Dutch Men dominate opening round

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Thomas Krol (NED) led an orange armada in the men's 1000m as he seized gold in a track record and his countrymen took three of the next four places on the second day of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Minsk, Belarus, on Saturday.

Jorrit Bergsma (NED) added to the Netherlands’ medal haul by winning the mass start with a powerful jump, holding off the bunch in the last three laps and maintaining the Dutch men’s dominance in the first event of the 2019/20 series.

In the ladies' competition Olga Fatkulina (RUS) broke Nao Kodaira's (JPN) 23-race winning streak in the 500m World Cup as world champion Vanessa Herzog (AUT) was disqualified for a second false start, while Ireen Wüst (NED) won the 1500m to take her 24th World Cup gold in that event.

Krol takes career first 1500m gold in World Cup
Hein Otterspeer (NED) was the first to break the 1 minute and 10 seconds barrier in the 1000m, when he stopped the clock at 1:07.14 in the fifth pairing. Heading into the final lap in the sixth pairing, Ning Zhongyan (CHN) had a two-tenths advantage over Otterspeer.

The Chinese youngster, who celebrated his 20th birthday a fortnight ago, maintained his pace to finish in 1:09.22, breaking Kjeld Nuis' 2018 track record by 0.01 second.

In the penultimate pairing world champion Kai Verbij (NED) took on Håvard Lorentzen (NOR), but both the Dutchman and the Norwegian were not up to Ning's challenge. Verbij had to settle for fourth place in 1:09.51, while Lorentzen even finished outside the top 10 in 1:10.33.

World record holder Kjeld Nuis (NED) and the second fastest man ever, Thomas Krol (NED), were paired in the final race. Krol was faster from the very beginning. Nuis skated a far from perfect race with a few hiccups in the corners, while Krol finished smoothly in 1:09.00, confidently breaking Ning's fresh track record to take gold. With 1:09.27 Nuis had to settle for bronze behind Ning, who took his career first World Cup medal.

Powerful jump hands Bergsma mass start gold
Bergsma won the men's mass start in style. The Dutchman seemed to have missed the boat when Peter Michael (NZL) tried to escape the bunch after the first intermediate sprint. Michael stayed clear of the peloton for about six laps, while Bergsma tried to counter-attack twice.

After the final intermediate sprint Michael only had a 50m gap left, when Bergsma attacked for the third time - and this time it was for real. The Dutchman powered away from the bunch on the inside, swerved round Michael on the outside and managed to stay clear even when Bart Swings (BEL) and the Koreans Cheonho Um and Jae-Won Chung accelerated for the final sprint. Chung finished second and Um third.

After Patrick Roest's (NED) 5000m gold and the Netherlands men's Team Sprint win on Friday, the Dutch men still have a 100 percent score after four events at the World Cup opener.

Russian one-two breaks Kodaira's streak
Starting in pair five, Kachanova took the lead by beating Angelina Golikova's (RUS) 2018 track record (38.08). The 22-year-old Russian started ferociously with a 10.40-second opener and became the first lady to break the 38-second barrier in the 500m in the Minsk Arena, finishing in 37.94.

Only Maki Tsuji (JPN) opened faster than Kachanova, but the Japanese sprinter couldn't follow up her 10.39 with a strong full lap and finished in 38.39 to end up fifth.

Fatkulina took on Golikova, who had just lost her track record, in the penultimate pairing. She opened in 10.59 and continued with an unmatched 27.32 full lap to edge out Kachanova by 0.02 seconds. Golikova crossed the line in 38.52 to finish seventh.

Herzog in tears
With Fatkulina and Kachanova atop the ranking, world champion Herzog and Olympic champion Kodaira entered the rink for the final pairing. It did not turn out to be a thrilling climax to the ladies' sprint. Herzog left the track in tears after two false starts and she will be relegated to next week's B Division in the 500m.

Kodaira had to skate alone and the Japanese sprint queen, who had been unbeaten in 23 World Cup races over 500m in the past three seasons, was not able to keep up with the Russians, finishing in 38.17 to end up third.

Wüst paces her race to perfection
Wüst took on Yekaterina Shikhova (RUS) in the penultimate pairing of the 1500m. The reigning 1500m world and Olympic Champion paced her race to perfection.

Trailing Shikhova by 0.72 seconds at the 1100m split, Wüst managed to pull off a final 31.63-second lap versus 32.74 for her Russian opponent. With 1:56.46 and 1:56.86 respectively, Wüst and Shikhova were the only ladies to skate under 1:57 in Minsk on Saturday, but they didn't break Miho Takagi's 2018 track record (1:56.36).

World record holder Takagi herself started in the final pairing versus Brittany Bowe (USA). The America sprinter started faster, but Takagi stayed on her tail and tried to catch up with a quick penultimate lap. Bowe saw Takagi coming, however, and narrowly held off the Japanese in the final lap. Bowe finished in 1:57.25 to take the bronze and Takagi finished sixth in 1:57.54.