The Speed Skating World Championships in Canada ended without a medal but with two German bright spots. On the last day of the title fights, US star Jordan Stolz repeated his success from the previous year. An old champion ran to her 26th medal.
The individual distance world championship for speed skaters ended on Sunday (February 18, 2024) without a medal for the German starters – but at least they achieved a personal best and another top 10 place.
Dombek finished tenth in the final
In the last of the 20 competitions, Hendrik Dombek ran tenth over 1,500 meters late on Sunday evening (CET). In 1:44.28 minutes, the Munich native was 2.84 seconds slower than world champion Jordan Stolz from the USA on the fast track in Calgary. After winning the titles over 500 meters and 1,000 meters, the only 19-year-old Stolz also confidently won the 1,500 meters. In 1:41.44 minutes he clearly relegated the 34-year-old three-time Olympic champion Kjeld Nuis to second place by 1.22 seconds. The Norwegian Peder Kongshaug took bronze.
Proudly repeats triple in 2023
Pride once again underlined his exceptional position: like a year ago in Heerenveen, Netherlands, when he became the youngest athlete in history to win three world championship titles, he also won all the races in which he started in Calgary.
In addition to the 26-year-old Dombek, there was another German at the start over 1,500. The 27-year-old Stefan Emele from Erfurt came eleventh, 2.97 seconds behind Stolz.
Hofmann achieved a personal best over 5,000 meters
In the women’s race, Erfurt’s Josie Hofmann ran a personal best over 5,000 meters. In 7:16.80 minutes, the 27-year-old didn’t get past twelfth place in her race. The Dutchwoman Joy Beune took the victory: in 6:47.72 minutes, the 24-year-old veteran Irene Shouten relegated to second place (+ 1.26 seconds). And another old champion won a medal: 36-year-old Martina Sablikova ran to bronze, 4.16 seconds behind Beune. It was the Czech woman’s 26th medal at the individual distance world championships.
10,000 meters: Ghiotto wins “long belt”
There were no German starters in the men’s 10,000 meters and women’s 1,500 meters. The Italian Davide Ghiotto won the men’s long distance title in 12:38.82 minutes ahead of the two Canadian local heroes Ted-Jan Bloemen (+ 8.19 seconds) and Graeme Fish (9.79 seconds). In the women’s race, world record holder Miho Takagi from Japan won the 1,500 meters in 1:52.29 minutes ahead of China’s Mei Han (+ 0.43 seconds) and 5,000 meter world champion Joy Beune (+ 0.62 seconds).
Netherlands leads Medal table at
The most successful nation after a total of 16 medal competitions was the Netherlands with 13 medals, including six gold ones. Stolz’ triple gave the USA second place ahead of hosts Canada. The German team travels home without a medal. The best result was Dombek, Emele and Moritz Klein in the team sprint to seventh place. In addition, some German records were broken.