Heerenveen Distance World Cup

Written by T Dobbin

Today was the first day of the Distance World Cup in Heerenveen. Shane Dobbin skating for New Zealand skated his first race in a World Cup with the 1500 meter in the B grade. it was a full stadium in Heerenveen with a very good atmosphere.

Shane Dobbin started a very fast 1500 meter race with a personal best opening time and a good first lap. Unfortunately not being able to hold on for the final 600 meters ended up with a time of 1:54.30. The ladies raced a 5 kilometer today with Elma de Vries from the Netherlands skating in the B Group setting a personal best time of 7 minutes and 2 seconds qualifying her for the World Championships in Canada in March. Results of today are below:

Ladies 5 kilometer B Grade
1st Elma de Vries (Netherlands 7:02.48
2nd Nancy Swider - Pelz Junior (USA) 7:15.06
3rd Maki Tabata (Japan) 7:18.07

Ladies 5 kilometer A Grade

1st Martina Sablikova (Cze) 6:59.08
2nd Stephaine Beckert (Germany) 7:01.33
3rd Kristina Groves (Canada) 7:05.08

Men 1500 meter B Grade

1st Daniel Friberg (Sweden) 1:48.27
2nd Jay Morrison (Canada) 1:48.56
3rd Pascal Briand (France) 1:49.82
17th Shane Dobbin (New Zealand) 1:54.30

Men 1500 meter A Grade

1st Shani Davis (USA) 1:45.40
2nd Enrico Fabris (Itatly) 1:45.88
3rd Trevor Marsicano (USA) 1:46.09

Tomorrow is the final day in Heerenveen with the ladies 1500 meter and the mens 10,000 meter. Shane Dobbin from New Zealand is paired with the Frenchman Tristan Loy in the first pair which will be raced in quadrants. Keep posted for more results.