World Cup #5: Japan takes over

While the first day of action at World Cup #5 saw the Russian team crowding the podium, today was a different story as Japan took home 2 of 4 gold medals on offer this afternoon. Second day action saw the women's 500m and 1500m and men’s 1000m and 5000m being contested as skaters took to the ice at the Olympic Oval in Calgary. 

By Maria Dalton

Photos by Maria Dalton

Womens 500m

Nao Kodaira led the charge for the Japanese squad, taking home the country’s first of two gold medals on the day in the 500m. Nao Kodaira finished just ahead of Angelina Golikova with her time of 36.658 to finish the weekend with two gold medals. Angelina Golikova closed out the weekend with a silver medal thanks to her personal best time of 36.780. Rounding out the top three was Vanessa Herzog, last year’s world cup points leader, who finished with a time of 37.088. The top Canadian in action today in the 500m was Calgary native Kaylin Irvine who finished 5th with her time of 37.290. Rounding out the Canadian contingent was Heather Mclean in 10th and Marsha Hudey in 13th. 

Mens 1000m

Pavel Kulizhnikov was the golden boy today in the men’s 1000m as he eclipsed the previous track record (1:06.51) set by Kjeld Nuis with his time of 1:06.497. The Russian skater captured the contingent’s eighth medal of the weekend with nearly a one second cushion between himself and the second place skater. Finishing off in the second and third place positions was a duo of two Dutch skaters - Thomas Krol and Kjeld Nuis. Krol finished with a time of 1:07.017 to take home the silver while Kjeld Nuis finished third with his time of 1:07.019. There were three Canadians in action today as Laurent Dubreuil led the pack with his PB time of 1:07.328 to finish 6th. Rounding out the Canadians was Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu in 16th with a time of 1:08.164 and David La Rue in 19th with his time of 1:08.665.

Womens 1500m

In the women’s 1500m it was Miho Takagi who stole the show to set a new track record and finish ahead of the second place skater by nearly one and a half seconds. Japan’s Takagi finished with a time of 1:50.337 - more than one second faster than Brittany Bowe’s previous record - to capture Japan’s second gold of the day. Ivanie Blondin finished in 2nd place with her time of 1:51.767 to capture the silver medal and set both a new PB and a Canadian Record. Rounding out the top three was the current points leader, the legendary Ireen Wust with a time of Ireen Wüst 1:51.993.

Mens 5000m

After Ted-Jan Bloeman posted a blistering time to set the stage for what was to be an exciting men’s 5000m, it was Patric Roest who came out on top. After getting off to a flying start, the young Dutchman lost some steam before surging back to overtake Bloeman by 0.2 seconds - finishing with a time of 6:07.404. A pair of Canadians rounded off the podium in Ted-Jan Bloemen and Graeme Fish. Ted-Jan Bloeman finished in 2nd with his time of  6:07.426 with Fish finished with a PB of 6:10.583. Fellow Canadian Jordan Belchos finished just off the podium in 5th with a new PB of 6:13.115. 

Click HERE for the full results
Click HERE for the recap of Day 1

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