Obihiro day 1: Olympic Champions Lorentzen and Kodaira capture first 500m titles of the season

The men’s team from Russia, and the women’s team from Japan found themselves atop the podium at the first world cup of the season in the team pursuit. The 500m will be raced two-times this weekend, with Havard Lorentzen and Nao Kodaira being crowned champions in the distance the first time around.

By Maria Dalton

Photo by Oscar van den Bosch

The first day of racing in Obihiro at World Cup 1 saw skaters racing the first of two 500m events as well as the team pursuit. With a new track record established in the team pursuit event and dominating performances by the reigning Olympic champions, the season is setting out to be very exciting as new and old rivalries continue to grow and evolve.

Lorentzen, Kodaira bring home hardware

Havard Lorentzen, the reigning Olympic champion, found himself atop the podium in the 500m. Lorentzen was skating with world record holder Pavel Kulizhnikov in the ninth pair in what was an exciting race as the skaters finished within 4 one-hundredths of a second of each other. Lorentzen finished with a time of 34.732, while Kulizhnikov finished with a time of 34.777. Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan delighted a home crowd with his bronze medal finish in a time of 34.871.

Nao Kodaira, the reigning Olympic champion in the 500m, continued her domination by posting a time of 37.496 to capture her first medal of the 2018/2019 season. Kodaira’s dominance in the distance goes all the way back to the 2017 World Sprint Championships in Calgary, where she captured her first title. Vanessa Herzog of Austria finished just behind Kodaira with her time of 37.642. Kodaira’s compatriot, Maki Tsuji finished in third place with her time of 38.040.  

Russia, Japan on top in the  team pursuit

The Russian team found themselves atop the podium in the men’s team pursuit, posting a blistering time in the third of six pairs. The skaters from Russia posted a time of 3:41.260 and watched as team after team failed to match their time, giving them their first win of the season in the team pursuit. Finishing in second place were Dutch skaters Marcel Bosker, Douwe de Vries and Chris Huizinga, who finished with a time of 3:42.140. The trio of Norwegian skaters finished in third with a time of 3:42.770. The reigning Olympic champions started off strong but faded as the race went on and were no match for the quick pace set by the Russian skaters. Rounded out the top-5 were the teams from Japan and Canada.

The Japanese team comprised of Ayano Sato, Nana Takagi and Miho Takagi found themselves atop the podium on the women’s side. The reigning Olympic champions were 3-seconds faster than the Dutch women and finished with a time of 2:57.80 to establish a new track record. Finishing in second was the Dutch trio of Ireen Wust, Lotte van Beek and Joy Beune with a time of 3:00.130. The team of Russian skaters finished with a time of 3:01.110, narrowly beating out the Canadians for the bronze medal. The teams from Canada and Poland rounded out the top-5.

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