The last ride of Sven Kramer, the master of the five kilometers

Does that exist, admiration that can be measured to the hundredth of a second? Seeing Sven Kramer skate five kilometers, it doesn’t get any better. Before his very last one, in the imposing ice rink of Beijing, it all flashes past. His three Olympic titles in a row, eight world titles, three world records.

Kramer (35) was the fastest of all at this distance for twelve years and he still holds eighteen track records worldwide. From Seinäjoki to Hamar, from Calgary to Gangneung. But above all there are five numbers: 6.09.74. In six minutes, nine seconds and 74 hundredths, Kramer showed everything that made him so great as a skater. Faster five kilometers have been driven, also by himself. But no better.

The complete program of the Winter Olympics

Hamar is covered under a layer of snow on Saturday 7 February 2009. Inside the Vikingskipet ten thousand Norwegian fans rage that afternoon as in the old days on the outdoor ice of Bislett. Their hero Håvard Bøkko has made a gap in the 500 meters with favorite Sven Kramer: 35.99 at 36.33. Would it then be true what Peter Mueller, national coach of the Norwegians, had said on the phone prior to the World Allround Championship? “Håvard ain’t gonna beat him, he’s gonna destroy him.” That can’t be, Bøkko beating Kramer?

Cheers when Kramer starts in stage nine of the five kilometers. Exasperated is a weak word, he is roaring with anger. Norwegian officials had him wait 20 minutes in the 500 meters due to an ice repair. He had knocked over a plastic chair, but his sprint was far from flawless due to the incident. Do those Norwegians think they can shoot him? Even a nosebleed doesn’t distract Kramer just before his five kilometers. There is only one thought: it must and it will. Adrenaline rushes through his body. Whoever is there will never forget it.

Watch him slide wide across the straight with mighty blows. Like elastic. And what athletic ability when he crouches just a little deeper in the corner for another acceleration. The Norwegian connoisseurs become silent in the stands. They stand up and begin to clap rhythmically. “Hey, hey!” Greats such as Hjalmar Andersen, Knut Johannesen and Johann Olav Koss join King Harold in the royal box. The magic is tangible. Here an artist makes his most beautiful work.

Exactly 6.09.74 (although the scoreboard first indicates 6.09.75) is the symbiosis of strength, endurance, flexibility and timing. Then Kramer punches the right fist to the sky three times. “Fuck you all!”, is his primal cry at the finish line. Instinctively, raw, without a second thought. Top sport is not necessarily the most exalted art form, but it is pure here and now. The predator has devoured its prey. Bøkko can safely drive a great race two stages after him: 6.15.94. Furthermore, no one comes below 6.20, the Norwegian is the best in the world. Except one. He skates in his own class.

Control to the last meter

Ten European and nine world titles are on the honors list of all-rounder Kramer, when he stops after the mass start at the Beijing Games. No one ever comes close again. He was able to run a decent 500m, a good 1,500 here and there and a great ten kilometers – especially before back problems started to get too bad around 2010. But his combination of explosiveness and endurance was most evident in the five kilometers. With unforgettable races, he already decided the all-round tournaments on the first day. He mastered the twelve and a half laps from the first to the last meter like no other.

An inimitable acceleration at the end? rookie In 2005, Kramer heard coach Gerard Kemkers shout “world record” in Calgary against his teammate Carl Verheijen, who was driving tens of meters in front of him. He starts an ‘impossible’ catch-up race one and a half laps before the end and grabs Verheijen in the last meters. What do they think, that record is for him: 6.08.78. But it can also start very quickly, without paying a toll at the lock. In 2007 he was the first in the world to string together a series of 28s to take back the world record at ‘his’ distance from the Italian Enrico Fabris. His 6.03.32 lasts for more than ten years, the longest standing world record at this distance since Jaap Eden (1894-1911)

Kramer varies his speed when and where he wants, effortlessly adapting tactics to air pressure or ice quality. “I’d better stop,” wails his Norwegian opponent Eskil Ervik after Kramer’s inimitable intermediate acceleration in November 2006 in Berlin. Is Bob de Jong coming closer? On just another Friday evening in Berlin again, Kramer cuts hard from the outside to the inside after 700 meters, just in front of the bewildered De Jong. “Crazy Bob”, he later mocks. Pure harassment. “Sven can go a lot harder”, shouts his regular clique of admirers. He himself will never deny that. Though it isn’t true.

Bøkko pushes him to the limit in Salt Lake City 2009 by keeping up to three kilometers. A week later, Kramer narrowly beats the Norwegian at the World Championship distances due to a favorable draw. But the following season, in the run-up to the Vancouver Games, his reign seems to be over. Precisely in Thialf, Kramer sees his ‘favourite enemy’ Bøkko drive away almost a hundred meters. To lose? About his body. Power on and still win. Even if it costs his health. Teammates see how he sometimes faints during training sessions, takes painkillers. The back creaks, but does not break.

First gold in Vancouver, although that is overshadowed by the wrong switch on the ten kilometers. Then a season out, full of physical and mental problems. “Yes, I’ve had moments when I thought: I’m done with it,” he says in October 2011 in the tunnel under the ice of Inzell. With no fewer than three coaches along the track and a pre-instructed opponent (his Polish teammate Konrad Niedzwiedski) he has just done with extreme caution what he was so good at: skating five kilometers. He can still do it. “Twelve and a half rounds,” he will say later. “If you can’t do that by now, it wouldn’t be good.”

The path becomes narrower

After his return, Kramer continues to win, but the brilliance of the unapproachable all-rounder is gone. His 500 meters become rusty, the skating mile goes wrong more often than right, the ten kilometers turns out to be an increasing torment for his back. What lasts the longest is his mastery in the five kilometers. Gold in Sochi 2014, by force majeure. World record lowland in Gangneung 2017. A year later his third Olympic gold in South Korea, where the professional quickly calculates just before his race that 28 laps are not necessary and that 29.3 is sufficient.

After 2018, the path becomes narrower and narrower. Even the five kilometers eludes him. Kramer no longer tries to hide vulnerability. Sometimes he can’t even tie his own shoelaces because of the back pain. Young competitors race past him. First teammate Patrick Roest, since last season also Swede Nils van der Poel. He remains crumbs, a European Championship title, some silver and bronze. Sporadically there is still that pure skating feeling from the past with his family in Inzell or with Dad to the marathon. A nice outdoor training camp at Collalbo leads to old-fashioned craftsmanship last December on the five kilometers at the Olympic qualifying, with a gear at the end.

In Beijing, Kramer realistically opts for a place in the shadow of favorites Roest and Van der Poel in advance. A medal would already be surprising. After the five kilometers there is still a chance in a week for his fifth Olympic gold, in the team pursuit. In the closing weekend of the Games, he can participate in the mass start as dessert. At his farewell, the memory of the skater who rode the five kilometers in his own class remains above all else. Sven Kramer remains forever 6.09.74.