Two in a row! Kulizhnikov & Voronina smash records to clinch 1000m and 5000m gold at speed skating worlds
Team Russia continues taking the ISU Speed Skating World Championship in Salt Lake City, US, by storm with Natalia Voronina setting word record to win the women’s 5000m gold and Pavel Kulizhnikov following suit at the men’s 1000m.
Russian speed skating ace Kulizhnikov clocked a time of 1.05,69 seconds to set a new mark at the 1000m distance on Saturday, his second triumph in as many days after he claimed gold on the shortest speed skating distance of 500m on Friday.
Olympic champion from the Netherlands, Kjeld Nuis, finished second, while Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil came in third.
While it was a fifth world title at separate distances for the 25-year-old speed skating star, for Russia’s Natalia Voronina, who hit the ice shortly before her titled teammate, it was her first world championship glory.
Moreover, Voronina, who clocked a world record time of 6.39,02 seconds, became the first woman to run out of 6.40,00 seconds at that distance, a milestone in itself, and the first Russian to ever claim the women’s 5000m gold at world championship.
With her stellar performance, she beat veteran Martina Sablikova in what became the Czech’s first loss at the distance since 2007.
Sablikova had to contend with silver, while Esmee Visser from the Netherlands, rounded out the top three.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
Comments are closed.