Written by T Dobbin
With the second day of the ISU World All-Round completed and just one day to go, the men only had one event yesterday which was the 1500 meters. Once again the crowds in Thialf stadium didn't disappoint. The stadium was packed again with 12,000 people wearing orange supporting their Dutch speed skating stars. The ice wasn't in any better condition on day two as promised. There was bubbles, tyre marks and streak lines that covered the surface. It's very disappointed for everyone to finish the season in the famous Thialf ice rink with such poor ice conditions.
However, even with the ice conditions as they were, American Jonathan Kuck managed to skate a very spectacular 1500 meter setting a new personal best time to win the 1500 meter event in Thialf with a time of 1.45,36 over Canadian Lucas Makowsky in a time 1.46,15 finishing second.
Shane was in the fourth pair with Italian Luca Stefani starting on the inner lane. Shane's 1500 meter was not quite his best, however it was satisfying as he took four seconds off his last 1500 meter set in Thialf last winter.
"The 1500 meter is hard event to do when you don't train for this type of race. It's something that I want to work on during the off season and hopefully race in the World Cups next winter and be much better at".
Shane's lap times are below:
1. 300m 25.56 (25.5)
2. 700m 52.80 (27.2)
3. 1100m 1:21.32 (28.5)
4. 1500m 1:51.20 (29.8)
With the new qualification rules to be able to skate the final event at the World All-Round, Shane managed to skate a fast enough 5,000 meter on Friday and place high enough to confirm a start in the 10,000 meter today. Shane is paired with Dutch skater Wouter Olde Heuvel starting in the second pair on the outer lane. It's a great way to finish the season skating getting another chance to race the 10,000 meter event which is hard to come by, and after missing out on racing the 10,000 meter at the Olympics.
"It's probably by favourite event right now because after only being on the ice for two and half years I'm sure suited to the longer style races".
The pairs for the 10,000 meter are as follows:
Pair 1 - Matteo Anesi ITA (PB 14:01.78) / Konrad Niedzwiedzki POL (PB 13:51.95)
Pair 2 - Wouter Olde Heuvel NED (PB 13:17.08) / Shane Dobbin NZL (PB 13:34.03)
Pair 3 - Sverre Haugli NOR (PB 13:12.75) / Jan Blokhuijsen NED (PB 13:31.11)
Pair 4 - Trevor Marsicano USA (PB 13:21.06) / Lucas Makowsky CAN (PB 13:21.93)
Pair 5 - Sven Kramer NED (PB 12:41.69) / Håvard Bøkko NOR (PB 13:00.65)
Pair 6 - Ted-Jan Bloemen NED (PB 13:11.79) / Jonathan Kuck USA (PB 13:30.14)
For live results go to: http://www.knsb.nl/wk/english/live-results/ Or get all the info from the World All-Round at http://www.knsb.nl/wk/english/
It's once again on Eurosport today however, not live just showing highlights later this evening.
Photos of Shane can be viewed at : http://www.desgphoto.com/desgphoto/gallery/index.php?p=athlet&id=2687
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