Team Jumbo-Visma wins four medals at ISU World Cup in Calgary
Team Jumbo-Visma has completed the fifth World Cup of the season with four medals. On Saturday, the team of coach Jac Orie added three medals. Patrick Roest managed to win the men's 5,000-meter race, while Thomas Krol and Kjeld Nuis seized silver and bronze at 1,000 meters.
Roest took his fourth World Cup win of the season in Calgary. In the final race of the event, the 24-year-old speed skater of Team Jumbo-Visma set a time of 6:07.42, beating Ted-Jan Bloemen by 0.02 seconds. Graeme Fish, who competed against Roest on Saturday, seized bronze in 6:10.58.
After his race, Roest had some "mixed feelings". "My body did not want what I wanted. It was not a bad race, but I really have to be better next week at the World Single Distance Championships. It is going to be an exciting tournament. I will do everything I can to be in the best form I can be."
Later on Friday, Douwe de Vries, who started in the B division, set a new personal record at 5,000 meters. The 37-year-old speed skater beat his personal best by four seconds: 6:08.46 (was 6:12.47). In the same event, Sven Kramer did not skate the full 5,000 meters. He decided to quit after three kilometers. According to him this was the ideal way to get ready for next week's competition.
Krol beats Nuis by such a small margin
Krol and Nuis skated against each other in the men's 1,000-meter race on Saturday. The teammates pushed each other to a higher level, but they could not challenge Pavel Kulizhnikov, who won in a new track record: 1:06.49. Krol and Nuis both set a time of 1:07.01, but the reign world champion at 1,500 meters was just a little bit faster: 1:07.017 versus 1:07.019. That is why Krol took silver and Nuis had to settle for bronze.
"It is really nice to compete against each other", Krol said after his race. "We push each other to a higher level. It was not a perfect race. I had too many small mistakes, so I know I could have gone faster. Of course, I really wanted to win today, but hopefully I have saved my best race for next week."
Nuis, who had a tough time recovering from illness in December, got a confidence boost from his race. "I'm happy that I'm back at this level, the level of Thomas", he said. "This is much better than two weeks ago. I'm still improving every day. Next week I want to be at my best."
Jumbo-Visma wins four medals in Calgary
Team Jumbo-Visma concluded the fifth World Cup of the season with four medals. On Friday, Antoinette de Jong had already won a silver medal in the ladies' 3,000-meter race. The 24-year-old speed skater also set a new personal best of 3:56.18 (was 3:57.78). Martina Sáblíková won the event in 3:54.93.
