Kim Boutin came really close to breaking her world record on 500m today.
By Carl Savard
Photos by Martin Holtom
Lee Yubin holds off Suzanne Schulting on 1500m
The top five ranked skaters in the 1500m after three World Cup legs were set to compete in the main final on the distance today. The skaters to watch for the overall season ranking were Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands and Lee Yubin of Korea. After a very strategic start to the race, it became clear in the final laps that the overall ranking mattered to the skaters. The attacks became more intense and Korea's Lee Yubin was able to take advantage of a tight battle between Schulting and Canada's Courtney Sarault to take the top prize today. With the win, Lee finishes first in the overall standings for the 2021-22 World Cup season. Courtney Sarault's silver medal today puts her in third place in the standings, while Schulting walked away with the bronze medal today and finished second overall for the season.
Sjinkie Knegt's feel good moment
On the men's side, it was good to see 2015 World Champion Sjinkie Knegt back on the podium in the 1500m. Knegt, who has been plagued by bad luck and injuries over the past few seasons, seemed very happy with his silver medal win today in Dordrecht. The Dutch athlete was only beaten to the finish line by Ren Ziwei from China who, in addition to winning the gold medal today, also took the overall title in the distance. The bronze medal went to Korean Park Jang Hyuk who with his 3rd place today also finishes 3rd in the season standings. Russia's Semen Elistratov who settled for 7th place today, finishes 2nd overall.
Boutin completes the season on 500m with a gold medal
After coming within four thousandths of a second of breaking her world record on 500m in the quarter-finals, Kim Boutin won the main event over the distance following a heated battle with Italy's Arianna Fontana. Suzanne Schulting, last week's winner in the distance, tried a late move to pass Fontana, but her attempt ended up in the mats. Schulting had to settle for 4th place in the final. Russian athlete Elena Seregina took home the bronze medal. In the final ranking of the season, Ariana Fontana finishes first followed by Kim Boutin and Nathalia Maliszewska.
Wu Dajing is ready for the Beijing Olympics
In the men's race, world record holder Wu Dajing was dominant in this last grand final of the season over 500m. The Chinese skater led the race from start to finish and Canada's Steven Dubois seemed to be the only one who could skate closely in Wu's path today. Russia's Konstantin Ivliev finished behind Dubois in 3rd place while Hungary's Liu Shaolin Sandor, who had a fall today, settled for 4th place but still finishes first overall ahead of Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei in the 2021-22 World Cup season ranking.
For complete results click HERE
Although the World cup season is over, the athletes will be back in action in January for the European championships and the Four continents championships. This season will culminate in February with the Olympic games and come to an end in March with the World championships.
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