SPEED SKATING
Kok (NED) overcomes bumpy run-up to win third-straight 500m title
14 Mar 2025
After a tough start to the season and a bumpy run-up to her race on Friday, Femke Kok (NED) still managed to win her third consecutive 500m World title. In what she called ‘my worst race of the season’, Kok kept Jutta Leerdam (NED) and Kim Min-Sun (KOR) at bay on Day 2 of the 24th ISU World Single Distances Championships. Before the sprinters took the ice, Joy Beune, Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong and Marijke Groenewoud (NED) sealed their unbeaten season with a win in Team Pursuit.
Kok wins despite ‘worst race of the season’
Because Femke Kok (NED) missed the first two World Cups of the season with a viral infection, she ranked too low to get a slot in the bottom half of the 500m draw.
Lining up in the seventh of 12 pairings, the defending champion began the competition with a false start.
“I just felt that I didn’t stand very well (at the start line),” she said. “So I thought, I might as well try again.”
Femke Kok (NED) celebrates her 500m win with silver medalist Jutta Leerdam (NED) and Kim Min-Sun (KOR). © ISU
She got off the block well the second time and her 10.40-second opener eventually turned out to be the second fastest of the field. Yet Kok wasn’t happy after she stopped the clock at 37.50 seconds.
“I just didn’t find my rhythm, from start to finish. Actually, the straights were not too bad, but the corners were far below my standard.”
A day before the race, Kok had crashed hard into the padding at the morning training session.
“I didn’t make it easy on myself,” she said. “I felt a little stiff getting out of bed this morning, and that’s not good for your confidence, but apart from that, I felt really good.”
When she crossed the finish line, Kok figured she’d lost her world title.
“This race was not good at all. I really thought it wouldn’t be enough,” she said.
“The whole season crossed my mind. I only had good races throughout the year. Then there’s always a bad race, and that happened to be today. That was a pity, but yet it still was enough.”
Leerdam satisfied with silver
Jutta Leerdam (NED) finished just .19 seconds adrift to take silver. She hadn’t finished that close to Kok the whole season.
In hindsight, Leerdam thought she could have beaten her compatriot.
Jutta Leerdam (NED) boasted the top 500m speed on Friday and took silver at the ISU World Single Distances Championships. © ISU
“When I looked up at my time (after crossing the line), I still made a couple of mistakes in my race so I thought: I could have won the World title here, and that’s something I hadn’t expected.
“I had a mis-stroke in the outer corner, but I still managed to get the highest top speed at 56.9 (kilometers per hour). It’s just that I lack two-10ths (of a second) at the start.
“But it was my goal to get to the podium, so far so good. A World title (in Team Sprint on Thursday), my best 500m of the season and my fastest top speed of the season in Hamar. It’s very good.”
Kim makes amends for rough season
Kim Min-Sun (KOR) took bronze in 37.73 seconds. The 25-year-old sprinter had the fastest opener in the field.
After struggling with her skates this season, Kim Min-Sun (KOR) took 500m bronze at the ISU World Single Distances Championships in Hamar on Friday. © ISU
“After the first 200, my coach showed me 10.3. I knew (I was fast),” she said. “I didn’t think about (Kok’s) time. She did really well, and I just focused on my own race.”
Kim was happy to be back in the mix after a lackluster season, in which she struggled with her skates.
“I'm so happy. At World Cup 1 and 2, I changed to new boots and blades, but after World Cup 2, I changed back to the old ones, and I skated the rest of the season on those.”
Netherlands overcomes hiccup in Team Pursuit
They won all three races in the World Cup, and on Friday Joy Beune, Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong and Marijke Groenewoud (NED) crushed the Hamar Team Pursuit track record by almost five seconds, finishing in a time of 2 minutes and 56.09 seconds to take the World title. The track record had stood since 2010.
“Just one little hiccup,” Rijpma-De Jong said.
Early in the race, lead skater Beune hit second skater Rijpma-De Jong with her skate.
Joy Beune, Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong and Marijke Groenewoud (NED) celebrate their Team Pursuit title at the ISU World Single Distances Championships. © ISU
“I’m so close to Joy, and I have to be because of aerodynamics, but then it sometimes so happens that you touch each other. She hit me on the shin, so it’s good that we wear protection gear.”
Third skater Groenewoud saw what happened.
“I had a first-class seat. It happened just before the corner. Joy hit Antoinette and she even has a hole in her suit. I just thought, ‘don’t crash, because if you do it’s game over’.”
Japan’s Miho Takagi, Ayano Sao and Momoka Horikawa and Canada’s Ivanie Blondin, Valérie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann also skated under the 2010 track record, taking silver and bronze in 2:58.55 and 3:00.74 respectively.
Canada, the reigning Olympic champions, had suffered through a disappointing season.
“It's good to be back on the podium,” Maltais said. “We're proud we came back with an adaptive strategy.”
It was the first time Canada used the pushing strategy in this particular order, and they acknowledged it wasn’t clean. Blondin explained:
“Last year we also did a pushing strategy, but then we had Val in the front, Izzy was in the middle and I was in the back.”
Ivanie Blondin, Valérie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann (CAN) used a new pushing strategy to make their first podium of the season at the ISU World Single Distances Championships. © ISU
This time, Blondin led the way with Maltais second and Weidemann third.
“We actually went back to the drawing board,” Weidemann said. “We needed to try something completely different, and this is the strategy that we thought would work best for this weekend.”
Hamar program
The ISU World Single Distances 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 for 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
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