Gold for Suzanne Schulting in Dresden

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Schulting shows her class with dominant 1000m display in Dresden
Dutch superstar Suzanne Schulting lit up the final day of racing at the ISU Short Track speed skating World Cup in Dresden to cement her status as the world’s very best.

The reigning Olympic 1000m champion has now won four out of the six 1000m World Cup races this season. As is her style, she dominated from the gun in Dresden’s Energieverbund Arena.

“I feel comfortable at the front, I know I am good there and able to generate the speed by myself. It feels really good,” said the 21-year-old, who was in such scintillating form that she surprised even herself.

“I saw the lap times after the race and I was a little impressed with myself.”

The win helped push Schulting clear of rival Choi Min Jeong (KOR) at the top of the world rankings, and she is determined to continue her success.

“I want to go for the win in Bulgaria (at the 2019 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Championships in March) - the overall title, I want to become world champion. The 1000m title too but the all-around is the most important thing,” Schulting said.

Not many people will be betting against the Dutchwoman - not least the skaters who finished in her slipstream on Sunday.

“Suzanne is so good,” Kim Ji Yoo, Korea’s 1000m silver medallist, said with a shake of her head, while bronze medal winner Zhang Chutong (CHN) admitted that she would “have to get a lot better to beat Suzanne”.

Italy’s Martina Valcepina gave a similarly dominant display in the ladies’ 500m. The three-time European champion led her 500m quarterfinal and semifinal from the startline to the finish and then repeated the trick in the final.

“It was always the plan - it’s important to control the 500m. I feel more confident out in front, avoiding any contact,” said the Italian who says she performs better in races than in training.

“It’s amazing to watch her. She always produces it when it really matters, even though she looks not so good in training,” laughed teammate Tommaso Dotti, part of the men’s team which won the 5000m relay B final.

Despite her wire-to-wire victory, Valcepina still lies well behind Poland’s Natalia Maliszewska in the season-long 500m World Cup standings. Fresh from winning her country’s first ever individual European title, Maliszewska grabbed bronze on Sunday in her favoured sprint, with Lara van Ruijven (NED) in second.

“I knew it was going to be tough. I was skating with the best athletes, with world champions like Elise (Christie, GBR) and Kim Boutin (CAN), the Olympic champion (who finished fifth and fourth respectively),” Maliszewska said. “But I am super excited to skate with them because it gave me a lot of experience and that is the main thing. This is a time to learn.

“My goal is to be the best at the Olympics (in 2022) and whatever happens during these four years is going to bring me to that top level at the right time.”

The Pole’s fellow 2019 European champion, Sofia Prosvirnova, is another looking to the future.
The Russian rounded off her weekend in style, adding the mixed gender 2000m relay and the ladies’ 3000m relay golds to the 1000m crown she won on Saturday.

For the 21-year-old, and indeed much of the crowd, the mixed relay – a new event this season – was a particular highlight.

“It was so weird to go on the ice with the boys; I started looking for the girls. I think it’s more fun when the boy pushes you and not when you have to push the boy, then it’s a little bit heavy. It was so fun,” Prosvirnova said.

Korean men complete World Cup whitewash as Canada steal relay
Korea’s all-conquering men’s team picked up two more gold medals at the Energieverbund Arena on Sunday to seal a whitewash of the individual men’s events at the ISU Short Track speed skating World Cup in Dresden, Germany.

The world’s dominant team produced a sublime display of race craft as first Lim Hyo Jun and then Park Ji Won pounced in the closing stages to win the 500m and 1000m golds respectively. Korea’s weekend whitewash is the first of the World Cup season.

“We came here believing we were going to win,” Lim said. “We trust each other and it feels so good because so many of our team have won.”

The 1500m Olympic champion finished just ahead of compatriot Hwang Dae Heon, who won the opening 1000m final on Saturday. In total the Korean men claimed seven out of the 12 individual medals on offer in Dresden.

“There is no secret to it, we just train so hard,” Lim said.

Canada’s Cedrik Blais admitted he feels “lucky just to race” against the Koreans. However, the 22-year-old did enough to secure the 500m bronze in his first ever World Cup final.

“I was not expecting to do that,” Blais said. “At first it was very intimidating for me to go on to the ice with a number three, four and seven (world rankings) when I am 124, but I just had to remember that I had got to the final. Then I could just race for myself.”

Israel’s Vladislav Bykanov took a similar attitude into the 1000m final, reminding himself that it is “really fun to race against” the Koreans and “even better if you can beat them”.

The 29-year-old did not quite manage that, but in a dramatic race he proved himself to be a medal contender for next month's World Championship in Bulgaria. Bykanov held his position at the front throughout but was powerless to stop Korea’s Park from bursting past with a lap to go.

“I always like racing here in Dresden,” said the silver medallist. “I was expecting a lot here because this ice is good for bigger, heavier guys like me and (Sebastien) Lepape (the Frenchman who finished third).

“The grip on this ice is amazing. It feels like you can do whatever you want. On softer ice heavier guys (like us) break it a bit more and you get less grip.”

Hungary’s Shaolin Sandor Liu made a mistake in the early part of the final, capping a disappointing weekend for the Olympic 5000m relay champion who left Dresden with just a bronze medal from the relay.

The weekend’s action ended with a hugely entertaining men’s 5000m relay featuring falls, penalties and even a headfirst dive for the line. The gold medal eventually went to Canada, but it was far from a smooth ride.

As Olympic relay bronze medal winner Samuel Girard (CAN) explained: “We had a problem with the Chinese on an exchange. Charle (Cournoyer, CAN) had to grab me and pull me really hard by my arms.

“Half a lap before the end I saw him (China’s final skater Ren Ziwei) on the outside so I knew he was really close. I tried to be really fast on the exit of the last corner to get to the line and then I just saw his head come over and I thought, ‘Oh, he has gone over now’.”

Ren did indeed fall and to add insult to the bruises, China were later disqualified, with Japan promoted to the silver medal position and Hungary taking bronze.