Saturday, March 14, 2009

Vancouver World Single Distance Championships

Written by T Dobbin
The racing in the Richmond Olympic Oval has been spectacular so far throughout the first two days of the Championships. The North Americans have been dominated the men’s middle distances and once again Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won the 5 kilometer today.

We an upset in the ladies 1500 meter today with the Canadian Kristina Groves winning the event but getting disqualified for crossing the line in the corner. Therefore Anni Freisinger won the ladies 1500 meter.

Tomorrow Shane Dobbin from New Zealand will be racing the 10,000 meter race. The program for tomorrow is the ladies 1,000 meter finals followed by the mens 10,000 meters and the final event of the day is the ladies 5,000 meter. At 17:30 this evening the draws were completed for tomorrows races and Shane Dobbin will be taking the start at approximately 13:30 in the first of 8 pairs in the mens event. Shane Dobbin will be paired with Russian skater Ivan Skobrev who skated the 1500 meter and 5,000 meter events in Richmond, finishing 6th today in the 5,000 meter. Skobrev has skated some fast times this season so it's a good pairing for Shane to be with tomorrow having someone to chase throughout the race. Keep posted for the results from tomorrows races.

For all results and pairing please go to: www.isu.org