SPEED SKATING In the ladies 500 m, Sang-Hwa Lee dominated most of the season and brought the World Record down to 36.36 however she did not compete after the Olympics giving other contenders the opportunity to win the Cup. Finally Olga Fatkulina (RUS) took the Cup, Heather Richardson was second and Jenny Wolf (GER) finished her career ranked third. Richardson took the 1000m title followed by teammate Britanny Bowe and then by Fatkulina. Bowe won the Salt Lake City race in a world record time of 1:12.58. Ireen Wüst (NED) won the 1500 m ahead of Lotte van Beek (NED) and Bowe. Martina Sáblíková won the long distance World Cup for the 8th successive time, ahead of Claudia Pechstein (GER) and Yvonne Nauta (NED) who had her international break-through this season. Francesca Lollobrigida brought Italy success by winning the Mass Start ahead of Dutch Ladies Irene Schouten and Janneke Ensink. The Dutch ladies dominated the Team Pursuit, with Poland and Japan following. In the men’s 500 m, twin brothers Michel and Ronald Mulder battled for the victory however Ronald was the most stable taking the Cup while Michel finished in second. Last year’s winner Jan Smeekens completed the podium. Tae-Bum Mo (KOR) led throughout the season, but did not compete after the Olympics therefore he did not finish in the top three ranking. Shani Davis won the 1000 m for the sixth time and now has the most victories than anyone in this distance. Denny Morrison (CAN) and Kjeld Nuis (NED) followed. The 1500 m had five different winners; although only Denis Yuskov (RUS) won two races, he ranked overall second behind Koen Verweij and Davis came in third. Jorrit Bergsma (NED) won the long distance, winning the last three races. Sven Kramer (NED) won the first three, but then finished his World Cup season after the Olympics and finished third, passed in the ranking by Patrick Beckert (GER). Bob de Vries (NED) won the mass start, Arjan Stroetinga (NED) and Bart Swings (BEL) followed. The Dutch men dominated the Team Pursuit, USA and Norway finished second and third.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS For the third time Ireen Wüst won the European title at the Essent ISU European Speed Skating Championships in Hamar (NOR). Silver went to Yvonne Nauta (NED) and bronze to Martina
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Zbigniew Brodka (POL)
Sáblíková (CZE). Six time European Champion Sven Kramer did not defend his titles this season leaving the way for Jan Blokhuijsen who was crowned the new European champion, while Koen Verweij (NED) won the silver medal. Håvard Bøkko (NOR) took the bronze in his home country.
where Ireen Wüst won the World title for the third consecutive. Olga Graf (RUS) won silver and Yvonne Nauta took the bronze. In the Men the 2014 European silver medalist Koen Verweij (NED) won the World title ahead of team mate Jan Blokhuijsen and Russian Denis Yuskov.
WORLD SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIPS
WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Jing Yu (CHN) and Michel Mulder won the Essent ISU World Sprint Championships in Nagano (JPN), three weeks before the Olympic Games started. Yu had won back in 2012 and team mate Hong Zhang took the silver medal. 2013 Sprint Champion Heather Richardson (USA) had to contend with bronze. Mulder won his second consecutive title and 2009 Sprint Champion Shani Davis won silver. By finishing third Daniel Greig became the first Australian Speed Skater to win a medal at an ISU Event.
The ISU World Junior Championships were held last March in Bjugn (NOR). Antoinette de Jong and Patrick Roest became Ladies’ and Men’s World Junior Champions. De Jong also took the 1000 m and 3000 m distance titles while Vanessa Bittner (AUT) won the title in the 500 m and Melissa Wijfje (NED) the 1500 m. The Dutch ladies also won the team pursuit followed by Korea and Japan. Although Roest did not win a distance title he did win the 3000 m in the allround and was often on the podium. Kai Verbij (NED) on the other hand won the 500 and 1000 m, Fan Yang (CHN) the 1500 m and Nils van der Poel (SWE) the 5000 m. The Asian skaters dominated the Team Pursuit: The Korean men won the title ahead of Japan and China.
WORLD ALLROUND CHAMPIONSHIPS The Essent ISU World Allround Speed Skating Championships were held in Heerenveen (NED)