The Dutch domination continues as Ireen Wüst and Marrit Leenstra find themselves on the podium with Miho Takagi of Japan.
By Maria Dalton
Photos by Schaats Foto’s
Ireen Wüst becomes the All-time leader
Ireen Wust wins her 10th Olympic medal and surpasses Claudia Pechstein as the all-time leader. This is Ireen Wust’s second medal of the games, having won a silver medal in the 3000m a few days earlier. Wüst has previously announced that the 2018 Olympics would be her last games and with one more event left (team pursuit), she has the chance to win an additional medal to bring her total to 11 career Olympic medals. The Olympic record of 1:53:31 set in Sochi by Jorien Ter Mors, who was part of the Dutch podium sweep in 2014, was not broken.
Takagi spoils a Dutch podium sweep
Miho Takagi’s strong skating in the final pair allowed her to grab the silver medal and prevented a second Dutch podium sweep. She got off to a blazing start and was on pace to surpass Ireen Wüst for the gold medal, however she faded coming out of the final corner and was two tenths of a second off Wüst’s time. Coming into these Olympic games Takagi was ranked number one in the World cup standings for the 1500m, having been unbeaten this season (note: she did not compete in the final World cup in Erfurt, GER). Rounding out the podium was Marrit Leenstra of the Netherlands with a time of 1:55.26. This is her second Olympic medal, having previously won gold in Sochi in Team pursuit.
No medals for Canada
The highest Canadian finisher for the women’s 1500m race was Brianne Tutt of Airdrie, AB who finished in 15th with a time of 1:58.77. Tutt raced in the 11th pair against Ireen Wüst, who pulled ahead at the mid point of the race and went on to eventually capture the gold medal. Her finish at the Olympics is an improvement on her 35th place finish from the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Kali Christ finished in 19th place with a time of 1:59.42, while Josie Morrison who is competing in her first Olympic games came in 21st with a time of 1:59.77.
Crowd favourite Korean
Once again the lone Korean skater in the group Seon-Yeong Noh was a crowd favourite and posted a time of 1:58.75. Yu-Tiang Huang of Chinese Taipei, who is part of the ISU development transition program, only made the switch from inline skating to speed skating in 2015 and is the first woman to ever participate in the sport for her country. Unfortunately, she suffered a fall in the final corner but managed to finish the race in a time of 2:18.84. Maryna Zuyeva of Belarus was disqualified due to an issue with her crossover in her pair with Ruining Tian of China.
Visit our special coverage page to find all our articles related to Pyeongchang 2018 by clicking HERE.
Results - W1500m
1-Ireen Wust (NED) – 1:54.35
2-Miho Takagi (JPN) – 1:54.55
3-Marrit Leenstra (NED) – 1:55.26
4-Lotte Van Beek (NED) – 1:55.27
5-Brittany Bowe (USA) – 1:55.54
6-Nao Kodaira (JPN) – 1:56.11
7-Ida Njatun (NOR) – 1:56.46
8-Heather Bergsma (USA) – 1:56.74
9-Natalia Czerwonka (POL) – 1:57.85
10-Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA) – 1:57.94
11-Nikola Zdrajalova (CZE) – 1:58.03
12-Gabrielle Hirschbichler (GER) – 1:58.25
13-Matarzyna Bachleda-Curus (POL) – 1:58.53
14-Seon-Yeong Noh (KOR) – 1:58.75
15-Brianne Tutt (CAN) – 1:58.77
16-Ayaka Kikuchi (JPN) – 1:58.92
17-Luiza Zlotkowsa (POL) – 1:58.98
18-Yekaterina Aydova (KAZ) – 1:59.05
19-Kali Christ (CAN) – 1:59.52
20-Jiachen Hao (CHN) – 1:59.58
21-Josie Morrison (CAN) – 1:59.77
22-Mia Manganello (USA) – 1:59.94
23-Ruining Tian (CHN) – 2:00.29
24-Roxanne Dufter (CAN) – 2:00.33
25-Francesca Bettrone (ITA) – 2:00.43
26-Yu-Tiang Huang (TPE) – 2:18.84
27-Maryna Zuyeva (BLR) – DQ
0 commentaires:
Publier un commentaire