Unexpected bronze by Caselina
On Saturday, the world speed skating championship at separate distances continued, and the first set of medals was played by girls in the 1000-meter race.
These competitions ended with a small sensation - the bronze was won by the Russian woman Elizaveta Golubeva, who in this event was not at all considered a possible contender for the award.
Golubeva was supposed to run two and a half laps on the ice of "Tialfa" in the last pair, and before her the intermediate first three looked pretty predictable.
The leader was American Brittany Bowe, who won gold in 2019, while last year's champion Jutta Lerdam from the Netherlands came in second.
Olga Fatkulina provided the Russian national team with a medal thanks to the fact that she was ahead of the current Olympic champion and another owner of the skating rink, Yorin Ter Morse.
But Fatkulina did not win the second bronze at this World Championship.
Golubeva ran the distance in 1: 14.848 and broke her personal record, which turned out to be better than the result of her compatriot.
It was a real surprise - the athlete, who used to compete under the name of Kazelina, never specialized in running 1000 meters.
This season, for the first time in three years, she decided to try herself at this distance in the World Cup and did not reach medals.
Even more surprising in Golubeva's success was the fact that that day she was already out on the ice.
The Russian woman also took part in the mass start and managed to take third place in the semifinals.
After the awarding ceremony, she ran in the final, but fell and did not fight for medals.
Heerenveen Golubev will leave the six-time bronze medalist of the World Championships.
Kulizhnikov's second silver
A similar distance for men brought the Russian national team another medal, and of a higher dignity.
Pavel Kulizhnikov, after silver at the 500-meter, was clearly ready to compete for gold - the day before he was not there only because of a failure during acceleration.
In the case of perfect passage of the 1000-meter distance, hardly anyone would be able to impose a fight on the reigning champion and world record holder.
But on Saturday, history repeated itself again, only now Kulizhnikov got lost not at the beginning of the race, but at the turn.
It cost him a few fractions of a second, because of which the Russian could not surpass the time of the Dutchman Kai Verbey.
Nevertheless, he ended up in second place, which in the current situation could also be satisfied.
Kulizhnikov has already become a nine-time winner of the world championships and won medals in the 500 and 1000 meters for the third time in one tournament.
Previously, only Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon was able to do this.
Other Russian sprinters had some chances to reach bronze, but only Kulizhnikov climbed the podium.
Ruslan Murashov starred before the competition due to pain in the groin and gave way to Artyom Arefiev, who showed only 18th time.
Victor Mushtakov finished sixth.
Bronze eventually went to the 500-meter champion Laurent Dubreuil from Canada.
Norwegian miracle on the "lorry"
On Sunday, the World Championship program continued with the 1500m races.
The current vice-world champion Evgenia Lalenkova did not win medals in her trademark discipline at the World Cup this year, but thanks to the fact that the draw placed her in one pair with Bow, the chances of getting into the top three have increased dramatically.
However, by the time Lalenkova and Bow went out on the ice, it became necessary for them to fight not only with each other, but also with the Norwegian Ragne Viklund.
An unknown athlete ran 1500 meters with a very fast time of 1: 54.613 and broke her personal best.
In part, Daria Kachanova helped her to show such seconds - several times the Norwegian ran right behind her.
Ragne Wiklund 🇳🇴 secures Norway's first individual World distances gold 🏆 in the Ladies', winning the 1500m🔥
Her World title is Norway's 2nd after Laila Schou-Nilsen in 1937 & 1938 (WCh Allround)
Brittany Bowe 🇺🇸 and Evgeniia Lalenkova (RSU) take silver & bronze # WorldSpeedpic.twitter.com / 9NelHLY3Gj
- ISU Speed Skating (@ISU_Speed) February 14, 2021
Lalenkova started her race very slowly, but then accelerated and was able to work behind the world champion in the 1000 meters.
On the last lap, the Russian woman showed the fastest seconds, and if the distance was even a little longer, she would probably have bypassed the titled American.
As a result, they were separated by only 0.065 seconds.
But the most surprising thing was that both athletes lost to Wiklund.
She became the first Norwegian world champion since 1938, when multi-athlete Laila Shu Nielsen took the lead in the classic all-around.
At the same time, the Dutch women were left without medals in the 1,500 meters for the first time since 2005.
The men played for them with interest.
Thomas Krol, Kjeld Nuys and Patrick Rust took the entire podium in the "lorry".
In the absence of Denis Yuskov, who misses the entire current season, Sergei Trofimov became the leader of the Russian team in this discipline.
The bronze medalist of the 5000 meters race also did not start in the best way, but finished the rest of the distance and was in the lead until the Dutch moved him.
As a result, Trofimov finished fourth.
Silver consolation Voronina
After Natalya Voronina became only seventh in the 3000 meters race, it became extremely difficult to assess her chances of defending the title in the longest women's distance.
For her, any medal could already be considered a great achievement, but she still was not content with another bronze, of which there is already too much in her collection, and until the last she tried to fight for gold and eventually rose to the second line of the podium.
Already in the first 5000m race, the Dutchwoman Irene Schouten showed a very fast time.
She broke her personal best with a run of 6: 48,537.
Neither her compatriot Karlein Akhterekte, nor the legendary Czech woman Martina Sablikova, nor Viklund, who caught the courage, surpassed this result.
Voronina, from the very start, decided to attack Schouten's time and sometimes won almost one and a half seconds in a circle.
True, it turned out to be impossible to stay ahead of the Dutch for a long time.
One and a half kilometers before the finish line, Voronina's pace began to fall, and her advantage was rapidly fading.
Taking into account the fact that Schouten had brilliantly had the last laps, her return to first place was inevitable, and on the last lap Voronina still dropped to second place.
She won the silver medal for the first time, and Schouten brought Holland the first gold in the women's 5000m race.
Bronze feat of Rumyantsev
By all accounts, after Voronina's performance, the medal box of the Russian national team had to take its final form.
However, the last word in the team remained with Alexander Rumyantsev.
The athlete, who had the best result for the season in 15th place in the World Cup, sensationally won bronze in the 10,000 meters.
Competitions at the longest men's distance can rightfully be considered the most spectacular at this world championship.
At least thanks to the incredible run of Niels van der Poole.
The Swede, who has already won a sensational victory in the 5,000-meter race, managed to do the impossible - he broke the world record on the flat track.
This has not happened in speed skating for 14 years.
Van der Poole ran in 12: 32.949, cutting off almost a second since Canadian Graham Fish.
Immediately after it, another outstanding race was held by Jorrit Bergsma.
The 35-year-old Dutchman, who had won the Olympic Games in Sochi, lost almost 13 seconds to the leader and finished second.
🔥 Nils van der Poel 🇸🇪 strikes again!
12: 32.952 ➡ World Record, Track Record & Personal Best ➡ World Title 10000m 🏆
It's his 2nd WCh-gold after taking the 5K World title on Thursday 👀
Jorrit Bergsma 🇳🇱 and Alexander Rumyantsev (RSU) take silver and bronze # WorldSpeedpic.twitter .com / mWH89VwwxW
- ISU Speed Skating (@ISU_Speed) February 14, 2021
Rumyantsev and Patrick Rust were supposed to finish the competition.
Before the World Cup, the Dutchman was considered the main favorite of the stayer disciplines, but not only was defeated by van der Poole in the 5,000 meter race, but also had to break the world record for revenge.
He did not have enough strength for this - in his race, Rust only walked for a while with the second time, but after a third of the distance he gave up and even had to support his legs with his hands in order to somehow endure to the finish line.
Rumyantsev did not rush things and ran at his own pace at a respectful distance from Rust, but when he slowed down, he got the opportunity to spend several laps behind the opponent's back.
When the Dutchman was completely behind, the 34-year-old Russian continued his even run, not allowing himself a single breakdown.
Four laps before the finish, Rumyantsev bypassed the Italian Davide Giotto, who ran with Bergsma, and climbed to third place.
He recorded the time 12: 54.746, which became a new record for Russia.
Rust suffered a real fiasco and took seventh place, losing even to Ruslan Zakharov - the Olympic champion in short track speed skating finished the race in fifth place.