Written by T Dobbin
Yesterday was the first day of the ISU World All-Round competition in the famous Thialf ice rink in Heerenveen. The stadium was completely full with 12,000 spectators and seas of orange. The crowd was spectacular and the cheers could be heard throughout many of the surrounding roads in Heerenveen. The atmosphere in Thialf was by far some of the best that we have seen in our speed skating experience.
The first event of the day was the men's 500 meter sprint. Shane was paired in the fourth pair with German Marco Weber. Shane opened in a 11.04 second 100 meter but had the advantage of coming out of the first corner with someone to chase. Shane skated a time of 38.41 seconds which placed Shane in 22nd position after the first event.
There was huge problems with the ice again this weekend and the Zamboni's left tyre tracks in the ice and huge Zamboni streaks around the track. When the 5,000 meter event started the humidity in the ice rink was at 32%, when the final pairs were skating the humidity got up to 50% which is just about unheard of in ice skating. Apologies were made at the team leaders meeting, explaining to the coaches that during the 5,000 meter ice cleanings thousands of people would come in and out of the ice rink leaving the doors open and somehow had set off the fire alarm doors which automatically open and stay opened until the alarm is turned off. It was poring with rain outside yesterday and with the doors open for this long it had caused a problem inside with the air pressure and the conditions of the ice. The ice makers have assured all the coaches that the conditions today would be 100% better, and let's hope so for the skaters sake.
However, Shane skated a very strong race to finish his 5,000 meter season and his first in long track. It was second event of the day and Shane was paired with Olympic Champion Sven Kramer in the 10th pair. It was an honour to be the same pair as Sven Kramer especially in front of his home town croud with the roar coming out of Thialf. It was probably one of his best races of the season technically skating a very flat race throughout each lap and his fastest opening lap ever. Shane managed to finish with a top ten finish in this event finishing in 9th place and beat his time set in the Heerenveen World Cup in November of last year. See below Shane's lap times for the 5,000 meter.
Shane Dobbin
1. 200m 18.95 (18.9)
2. 600m 48.60 (29.6)
3. 1000m 1:19.40 (30.8)
4. 1400m 1:50.49 (31.0)
5. 1800m 2:21.29 (30.8)
6. 2200m 2:52.04 (30.7)
7. 2600m 3:23.25 (31.2)
8. 3000m 3:54.43 (31.1)
9. 3400m 4:25.40 (30.9)
10. 3800m 4:56.66 (31.2)
11. 4200m 5:28.06 (31.4)
12. 4600m 5:59.34 (31.2)
13. 5000m 6:30.64(31.3)
The top 15 from the 5,000 meter is as follows:
1 Sven Kramer NED 6:19.63
2 Håvard Bøkko NOR 6:21.08
3 Ted-Jan Bloemen NED 6:23.41
4 Jonathan Kuck USA 6:23.47
5 Ivan Skobrev RUS 6:23.88
6 Sverre Haugli NOR 6:26.03
7 Jan Blokhuijsen NED 6:27.68
8 Wouter Olde Heuvel NED 6:29.45
9 Shane Dobbin NZL 6:30.64
10 Trevor Marsicano USA 6:32.79
11 Lucas Makowsky CAN 6:35.06
12 Marco Weber GER 6:36.88
13 Hiroki Hirako JPN 6:36.94
14 Patrick Beckert GER 6:37.05
15 Johan Röjler SWE 6:41.14
For full results go to: http://www.knsb.nl/wk/english/results-draws-and-write-down-lists/
Or to watch today's events live on the internet go to: http://www.knsb.nl/wk/english/live-results/
Don't forget if you have Eurosport today's events will be shown tomorrow and tomorrow is once again shown live.
Today's only event for the men is the 1500 meter. Shane is in pair number four with Italian Luca Stefani starting on the inner lane. The first competition day for the ladies is today starting with the 500 meter and their 3,000 meter. After the men's 1500 meter we will know if 9th place in the 5,000 meter will qualify him for the 10,000 meter which is raced tomorrow afternoon.
For Photots go to: http://www.desgphoto.com/desgphoto/gallery/index.php?p=athlet&id=2687&langswitch_lang=en
