Esmee Visser shined on 5000m

Esmee Visser from the Netherlands won the 5000m gold medal at the Gangneung olympic oval on day 7 of the Olympics.

By Jackob Savard
Photo: Gewoan Dwaan Media/Marketing/Fotografie and Schaats Foto's

The Dutch wanted to add to their domination at the current games by winning the 5000m distance at the Olympics for the first time since Yvonne van Gennip in 1988 in Calgary.

First olympic race, first olympic title

Annouk van der Weijden from the Netherlands had set the tone in the first pair with a fast time of 6:54.17. We had to wait until the fourth pair to see her time being beaten. Her teammate Esmee Visser, European champion on 3000m this season, was the first to skate faster than van der Weijden as she established a time of 6:50.23. Visser was in first position with two pairs to go. The podium changed a lot after the sixth and last pair. Czech republic’s Martina Sablikova and the olympic athlete from Russia Natalia Voronina both registered a fast last lap to push van der Weijden and Blondin out of the podium. It's a great victory for 22 years old Dutch skater Esmee Visser in her first ever olympic race. Her time today is now the new track record and her new personal best.

Bitter day for van der Weijden

Annouk van der Weijden who skated her personal best time of 6:54.17 in the first pair of the day was in medal position until the last lap of the last pair. Van der Weijden almost had the medal in her neck when Sablikova and Voronina found an extra bit of fuel in the tank to skate their last lap and finish in second and third position breaking van der Weijden's olympic dream at the same time.

Good competition for the Canadians

Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin were the two skaters representing Canada in the ladies' 5000m. Weidemann did a good race finishing with a time of 5:59.88. She finished 6th. Blondin had a little bit of difficulties at the end of her race and almost fell in the last lap. This hesitation made her lose at least one second. Blondin was in third place before the last pair but finally finished in 5th place with a time of 5:59.38.

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Women’s 5000m results 1-Esmee Visser NED

2-Martina Sáblíková CZE

3-Natalia Voronina OAR

4-Annouk van der Weijden NED

5-Ivanie Blondin CAN

6-Isabelle Weidemann CAN

7-Maryna Zuyeva BLR

8-Claudia Pechstein GER

9-Misaki Oshigiri JPN

10-Jelena Peeters BEL

11-Carlijn Schoutens USA

12-Nana Takagi JPN