships].”
Hoolwerf wins by an inch as cornering swings mass start
Bart Hoolwerf (NED) beat namesake Bart Swings (BEL) by just an inch after an exciting bunch sprint in the men’s mass start. Livio Wenger (SUI) took bronze.
Viktor Hald Thorup (DEN) set up a solo breakaway after the last intermediate sprint, but Italy’s Andrea Giovannini and Daniele Di Stefano reeled him in on the backstretch of the final lap.
Bart Hoolwerf (NED, center) edged world champion Bart Swings (BEL, left) to mass start gold, Livio Wenger (SUI, right) taking bronze © ISU
“It was a bit of a gamble [not to chase down Thorup],” said Hoolwerf. “But it’s very tough to stay ahead on your own when the pace is high in the final laps, and both the Italians and Bart Swings want to win too.”
Eventually both Swings and Hoolwerf took advantage of the Italian pacemakers.
“I was in a good position,” Swings said. “I knew that the Italians were going to lead out the sprint, but I think they miscalculated and started a lap early.”
The difference between Hoolwerf and Swings was in the corners.
“The corners here are really tight and I didn’t skate good corners today, my last two corners were off,” Swings explained.
Hoolwerf said: “Corners have always been my weak spot. Bart is used to inline skating, he’s one of the best in corners. I wanted to set up my corners well, not be to close in the inside because the corners on this track are tight and everyone who’s on the inside, ends up swerving out. I knew I had to keep my speed in the corners.”
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ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series events 2023/24:
Nov 10 - 12, 2023 Obihiro /JPN
Nov 17 - 19, 2023 Beijing /CHN
Dec 01 - 03, 2023 Stavanger /NOR
Dec 08 - 10, 2023 Tomaszów Mazowiecki /POL
Jan 26 - 28, 2024 Salt Lake City /USA
Feb 02 - 04, 2024 Québec /CAN
About ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series
The ISU World Cup Speed Skating is a Series of Speed Skating competitions which have taken place annually since 1984. The series comprises six events (four during an Olympic season), with A Division and B Division races. Skaters can earn points at each competition, and the Skater with the most points on a given distance at the end of the series is the World Cup winner in that distance. The four World Cup Competitions held from November to December serve as qualifying events for entry quotas at the ISU European Championships, and the ISU Four Continents Championships. The whole series of six events serves as qualifying events for the World Single Distances Championships, and/or the World Sprint and Allround Speed Skating Championships.
World Cup titles are awarded in 500m, 1000m, 1500m, combined 5000m/10,000m, and Mass Start for men, and 500m, 1000m, 1500m, the combined 3000m/5000m, and Mass Start for women. Both genders also compete for the World Cup titles in Team Pursuit and Team Sprint. New in the 2023/24 program is the Mixed Gender Relay over six laps, in which teams of one man and one woman compete.
(For full explanation of this season’s ISU World Cup (entry rules, formats, qualifying, and prizes: https://www.isu.org/speed-skating/rules/ssk-communications/31562-isu-communication-2587/file)
