Reign world champion Krol faced the Norwegian speed skater Sverre Lunde Pedersen in the men's 1,500-meter race and set a time of 1:44.50. One race later his teammate Roest clocked 1:44.89 against another Norwegian skater Håvard Bøkko. Pedersen, who crossed the line in 1:45,58, was the only competitor who finished within two seconds of Krol and Roest.

"I am very satisfied with this race", Krol said. "Last week, I skated a very bad race. At the 1,000 meters it didn't go the way I wanted it to go. This week we did everything we could to solve the problem. To be honest, it has gone a lot better since then. This race is a nice boost. I still made some little mistakes, but this race gives me a lot of confidence for the World Cup Qualification Tournament."

Roest was very happy with his result as well. "This is my first 1,500-meter race of the season, so I have to be satisfied with this time", he said. "There are still some things I need to improve, for example my corners, but that is fine. This training camp in Inzell has gone really well. Every race (500, 1,500 and 5,000 meters) was better than last season."

Photo: Stephan Tellier