SPEED SKATING

Giovannini makes son happy with Mass Start victory

23 Nov 2025

Andrea Giovannini (ITA) will return to a happy home after winning Sunday’s Mass Start.

“Last week in the 5000m, I had a really bad race,” Giovannini explained. “And I said, hey kid, you’re dad is not over yet.”

The Italian outpaced Chung Jae Won (KOR) and Jordan Stolz (USA) on the final day of the ISU World Cup in Calgary.

Stolz won the men’s 500m earlier on Sunday, while the USA maintained its dominance of the Team Pursuit. The World Cup concluded with a spectacular World Record by Wesly Dijs and Chloé Hoogendoorn (NED) in the Mixed Relay.

Giovannini makes amends

In Salt Lake City, Italy’s Daniele Di Stefano and Giovannini put a lot of energy into a tough Mass Start race, but Jorrit Bergsma (NED) ran away with the gold medal. In the 5000m, Giovannini was relegated after finishing 15th.

So the Italian was looking for redemption in Calgary and, while he didn’t manage to get out of the 5000m B Division on Friday, the Mass Start was a different ballgame.

“I tried to give everything I had to get on the podium in the Mass Start last week, but it was a strange tactical race, and I finished 14th.”

Andrea Giovannini (ITA) Stolz reacts to his win in Sunday's Mass Start at the ISU World Cup in Calgary (CAN). © ISU

Back home in Italy, Giovannini’s three-year-old son Enea was devastated, but after Sunday’s race he’ll be relieved.

“He’s sleeping at the moment, but I’m sure he will be proud of me when he wakes up tomorrow morning and my wife shows him the race. I’ve also got a daughter, Celeste, she is six months old. I want to dedicate this medal to my family and especially to my wife Linda, because it’s not easy being home with two babies. I’m so proud of her.”

In the Calgary Mass Start, Giovannini benefitted from Dutch tactics. Bergsma brought the pack together after Ethan Cepuran (USA), Metoděj Jílek (CZE) and Jake Weidemann (CAN) were on a three-man breakaway.

Bergsma’s teammate, Bart Hoolwerf (NED), was positioned too far back to take advantage in the sprint. Giovannini held off Chung, who took silver, and Stolz, who managed to grab bronze.

It was Stolz’s first Mass Start podium, after his debut in the event at the World Cup level last week in Salt Lake City.

“It feels good,” Stolz said. “I thought I had a nice last little inner turn. I cut some people off, which probably wasn’t nice to do, but it turned out well.”

Mass Start medalists Chung Jae Won (KOR), Andrea Giovannini (ITA) and Jordan Stolz (USA) at the ISU World Cup in Calgary. © ISU

Despite his lack of experience at the World Cup level, pack racing isn’t new to Stolz.

“I grew up pack racing, when I was younger. From the time I was five until 14, it was all pack races,” he said.

Stolz back on top in 500m

Before Stolz went back to his childhood race format in the afternoon, the American made amends for finishing third in the first 500m on Saturday.

In Sunday’s race, he restored the order with a strong 33.79-second outing.

Jordan Stolz (USA) took gold in the second 500m at the ISU World Cup in Calgary on Sunday, after placing third on Saturday. © ISU

“My legs were a little tired, but I felt like I could get everything into the ice,” Stolz said. “When I got on the ice this morning for a warmup, I just felt really connected.”

Damian Zurek (POL) took second place in a personal best time of 33.85 seconds and Saturday’s winner, Kim Jun-Ho (KOR), finished third in the exact same time he skated on Saturday: 33.99 seconds.

Damian Zurek (POL) finished in a personal best time of 33.85 seconds, just .06 seconds behind Jordan Stolz (USA) in the 500m on Sunday. © ISU

Big margin for USA in Team Pursuit

After Ethan Cepuran, Emery Lehman and Casey Dawson (USA) broke their own World Record last week in Salt Lake City, they dominated the Team Pursuit in Calgary again. With a time of three minutes and 35.34 seconds, they left silver medal winners France (Timothy Loubineaud, Valentin Thiebault, Germain Deschamps) 2.71 seconds behind. The Netherlands (Chris Huizinga, Marcel Bosker, Beau Snellink) took third in 3:38.65.

World-Record holders Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson and Emery Lehman (USA) picked up another win in Team Pursuit Sunday in Calgary. © ISU

After the race, Dawson underlined the importance of not letting the big winning margin go to their heads.

“Coming off the high from last weekend, I think we are a little too confident. We always need to treat ourselves as the underdogs, and that’s how we do every race. We don't look at the time at the end of the day. We look at our race and how technically we skated it. We might have won by two seconds, but there’s so many things we need to work on, and execution is more than the time. We can win at any race and still have poor execution.”

Team USA was joined on the Team Pursuit podium by silver medalists France and bronze medalists the Netherlands. © ISU

After crashing out of last week’s race, Italy’s Andrea Giovannini, Michele Malfatti and Davide Ghiotto won the B Division in 3:37.95 to get back up to the A Division for the next World Cup.

Dijs, Hoogendoorn set World Record in Mixed Relay

Wesly Dijs and Chloé Hoogendoorn (NED) won the concluding Mixed Relay on Sunday, skating a World Record time of two minutes and 54.05 seconds.

Wesly Dijs and Chloé Hoogendoorn (NED) won gold and set a World Record in the Mixed Relay on Sunday at the ISU World Cup. © ISU

Dijs said the new event, which has been on the World Cup programme since the 2023-24 season, has a bright future.

“It’s improving every World Cup. It becomes less chaotic and I hear many people who want to stay and watch the race,” he said. “Nowadays, in every sport there’s mixed events. It would be stupid if speed skating wouldn’t to that. We have to move with the times.”

Hoogendoorn agreed: “For me it was the first time to skate in this event, but it’s great fun.”

Germany’s Stefan Emele and Anna Ostlender (GER) took silver in 2:54.41.