Miho Takagi is the best 1,500m of this World Cup season. The 28-year-old Japanese won the middle distance at the Calgary Ice Rink on Saturday, securing his third 1,500m win of the World Cup season. Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong took the silver medal.
The only time Takagi wasn’t at the top of the podium was at Heerenveen last month. Then he was beaten by Rijpma-de Jong to get silver.
first under 1.53
Rijpma-de Jong embarks on the penultimate journey, targeting Brittany Bowe’s time. The American had entered 1:53:25. Rijpma-de Jong ran against Ivanie Blondin and quickly created a gap with the Canadian.
Beating Bowe’s time was no problem for the 27-year-old Dutchman. He finished the race in 1.52.70 and became the first person on the course to drop below 1.53.
He was already confident that he would win the medal, but Takagi intervened in the closing stages. And at over 1,500 metres, the Japanese were again the fastest. He put Nadezhda Morozova in a fast time after him. Kazakh took bronze after Rijpma-de Jong.
Takagi’s 16th World Championship gold medal won in the 1,500m. Despite the Japanese’s many wins, Rijpma-de Jong sees a chance to beat him. “I’m getting closer,” he says after his race.
“When I look at my 1,000 metres, I think: I’m accelerating. If I can show that at the beginning of 1500, I can still go 0.6 faster. It takes some courage,” says Rijpma-de Jong, who has embraced distance over the years.
“At first I thought 1,500 meters was a terrible distance, but now I really like it. I might lose my energy there, I don’t stop, I just drive.”
I am the sixth
Joy Beune drove against Ayano Sato. Initially, the Dutch woman tried not to let the gap widen with the Japanese sprinter and she succeeded. Beune stayed longer in the second division, overtaking Sato and racing until 1:54:44. She finished seventh.
Marijke Groenewoud has won two bronze medals in the 1,500m this season, but did not play in Calgary on Saturday. He finished tenth with 1:54:68.
Team sprint with Grevelt
Team sprinters took gold in Calgary. The Dutch team consisting of Michelle de Jong, Femke Kok and Isabel Grevelt placed third.
It was his first performance in the team sprint for the 20-year-old Grevelt. The Netherlands, represented by De Jong, Kok and Marrit Fledderus, won the first team sprint of this World Cup season.
This time the American sprinters and Canadians, who had never won gold in the team sprint before, were faster than the Dutch. “This is definitely not bad,” national coach Rintje Ritsma summed up, looking at the first race in this composition. “It definitely has potential.”
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
