#SpeedSkating

Dione Voskamp (NED) and Elisa Dul (NED) won their first individual ISU World Cup medals on the final day of the series' opening event in Nagano on Sunday. Their compatriot Marijke Groenewoud added two wins to her growing medal collection, winning the Team Pursuit with Joy Beune and Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong, before sprinting to Mass Start gold a little later. Erin Jackson (USA) rediscovered her winning ways in the 500m, while Korea’s Kim Min Sun and Oh Hyun Min (KOR) won the first Mixed Gender Relay of the season to conclude the first World Cup weekend.

Groenewoud picks up Schouten's baton

Marijke Groenewoud (NED) had not been too happy with her skating in the 1500m and the 3000m, finishing seventh on Friday and sixth on Saturday respectively, but she made amends in the Mass Start on Sunday. After something of an uneventful race, she decided to set up an early sprint, keeping Ivanie Blondin (CAN) and teammate Elisa Dul (NED) at bay in the final lap.

Marijke Groenewoud (NED), left, bounced back from earlier disappointments to beat Ivanie Blondin (CAN), right, to gold in the Mass Start © ISU

“The past days were not really good, so this Mass Start [gold] is a nice finish to the weekend,” she said with a smile. 

“It may have been the jet lag, I felt as if I was not really in sync with the time, just tired, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse, because we chose to fly in late ourselves. Today I did have a good feeling, however.

“I wanted to jump at 500m, but the Korean (Park Ji Woo) did that too. It got close when Blondin came on the inside, but I came out of the corner the fastest. I felt that I had more speed, but then you still have to finish first of course.”

Groenewoud had enjoyed skating together with Dul, now that Olympic and World Champion Irene Schouten (NED) has hung up her blades. 

“I know Elisa for years and we are good friends. We’ve skated together before and we trust each other completely.”

Dul picked up bronze in Groenewoud’s slipstream, her career first individual World Cup medal.

“The past few years Marijke mostly skated with Irene, but every now and then, when one was not available, I was the substitute, so I’ve skated a couple of World Cup Mass Starts before, and we know each other well. Marijke had a good final lap, and it’s great that I could follow for a medal,” said Dul.

Blondin, left, missed the presence of retired rival Irene Schouten (NED) but still found herself sharing the podium with Dutch skaters, Elisa Dul, right, winning her first World Cup medal © ISU

Blondin, who took silver, had to get used to a race without the presence of Mass Start arch-rival Schouten.

“It was different. I think I’ll need a couple of races to figure it out,” she commented.

“I was kind of surprised that the Dutch girls didn't really do much during the entire race. We thought that they would do a lot more, but it was just a patience game, and there were a couple of attacks from other countries. 

“I was really happy to see that, because it makes the race a little bit more dynamic, that it's not just the Canadians against the Dutch girls.

“I should have probably been a little bit more patient in the last lap, but I'm still happy to podium.” 

Dutch end long wait for World Cup Pursuit gold

Before her Mass Start win, Groenewoud had already been on the podium once on Sunday. Together with Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong (NED) and Joy Beune (NED), she left hosts Japan (Miho Takagi, Momoka Horikawa,  Ayano Sato), and the United States (Brittany Bowe, Mia Manganello Kilburg, Greta Myers) behind in the Team Pursuit.

With a time of 2 minutes and 56.80s, the Dutch came 0.43s short of the track record. Japan finished 1.32s adrift and Team USA were 4.21 behind.

Groenewoud, back, had won her first gold of the day in the Team Pursuit alongside Dutch teammates Joy Beune, front, and Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong, center © ISU

Despite having won the World Team Pursuit Title last year in Calgary (CAN), the Dutch women had not won a World Cup race in Team Pursuit since 2016 when Rijpma-de Jong shared the honor with the now retired pair of Marije Joling and Marrit Leenstra. 

This time, Rijpma-De Jong was the middle engine between frontwoman Beune and back-end Groenewoud. As usual in the Netherlands, there had been much ado about the Team Pursuit line-up before the start of the season.

“You shouldn’t make it bigger than it is,” Groenewoud said.

Rijpma-De Jong emphasised the strength in depth of Dutch women's speed skating.

“We haven’t trained in this line-up before, but we showed a good outing today.

“We’ve trained together before, we know each other, so it’s not as if everything is completely new.

“We have a big group of skaters to choose from. We have to show it in training, and Rintje [national coach Rintje Ritsma, NED] decides who skates, but I quite like this group.” 

Jackson back on top

Between the Team Pursuit and Mass Start events, Erin Jackson (USA) made amends for a disappointing ninth place in Friday’s first 500m of the weekend by winning gold at the second time of asking. With a time of 37.78s, the Olympic champion was 0.37s faster in the second 500m on Sunday.

Erin Jackson (USA) made amends for her ninth place in Friday's 500m by getting her opening right to win gold in Sunday's second sprint © ISU

“The opener for sure,” Jackson said, when asked about the difference between the two races.

“I opened 10.6s on Friday, which is not where I want to be. It was 10.4 today, which makes a world of difference because everything just flows a lot better.”

Maiden medal for Voskamp

Jackson’s 10.45s was a fast opener, but it was not the fastest of the day. Dione Voskamp (NED) even clocked a 100m split of 10.40s. The 27-year-old Dutchwoman carried her speed to a finishing time of 37.84s to seize her career first individual World Cup medal.

“It’s a dream, that has slowly been growing this year,” Voskamp said. “After the Dutch trials, I thought that it might happen once, but I hadn’t expected it to happen now already.

”I’ve become more stable this year, my laps are better and I skate better technically. That gives me confidence and the trust that I can podium.”

Dione Voskamp (NED), left, won her first individual ISU World Cup medal in silver, with Kimi Goetz (USA), right, stepping up to the podium after finishing fourth on Friday © ISU

Where that confidence could carry Voskamp over the course of the season, she didn’t know yet.

“I’m very much in the moment right now, I just wonted this so much and for it to happen today, it’s just awesome.”

Kimi Goetz (USA) skated 0.03s slower than she had done when she came fourth on Friday, but  37.98s was good enough for bronze on Sunday.

“It's exciting to have a good mix of girls and a couple of new names up there too,” she said.  

“I feel like I'm coming up and up a little each day. I had an ear infection last week. So I feel like I'm starting to feel a little bit more like myself, but you have to be at the top of your game to be in contention with these girls, because they're all so strong.”

Yukino Yoshida (JPN), who had won Friday’s first 500m, finished fourth in 37.99s on Sunday, taking the lead in the 500m World Cup ranking ahead of Jackson, Goetz and Voskamp.

Korea takes Mix Gender Relay gold 

The first World Cup weekend concluded with the Mixed Gender Relay. Korean pair Oh Hyun Min and Kim Min Sun collected the first gold medal of the season in the event which, for the first time, will carry a separate trophy at the end of the season.

Belgium’s Robbe Beelen and Fran Vanhoutte took silver, while Yankun Zhao joined Ivanie Blondin to take bronze for Canada.

Kim Min Sun and Oh Hyun Min (KOR), center, pushed themselves to the front of the race for the first Mixed Gender Relay trophy with their gold in Nagano © ISU

For Beelen and Vanhoutte it was the first World Cup medal of their careers. They felt that their background in inline skating helped a lot in the new event.

“In inline skating we are used to doing relays,” Vanhoutte said. “For us this is a lot of fun, it feels comfortable, although it’s all little more hectic on the ice.”

Blondin and Zhao’s shared history

Canada’s Zhao also won his first World Cup silverware. For Blondin, teaming up with the 20-year-old Zhao had been special.

“When I started short-track, I was being coached by [1984 and 1992 Olympic speed skater] Wang Xiuli, Yankun's mother. He was six years old and he would show up at practices, running around and stuff. And now here we are, getting on the podium together. That's pretty cool.”

Ivanie Blondin and Yankun Zhao won relay bronze for Canada some 15 years after a young Zhao would look on as his mother Wang Xiuli coached Blondin © ISU

Blondin and Zhao had enjoyed the Mixed Gender Relay, although they think the format is still work in progress. 

“It’s exciting,” Blondin said. “There's definitely some kinks to work through, like it's strange that it's a timed event, but then there's different races.

“There's a lot of variables, of who you're with in the race, who wants to pull, who wants to draft, and all of that. But it's always exciting for me to do these events.”

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 

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