As expected, speed skater Claudia Pechstein is far from a top 10 place at the World Championships in Hamar/Norway. After running over 500 m (41.50 seconds) and 3000 m (4:16.26 minutes), the 50-year-old ranks 14th in the overall standings.
Two weeks after the Winter Games in Beijing, the five-time Olympic champion was at half-time with 84.210 points ahead of the second German starter, Leia Behlau from Inzell (16th/84.805). On Sunday there are races over 1500 m and 5000 m on the program. Pechstein plans to end the season next weekend at the World Cup finals in Heerenveen in the Netherlands.
In the team sprint, the German trio missed the hoped-for podium by 1.707 seconds. Hendrik Dombek, Nico Ihle and Moritz Klein finished fifth in Norway’s victory (1:20.010 minutes). Silver went to Poland, the Dutch took bronze. The women had the same trio of medals in a different order: the Dutch women won ahead of Poland and Norway, and there was no German team at the start.
The decision in the sprint all-around was already made in Hamar on Friday. The Dutch 1000 m Olympic champion Thomas Krol (138.705) secured gold, the best German was Nico Ihle (141.180) in eleventh place. Jutta Leerdam from the Netherlands, who won silver over 1000 m in Beijing (151.140), triumphed in the women’s race. German runners were not at the start.
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