Two gold after the fall
For the leader of the Russian and world sprints Pavel Kulizhnikov, the world speed skating championship began with an unfortunate failure. In the team sprint, he, along with Viktor Mushtakov and Ruslan Murashov, went to the world record, but on one of the turns he unexpectedly lost his balance and flew into the ice rink. This is the fourth time this season when domestic sprinters for various reasons found themselves not just without medals, but without any place at all.
This fall could lead to even more serious consequences - Kulizhnikov dislocated his shoulder and risked missing the remaining starts. However, he went to personal races and more than recouped for all the misfortunes. At a distance of 500 meters, where the Russians recently won all the medals at the World Cup stage in Calgary, the 25-year-old skater stopped the stopwatch at an incredible 33.73 seconds - only his own world record was better. It was already impossible to fight such a result, and Murashov and Mushtakov, who fled in the same pair, only tried to play silver and bronze. They almost succeeded - the current world champion Murashov eventually took second place, and Mushtakov lost only a little more than two hundredths of a second in a dispute for third.
💪💥🏆 It's a 🇷🇺 1-2 in Men's 500m at the ISU World Single Distances #speedskating champs @UtahOlympicOval 👏👏
🥇 Pavel Kulizhnikov 🇷🇺
🥈 Ruslan Murashov 🇷🇺
🥉 Tatsuya Shinhama 🇯🇵
🔢 Live Results - https://t.co/oWEvOkqxoh
▶ Live Stream - https://t.co/YZyNZOKsRSpic.twitter.com/lyctt1eG7n
On the third day, Kulizhnikov again won and became the eighth in history five-time world champion at individual distances. He won gold at a distance of 1000 meters, at the same time updating the world record. At the same time, Pavel had to start on a long track where it is always more difficult to show a good time, but a native of Vorkuta made a huge feat, having run out of 66 seconds first in history. Silver medalist Kjeld Noyce from the Netherlands lost to Kulizhnikov for more than a second, as if it was a race at a much longer distance.
💥💪♂️ And another one! 🇷🇺 🥇Pavel Kulizhnikov storms home in 1: 05.69 for the day's 3️⃣rd world record @utaholympicoval, in Men's 1000m! 😍
🥈 @KjeldNuis 🇳🇱
🥉 @ Dubreuil92 🇨🇦
👀 Blink and you'll miss it
🔢 Results - https://t.co/oWEvOkqxoh
▶ Stream - https://t.co/YZyNZOKsRSpic.twitter.com/o9bsZ7a2AF
Voronina's record for the sake of victory
If the gold awards and new historical achievements of Kulizhnikov were a rather expected event, then the success of Natalia Voronina became the main sensation of the World Cup. The Russian speed skater won a distance of 5,000 meters and became the first Russian world record holder in 67 years in this discipline.
The World Cup for Voronina also began with a local setback. In the 3000m race, she again became a bronze medalist - in her collection there were already six world championship awards of the same dignity and not one other. Voronin stepped on her own rake, taking too quick a start and retaining her strength only to win a duel for bronze against Evgenia Lalenkova.
But at a distance of 5000 meters, Voronina’s risky strategy worked. After the 16-time world champion Martin Sablikova set her fourth world record, the Russian woman had to re-engage with the fight from the first circles. But this time there were enough forces to finish. Voronin was the first in history to overcome the milestone at 6:40 and interrupted the winning streak of Sablikova, who had not been defeated in the "five" since 2007.
💥👏💪♀️ The world records keep tumbling @UtahOlympicOval! Sáblíková's ⏱️ lasts all of 10 minutes as 🇷🇺 Natalia Voronina clocks 6: 39.02 to take 🥇😍!
The 🇨🇿 had won the last 🔟 world titles over 5000m!
🥈 @msablikova 🇨🇿
🥉 @esmee_visser 🇳🇱
▶ Stream - https://t.co/YZyNZOKsRSpic.twitter.com/ND3TpGw1Wi
Silver limit
Russian sprinters failed to win gold - each time they were one step away from their cherished goal. In the team sprint, Olga Fatkulina, Daria Kachanova and Angelina Golikova immediately faced the need to break the Dutch Dutch fresh world record. When they were ready to run, there were problems with the equipment, and the start was delayed. When the girls nevertheless went the distance, they exceeded the old achievement, but could not cope with the new one.
On the second day, Golikova and Fatkulin fled in the last pair at a distance of 500 meters, trying to exceed the result of Japanese Nao Kodaira. Both Russians showed the best seconds in their careers - 36.74 and 36.79, but, unfortunately, they could not get ahead of their main rival. In the argument for silver, Golikova took over, and Fatkulina remained a bronze medalist due to a hitch in one of the turns.
In the 1000 meter race Fatkulin was already the only Russian woman to claim a medal. Seven years ago, she won this distance and during the race went almost on a par with the Dutch leader Jutta Lerdam. Olga again failed to perfectly run the last lap and was left without gold, but she won the second silver of the Salt Lake City World Championship and the third competition medal.
Conflicting 1,500 meters
The distance of 1500 meters from Russian fans is strongly associated with Denis Yuskov, who has won medals on it since 2013. However, this season everything was not going as smoothly as before. Yuskov won only one victory at the stages of the World Cup, when the main rivals from the Netherlands were absent. As soon as Kjeld Neuss and Thomas Krol took to the track, the Russians were pushed off the podium. At his crown distance, Yuskov was only fifth.
But the girls in the 1.5 km race managed to win two medals at once, and this is a much greater sensation. Fortune smiled at those who had been waiting for their awards for a particularly long time. Evgenia Lalenkova only reached the world level at the age of 29. She was lucky to run along with the Dutch Irene Wust, the pursuit of which brought the Russian speed skater silver and the first personal medal of the World Cup. Elizaveta Kazelina in the next run did follow the schedule of the five-time Olympic champion, but on the last lap she slowed down and took third place. In her collection of bronze awards, this is the most valuable.
💥💪 1️⃣6️⃣⏱️ a PB, but 🇳🇱 Ireen Wüst takes 🥇 as ♀️ 1500m gets Day 4 off to a flying start at the ISU World Single Distances # speedskating @ UtahOlympicOval 👏
It's 👑 Wüst's 5️⃣th 1500m and 1️⃣4️⃣th world title overall!
🥈 Evgeniia Lalenkova 🇷🇺
🥉 Elizaveta Kazelina 🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/W3AhCTUbwZ
Bronze rehabilitation
For Russian styers, the World Cup nearly ended in disaster. A week ago, at the World Cup stage in Calgary, an alarming bell sounded when the winners of past competitions Danila Semerikov and Alexander Rumyantsev failed in every race. In Salt Lake City, they also could not show anything in personal races - Semerikov could not find a place among the top 15 at a distance of 5000 meters, as a result of which he was recalled from the "top ten", and Rumyantsev could not finish at all at the longest distance.
It is noteworthy that the Dutch were also very unlucky - for the first time in history they did not win both of the most difficult races in men. Gold went to the former representative of the Netherlands, Ted-Jan Blumen, who has been playing for Canada for several years, and his current compatriot Graham Fish, who broke the world record at 10,000 meters.
The Russians managed to rehabilitate in the team race. Despite the poor form, Semerikov still ended up with Ruslan Zakharov and Sergey Trofimov. Long joint training yielded results - the Russian team won the bronze for the second time, losing this time to the Dutch and Japanese.