A sensational season featured another sensational performance.
This time, it was one for the record books.
On Day 1 of the ISU long track World Cup speedskating finals, American Brittany Bowe made history on home ice at the Utah Olympic Oval. The 31-year-old set a new world-record time (1:11.61) in the women’s 1,000-meter event, winning another World Cup gold medal. Bowe now has 13 World Cup medals this season — four of which came in the 1,000. Bowe won gold at the 2019 world single distance championships in the 1,000-meter last month.
Bowe finished fourth overall in the women’s 500-meter race Saturday. She will compete in another 500-meter race Sunday as well as the women’s 1,500-meter event.
“I couldn’t be more pleased,” Bowe said after breaking the record. “It’s been a great season. This is the last race of the season, on home soil, in front of the home crowd, and 1:11.6 is remarkable. Miho [Takagi] and Nat [Kadira] [were] the first two ladies to break 1:12 with that 1:11.7. It’s tough to follow a performance like that but it also gets you excited, so I couldn’t be more happy today.”
More world records fell on the fast ice in Kearns Saturday.
Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama set a new world record in the men’s 500-meter, skating a 33.835, but saw his time broken just minutes later as Russia’s Pavel Kulizhnikov topped it with a 33.616. Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands made his mark, breaking the men’s 1,000-meter record with a time of 1:06.18, breaking the previous record held by American Olympic medalist Shani Davis, set a decade ago in 2009.
Martina Sablikova set a new world record in the women’s 3,000-meter, by skating a 3:52.027 after two world records set last weekend at the world all-around championships in Calgary, Alberta.
The U.S. had a couple more top-10 finishes Saturday. Olympian and mass start world champion Joey Mantia finished ninth in the men’s 1,000-meter race, while Olympic medalist Carlijn Schoutens finished 10th in the women’s 3,000. The final day of the last World Cup stop is scheduled to begin Sunday at 1:30 p.m. with the men’s and women’s 500-meter races, the 1,500-meter and the mass start.