Peder Kongshaug (NOR) surprised everyone but himself when he beat Jordan Stolz (USA) in the 1500m to win his career first individual World Cup gold at the Arena Lodowa on Saturday. The 22-year-old Norwegian added a Team Pursuit bronze alongside teammates Sverre Lunde Pedersen and Hallgeir Engebråten.
In the 500m Gao Tingyu (CHN) ended the four-race winning streak of Wataru Morishige (JPN), the Japanese ace coming third in Tomaszów Mazowiecki.
Kongshaug makes the impossible possible
With World Cup leader Kjeld Nuis (NED) absent due to illness, Stolz had hoped to gain maximum points to close the gap in the rankings after he himself skipped the Beijing World Cup three weeks ago. But with a time of 1 minute and 46.48s, the World Champion fell 0.07s short of Kongshaug’s time.
Ning Zhongyan (CHN) skated 1:46.99 to come in third and take the World Cup lead from the absent Nuis.
Peder Kongshaug (NOR) inflicted a surprise defeat on Jordan Stolz (USA) to win his first individual World Cup gold in the 1500m © ISU
Kongshaug was about the only person in Tomaszów Mazowiecki not to be surprised after he beat Stolz.
“I feel like I’ve had the potential,” he said. “In the summer, I thought that the podium would be the standard [this season], but there’s been a lot of sickness and things not going our way in the beginning of this season. I’ve been sick for almost two months now.
“Everyone knows that we have the potential to be the best every weekend; I feel like it’s finally releasing and now you see things turn around for Norway.”
He regarded beating Jordan Stolz as a big step forward.
“Doing a 1.46 on really slow ice and also beating Jordan… I really love the guy, but it seemed impossible to beat him. But sometimes what looks impossible, just takes a bit more time and then it’s possible.
“I shouldn’t think too much about what he [Stolz] is doing. He’s taking the sport to a new level but I cannot go around thinking about having to go two seconds faster instead of just improving myself. So I just think about my own race and he has to do what he does, but I’m glad to finally see the hundredths were on my side.”
Stolz did not consider himself to be unbeatable at all.
“There’s many variables and things can happen, so it’s not just set that one person is going to win every time. I never take it for granted,” he said.
Jordan Stolz (USA, left) took silver and Ning Zhongyan (CHN, right), took bronze to move into the lead in the World Cup rankings © ISU
Stolz had skated the 500m, finishing fourth, just about half an hour before lining up for the 1500m.
“I felt like it was a little difficult how to gauge the speed in the opener after the 500m. I felt if would have just attacked the opener a bit more it would have been fine.”
Stolz’s second place still saw him overtake the absent Nuis and climb to third place in the World Cup rankings, within striking distance of leader Ning and second ranked Patrick Roest (NED), who finished fourth in Tomaszów Mazowiecki.
Gao combines it perfectly to take season’s first gold
In the men’s 500m, Gao Tingyu (CHN) managed to take full advantage of his blistering opener. With 9.43, he had the fastest first 100m of the field again, and he followed it up with a 25.2s full lap to complete the race in 34.70s and take his first World Cup gold of the season.
Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) had a slower opener and a faster lap, eventually coming 0.07 seconds short of Gao to take silver. Wataru Morishige (JPN), who had seemed to be almost unbeatable in his past four races, finished third in 34.82s.
Gao Tingyu (CHN) combined the perfect start with a blistering full lap to take his first gold of the season in the 500m © Getty Images
Dubreuil admired the way in which Gao was able maintain his pace.
“His start is incredible and his lap… Ten years ago, when I started skating internationally, some of the guys who opened 9.4 would not have the best of laps. You could always try to catch up in the lap, but his [Gao’s] lap is so good. He looks really tired in the end but he’s still going fast.
“It’s hard to beat somebody with such a fast opener and a good lap to go with it.
Laurent Dubreuil (CAN, left) finished 0.07s behind Gao to push the seemingly unbeatable Wataru Morishige (JPN, right) into bronze © ISU
“Nonetheless I had a very good race today. Only Gao was able to beat me, and I beat Wataru [Morishige], so that’s good sign. My feeling on blades was the best it’s been this season.
“Over the season [Morishige] is the best by far. Six races six medals and four golds… But the 500m is what it is - even though somebody is the big favorite, there’s always a chance to beat him.”
USA pursuit win sets up three-way finale
Team USA (Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran) won the Team Pursuit in a time of 3 minutes and 44.85s to set up a three-horse race with Italy and Norway for the Team Pursuit World Cup Trophy at the third and last race in Salt Lake City.
Coming in second in 3:45.39 and third in 3:46.50, Italy (Andrea Giovannini, Michele Malfatti and Davide Ghiotto) and Norway (Peder Kongshaug, Sverre Lunde Pedersen and Hallgeir Engebråten) are level on points with the USA in the World Cup ranking.
Victory for the USA in the Team Pursuit takes the battle for the World Cup trophy down to the final race in Salt Lake City © ISU
“I’m pretty happy with the win,” USA’s Cepuran said. “It’s hard not to be happy if you come out with the win. We’re in the right direction individually, and with the team.”
Talking about the the three-way tie with Italy and Norway in the ranking he referred to the animated movie Cars.
“There’s a Piston Cup [in Cars], it’s a three-way tie. I grew up watching that movie and we were already joking that it’s going to be a Piston Cup in Salt Lake City.”
Norway, who had won the first World Cup race of the season in Beijing, had to make a last minute change in the line-up because Sander Eitrem didn’t feel well after the individual 1500m. Engebråten replaced him.
Italy, left, took Team Pursuit silver and a changed Norway, right, the bronze. All three teams can still win the World Cup © Getty Images
“We were aiming for the win, but today USA was better than us. We didn’t get to maintain our speed the whole way. We had some technical issues, but that is what it is sometimes,” Pedersen explained.
“Sander was not feeling well, so we got Hallgeir in and he’s a really strong skater, but the three of us haven’t practiced too much in that formation.”
Norway won the Team Pursuit World Cup Trophy in the Covid-affected 2021 season, and Pedersen hopes to repeat that feat this year.
“It’s a big goal for us, as well as the World Championships.”
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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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