A sense of déjà vu on Day 3 of WUC Speed Skating

MINSK – The first awarding ceremony brought the feeling of deja vu among fans and competitors during day 3 of the FISU World University Speed Skating Championship in the Belarusian capital city as Japan and Poland stood atop the podium again.

In the Women’s 1000 m it was Japanese speed skater Rio Yamada taking gold in 1:18.62. Ms. Yamada’s compatriot Miku Asano won the silver in a time of 1:19.25, while the bronze medal went to Poland’s Andzelika Wojcik in 1:20.40.

These medals are not the first ones for these athletes during the championship, as Ms.’s Yamada and Asano repeated their gold-and-silver performance from the 500 M the day before while Andzelika Wojcik added to her medal collection, which she started here with a silver medal in the Team Sprint event.

Even with gold, Ms. Yamada admits the nerves of competing for a World University Championship nearly go the best of her. “I’m not fully satisfied with my result. I was nervous during the race, maybe, this factor affected the result. I will try my best in coping with worries next season.”

 Magdalena Czyszczon of Poland en route to another winning performance on the distance side of the Long Track Speed Skating game

Magdalena Czyszczon from Poland took the first place in the Women’s 5000 m race with the time of 7:23:82. The Netherlands athlete Verhaar Paulien finished second (7:33:95), with Gloria Malfatti of Italy rounding out the podium in bronze with result time of 7:34:48. This is the second victory for the Polish athlete, on the first day she got on the honor roll in 3000m race among women.

“I am so happy,” Ms. Czyszczon said. “This is great pride for me to win two medals of the championship. I didn’t expect, that I would be the leader, because the Netherlands athlete participated with me in the race. However, I was able to overcome her. I am so proud.”

Unfortunately, this race ended with disqualification for Belarusian athlete Kavaliova Anna. The athlete from Mongolia Altanochir Zul and the athlete from the Netherlands Ruyssenaars Anne were disqualified too.

The third day of the championship student-athletes representing 11 countries competed in the Men’s 1000 M. The race was quite spectacular as it was a true fantastic fight for medals, with only a few milliseconds deciding the athletes’ fate.

Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama said he was “over the moon” about his performances at the fourth edition of the FISU World University Speed Skating Championships
Japanese speed skater Tatsuya Shinhama added to his gold medal haul, winning the 1000 M with a time of 1:10.81. Unfortunately for the lively crowds, hometown favorite Ignat Golovatsiuk was just off the top step in silver to Mr. Shinhama again, just 7/100ths of a second behind his rival. In the battle for bronze, Danila Bobyr of Russia finished with the third fastest time (1:11.11) to earn the final stop on the podium.

“I’m over the moon as I managed to win two gold medals here in Minsk,” Mr. Shinhama said. “I suppose I reached this result thanks to my concentration and the fact that I left all my worries and doubts before the start.”

Ignat Golovatsiuk powering off from the start

The Belarusian has yet to find consolation in achieving silver for the second day. “I’m quite upset actually as I’m the second this time again,” Mr. Golovatsiuk said. “I’ve expected and waited for the better result as this is my top distance.

“However, on the other side I got some catching up to do. So generally I’m satisfied with the result. I like the support of the fans. It makes me feel better, especially in the second race when it feels quite hard. Perhaps, it turned out like this because of my excitement.

Added Golovatsiuk: “ I’m a little bit frightened to run in such international competitions. After my silver medal I got yesterday I was quite angry and therefore today I was going into the ice with pure fighting spirit. This is the end of the season and everyone is quite exhausted. And my thoughts are only about the sea and the beach, you know, just to relax. The upcoming Monday starts my vacation and I wish to spend it in a large friendly company.”

Olympian, World Cup compeitor and now FISU World University Speed Skating Champion, Davide Ghiotto has been the class of the field in the distance events here in the Minsk Arena ice oval

11 athletes from six countries took part in the Men’s 10000 M. Again, it was the Italians pacing the field in the distance skate events as Davide Ghiotto took another gold here in Minsk with his performance of 13:16.69 in the longest event on the ice skating oval.

“I’m really happy. It wasn’t so easy, it was quite a long distance,” Mr. Ghiotto said. “Guys from the other teams are good athletes, but as I’m a little older and therefore more experienced.”

The silver medal was won by Ghiotto’s teammate Michele Malfatti who finished with the result of 13:36.12. Belarusia’s Aliaksei Kirpichnik completed the podium in third (13:57.95).

“I knew that I would cope with this distance successfully,” Mr. Kirpichnik said. “I trained very long for this championship and I was convinced that I would get the medal. I didn’t manage to succeed in 5000 M, as Dmitry Morozov was faster than me. And today we just swapped our positions. And actually, the fans did a good job. They made me concentrate when I felt as if I was losing somehow the control over the situation.”

 RESULTS: Day 3 at WUC Speed Skating