#SpeedSkating

The international speed skating world is gearing up for its season's showdown at the famous Vikingskipet in Hamar this weekend. The Norwegian city will host the 24th ISU World Single Distance Championships for the second time after having hosted the first instalment in 1996. Ragne Wiklund, Sander Eitrem (pictured) and Peder Kongshaug will hope to win silverware on home soil, as Jordan Stolz (USA) aims for a unique third consecutive World Championships hat-trick.

Wiklund and Eitrem go for home glory 

Thursday provides home nation Norway with the perfect opportunity to start the World Championships on a high note, as long-distance World Cup winners Ragne Wiklund (NOR) and Sander Eitrem (NOR) will start in the 3000m for women and the 5000m for men respectively. 

Wiklund won the World 3000m title two years ago in Heerenveen, but lost it to Irene Schouten (NED) last year in Calgary. With the Olympic Champion now retired, Wiklund had a tough battle at her hands against Joy Beune (NED) and Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA) in this year’s long-distance World Cup.

Ragne Wiklund (NOR), pictured in Heerenveen (NED), won three of the six 3000m World Cup races to win the long-distance Trophy and is seeking to add the World title on home ice. © ISU

Despite suffering back spasms, Wiklund managed to claim the World Cup Trophy in the absence of Beune at the fifth of six instalments of the World Cup series in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL). A week later she concluded her World Cup campaign by beating Beune by 1.31s in Heerenveen (NED) to show that she’s ready to battle for the World title on home ice.

Long-distance rivals 

Beune has been very consistent, with podium finishes in all the 1500m, 3000m and 5000m World Cup races she skated this season. But she won’t be able to defend her 5000m title in Hamar on Saturday, after she failed to qualify for that distance at the Dutch national championships last month.

The 5000m World Champion will be very eager to show herself in the distances for which she did manage to get a ticket: 1500m, 3000m and Team Pursuit. 

Lollobrigida, who ended up second in the long-distance World Cup, is another contender for the 3000m title. She will compete in the 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, Team Pursuit and Mass Start, and she has set her sights on a medal of any color in any of those events. 

Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA) took long-distance silver at the World Cup but will be hoping to pick up a maiden World Championships medal from her five events. © ISU

“That’s my big goal for this season,” Lollobrigida said of the Hamar Championships. 

“Next year it’s the Olympic Games and I’m definitely going to quit speed skating after that, so [Hamar] will be my last World Championships and I’ve never won a medal at the World Championships yet, only fourth places, always fourth places.”

Ghiotto and Eitrem to go the distance

In the men’s 5000m, Eitrem will face Davide Ghiotto (ITA) again. After Patrick Roest (NED) won the 5000m title at the World Single Distance Championships last year in Calgary, the long distances turned into a two-way battle between Ghiotto and Eitrem.

Sander Eitrem (NOR) continues his 5000m rivalry with David Ghiotto (ITA) buoyed by three World Cup victories including here in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL). © ISU

Roest missed this entire season because he didn’t manage to get back in shape after a wisdom tooth extraction cost him the first two World Cups in November and December.

Thanks to three race wins, Eitrem managed to beat Ghiotto to this year’s long-distance World Cup Trophy, but the Italian also won a 5000m race and he took the 10,000m world record in Calgary.

Chris Huizinga (NED) is another contender in the men’s 5000m. The Dutchman, who initiated the trend to skate with two hands on the back not just on the straights but also in the corners, finished a rocky World Cup season with a gold 5000m medal in Heerenveen two weeks ago.

Stolz starts quest for triple hat-trick 

On Friday, the Norwegian crowd will welcome Jordan Stolz (USA) on the ice in the men’s 500m. The American phenomenon has won the 500m, the 1000m and the 1500m at the last two World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen and Calgary and will aim to add another hat-trick in Hamar.

Stolz’s physical shape is a question mark, however. The 20-year-old from Wisconsin suffered rare defeats at the World Cup events in Poland and the Netherlands as he struggled with the ramifications of pneumonia and strep throat infections he suffered in the first half of February.

Jordan Soltz (USA), pictured in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL), is bidding for a third World Championships hat-trick in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m, but arrives in Hamar after rare defeats following illness. © ISU

Coach Bob Corby (USA) was a little worried after the last World Cup in Heerenveen. Corby feared that he had given Stolz too much power training after the World Cup in Poland.

Although he was too tired to skate the second and third day of the World Cup in Heerenveen, Stolz himself expected to be fully recovered for the World Championships in Hamar.

“I’m healthy now, just getting back into shape, I’ve done some training and my recovery is a little slow now, but I’ll be back,” Stolz vowed in Heerenveen.

“If I can get a good preparation in and a good peak, it should be fine.”

Despite Corby’s concerns, Stolz will start as the big favorite in the 500m on Thursday, after having won seven of the 10 World Cup races in the shortest distance this season.

Surprise contender Koshkin

In the 500m, Stolz will face competition from, among others, Yevgeniy Koshkin (KAZ), Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) and Jenning de Boo (NED).

Koshkin went from an anonymous B Division skater to title contender over the course of two weeks in this season’s World Cup. The Kazak sprinter was promoted to the 500m A Division halfway through the fifth round in Poland in February and won his first race in the top flight that same weekend. 

A week later in Heerenveen, Koshkin proved that it had not been a fluke when he took bronze and gold in the weekend’s 500m races.

Yevgeniy Koshkin (KAZ) ended the World Cup season with a bronze and two golds in the 500m, including victory in the final race in Heerenveen (NED). © ISU

De Boo managed to finally beat Stolz in Heerenveen after having finished fourth four times already this season. He hopes that Stolz will be at his best in Hamar.

“Because in that case, if I win, I can really say that I’m the best, and there will not be any ‘what ifs’,” said the Dutch skater.  

Former 500m World Champion Dubreuil is looking forward to the battle against a younger generation in Hamar. 

“I’m 10 years older than [Koshkin], 11 years older than Jenning [De Boo] and 12 years older than Jordan [Stolz], I’m just happy to still be there,” said the 32-year-old Canadian.

“I think I have the legs to be in the mix. I have the experience, I don't think the pressure is on me at all. I think I've won many prizes in my career. Honestly, I have two kids, so I don't care that much about winning anymore.”

Nuis and Kongshaug to take it to Stolz

Someone who does still care about winning is Kjeld Nuis (NED). The Dutchman hopes to be fit enough to take on Stolz in the 1000m on Saturday and the 1500m on Sunday after he injured himself out of frustration when disqualified in the 1500m at the last World Cup in Heerenveen.

Nuis kicked a plastic chair and needed five stiches to close a deep cut in the heel of his right foot. The Olympic 1500m champion had a season of ups and downs but seemed to be shaping up well for Hamar before the unfortunate chair incident.

Peder Kongshaug (NOR) pipped Nuis to the line in Heerenveen, before the Dutchman was disqualified for crossing the inside line with his blade in the outside corner. 

Keld Nuis (NED, left) and Peder Kongshaug (NOR, right) hope to unseat Stolz in the middle distances after the Norwegian pipped his Dutch rival to 1500m World Cup gold in Heerenveen (NED). © ISU

Having finished second in the World Cup 1500m ranking, Kongshaug seems to be Stolz’s strongest rival in that distance. 

Takagi favorite for middle distances

Miho Takagi (JPN) is favorite in the women’s middle distances, having won both the 1000m and the 1500m World Cup Trophies. 

Miho Takagi (JPN), pictured in Milwaukee (USA), won 1000m and 1500m World Cup trophies but faces a stiff challenge in the latter from her three-time conqueror Joy Beaune (NED). © ISU

Her rivals are Dutch, American and Chinese. In the 1000m, Jutta Leerdam (NED), Brittany Bowe (USA) and Han Mei (CHN) had multiple podium finishes behind the Japanese empress, but Leerdam was the only one to actually beat Takagi, in the 1000m at the last World Cup event in Heerenveen two weeks ago.

In the 1500m Joy Beune managed to beat Takagi three times. Han, Lollobrigida and Marijke Groenewoud (NED) are also in the mix.

Groenewoud the Mass Start queen

Groenewoud seems to be ready to take over the Mass Start crown from retired teammate Irene Schouten. The Dutchwoman dominated the World Cup season with five wins in six races. 

Marijke Groenewoud (NED) dominated the Mass Starts this season with five wins in six races, including here in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL). © ISU

Greta Myers (USA) was the only other women to take a World Cup gold this season when she managed to escape from the pack in Calgary, but when it comes down to a sprint Groenewoud’s most likely rivals are Ivanie Blondin (CAN), Lollobrigida, Mia Manganello Kilburg (USA) and Yang Binyu (CHN).

The men’s Mass Start could be anyone’s race. When it comes down to a bunch sprint, World Cup Trophy winner Andrea Giovannini (ITA), Bart Hoolwerf (NED), Bart Swings (BEL) and even Lee Seung Hoon (KOR) are the most likely contenders, but the race could also develop quite differently.

Timothy Loubineaud (FRA) and Jorrit Bergsma (NED) showed that it’s possible to escape from the pack to win after a successful breakaway and avoid a frantic bunch sprint.

Hamar program

The ISU World Single Distance Championships comprise an action-packed schedule with four days of spectacular skating. The event starts with the 3000m for women and the 5000m for men, followed by the Team Sprint for both genders on Thursday. On Friday both genders will compete in the Team Pursuit and the 500m. The Saturday program features the 1000m for both genders, the 5000m for women and the Mass Start for men, and the championships conclude with the 1500m both genders, the men’s 10,000m and the women’s Mass Start on Sunday.

ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series events 2024/25:

Nov 22  - 24, 2024                     Nagano / JPN 

Nov 29 - Dec 01, 2024              Beijing / CHN

Jan 24 - 26, 2025                      Calgary  CAN

Jan 31 - Feb 02, 2025               Milwaukee / USA

Feb 21 - 23, 2025                      Tomaszów Mazowiecki / POL

Feb 28 - Mar 02, 2025               Heerenveen / NED 

Stay connected with the ISU: 

ISU Website:                             ISU News  

                                                ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series

ISU Newsletter:              Subscribe to our weekly Newsletter to get the latest news and press releases.