Kim Min Sun (KOR) took her second consecutive 500m win of the season to kick off the ISU World Cup in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, on Friday. The 24-year-old Korean closed in on World Cup leader Erin Jackson (USA), who finished fourth. Femke Kok (NED) took silver and Andzelika Wójcik (POL) celebrated bronze in front of a happy home crowd.
In the long distances, Ragne Wiklund (NOR) got back in the saddle with her third 3000m gold of the season after a difficult 5000m race in Stavanger last week.
Kim enjoys battle with Jackson
The women’s 500m race concluded with a bang with Kim taking on Jackson in the final pairing. Last year’s World Cup winner started in the outer lane versus the Olympic champion, and admitted to being wary of her pairmate’s fast start.
“I was so happy today to skate against Erin Jackson, but I was a little worried about my start, because she has the fastest start, and today I had a mistake in my first step,” Kim said.
Jackson indeed had the fastest opener of the field, posting 10.47s after the first 100m. Kim was 0.07s down but kept Jackson well in sight to chase her down on the back stretch.
With 27.2s Kim skated the fastest full lap of the field again to leave Jackson 0.35s behind on the line. The American World Cup leader eventually finished fourth to maintain a 16-point lead over Kim, who enjoys the battles after having won five out of her six 500m World Cup races last season.
Kim Min Sun (KOR) overcame an early mis-step to rein in the lead of pairmate Erin Jackson and take 500m gold © ISU
“This season the World Cup is more exciting”, Kim said. “Because last year I always won, so I had more pressure. This season is more comfortable and exciting, I don’t have the pressure to have to win, so I can enjoy my skating.”
Apart from Kim, Kok had been the only skater to go under 38s, finishing the women’s 500m in 37.95s on Friday. The Dutch World Champion has fully recovered from the fever she suffered in Beijing three weeks ago and was happy to be back in the mix.
“I really regret that I was not able to compete in Beijing, because it’s such a beautiful track and I had started the season really well in Obihiro,” she said.
Femke Kok (NED) showed that she had shaken off illness to join Kim in finishing under 38 seconds to take silver © ISU
After coming third last week in Stavanger, Kok felt she had not yet been able to skate a 500m race without mistakes this season. Her performance in Poland was an improvement, although the ice didn’t suit her too well.
“My first 100m was a lot better, and after that it was also quite OK, but this is just not my type of ice. I have a long stroke and on this ice you have to keep pushing because it’s a bit soft, so I had to adjust, but I managed quite well.”
With a time of 38.16s, Andzelika Wójcik (POL) finished third to take her first World Cup medal since winning gold in Salt Lake City in December 2021.
“This is really nice,” she said. “There were so many loud screams from the people here at the ice rink and that really helped me.
“My season start was not so good, but I’m making progress. When my health comes back, my power comes back.
Andzelika Wójcik (POL, right) delighted the home crowd by taking bronze, her first World Cup medal in two years © Getty Images
“Last season I had to skip the second part of the season, because I had so many health issues that I needed to repair, like gut problems, and also I felt really tired after the Olympic season. I paid so much to be on the top, maybe not too much time to rest afterwards.
“This season, I want to be back with new energy and new aims, I'm mainly focusing to improve my skating technique.”
Reborn Wiklund takes another 3000m gold
Contrary to last week, when she had been in pain and agony after winning bronze in an excruciating 5000m race on home ice on Stavanger, Ragne Wiklund got off the ice with a big smile in Tomaszów on Friday.
“I felt like a total different person coming here,” she said. “The flow was better. Today, I felt a bit scared after last weekend so I didn’t really dare to push as much until the end and that seemed to work out.”
Wiklund won the 3000m in 4:06.69 to maintain an unbeaten streak in this season’s 3000m World Cup and retain the lead in the long distance rankings.
Ragne Wiklund (NOR) put last week's disappointing home 5000m behind her to take gold in the 3000m © ISU
She felt comfortable on the Polish ice, but she also realized that she’ll have to adjust towards the second half of the season.
“I am probably feeling a bit safer on the slower ice [this season], but we’ll now need to build up speed, because we’re going [to skate on] faster ice in the rest of the season.
After last week’s silver in the 5000m, Marijke Groenewoud (NED) again took a silver medal in this week’s 3000m, clocking 4:07.03.
“I hadn’t expected this,” she said. “I had been suffering from a bit of a cold this week.”
Dutch skaters took silver and bronze, with Marijka Groenewoud, left, and Irene Schouten, right, joining Wiklund on the podium © ISU
Groenewoud felt as if she had never really got into the right rhythm. “I skated versus Joy Beune (NED), who’s got longer strokes than I normally do. When I was on the backstretch behind her that sort of put me off my rhythm. I didn’t really expect to take second place with this time.”
Irene Schouten (NED) hadn’t been able to find her rhythm either. The Olympic champion was surprised to end up in third place after setting 4:07.74 in the second of eight pairings.
“Yesterday and this morning, my skating was quite well, so I don’t really know what happened,” she said.
“I had a mis-stroke in my opener, and then another one in the first lap, and after that everything was off. Maybe after two mis-strokes it also affects you mentally. I still managed to skate a negative split, but all-in-all it was a bad race.”
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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
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