A look back at the Junior & Neo-senior World cup 1

The future stars in long track speed skating met last weekend in Poland for the first junior and neo-senior World cup of the season.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Bill Christ, Béatrice Lamarche and Michelle de Jong

While the senior World cup #2 was taking place in Tomakomai, Japan, some elite athletes from the younger generation of the sport were in Tomaszów-Mazowiecki for the first junior and neo-senior World cup of the season.

Femke Kok stood out in the ladies' junior category

Netherlands' Femke Kok had a solid weekend in the ladies’ junior World cup. In the individual distances, she finished fourth on 500m, won the 1000m and the 1500m. Robin Groot also from the Netherlands got three individual medals and also finished with a great weekend. Her teammate Michelle de Jong, Antoinette de Jong’s sister won the 500m distance with a new track record of 38.78. It is an impressive result considering she’s still a junior! Japanese Lemi Williamson whose brother is competing on the senior World cup circuit won the 3000m. Russian Kristina Silaeva also got good results collecting two medals in the sprint distances.

Kubo and Engebraten on the top in the men's junior

Japanese Koki Kubo and Norwegian Hallgeir Engebraten stood out in the men’s junior World cup. Kubo won the 500m and 1000m event while Engebraten won the 1500m and 3000m. Other skaters also collected good results. Taiyou Nonomura from Japan took silver on 1000m and 1500m while Russia’s Sergei Loginov took the bronze medals on the same distances.

Béatrice Lamarche performed well in the neo-seniors

Canada’s Béatrice Lamarche performed well during the neo-senior competition. She won three golds, a silver and a bronze medal and also finished fourth one time. Another Canadian woman performed well during the weekend. Abigail Mccluskey won the 3000m, took silver on 1500m and in the mass start and got the bronze on 1000m. She was also part of the Canadian winning team in the team sprint. Russia’s Irina Kuznetsova also got good results winning the 500m and the 1000m.

Tyson Langelaar best neo-senior male skater of the weekend

Canada's Tyson Langelaar was the best neo-senior to skate in Poland this weekend. He won the 1000m and 1500m events and finished second on 3000m and in the mass start. The same weekend as his sister Isabelle Weidemann won her first individual World cup gold medal, Jake Wedemann, won the 3000m and finished 3rd on 1500m.

For the full results of the Junior World cup, click HERE
For the full results of the Neo-senior World cup, click HERE

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