World championship all-round speedskating

[th0m]

Another Dutch dominance, as was to be expected. Played in Holland in front of the best venue and the most faithful crowd known in the speedskating-world, the Dutch grabbed both the men's and women's title.

Men:

1. Sven Kramer (Netherlands)
2. Enrico Fabris (Italy)
3. Carl Verheijen (Netherlands)

Women:

1. Ireen Wust (Netherlands)
2. Anni Friesinger (Germany)
3. Cindy Klassen (Canada)

Notably, Sven Kramer skated to a world record on the 10.000 metres, shattering his own record.

I'm really quite excited and I know speedskating isn't big at all in the US, although you do have some good skaters (Shani Davis, Chad Hedrick), Davis finished 6th behind his 'idol' Erben Wennemars, both very impressive for world-class sprinters. Hedrick unfortunately didn't qualify for the 10k.

All-round means you skate 4 distances, and the best combination of those wins the championship. For a lot of athletes it is considered more prestigious than winning an individual title in a certain distance. (for men, the distances are 500m, 1500m, 5000m and 10000m; for women they are 500m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m)

Webby to event: http://www.wcallround.com/live-2007/wk/allround/index_nl.asp

[NE MT GRIZZ]

Davis and Hedrick are both great skaters, but
their antics at the OLypmics make me sick and kept me from cheering for them.

[th0m]

Ha, wouldn't have thought I'd get a reply on the subject ;)

What exactly do you mean NE MT Grizz?

[NE MT GRIZZ]

Ha, wouldn't have thought I'd get a reply on the subject ;)

What exactly do you mean NE MT Grizz?

THe bickering they did back and forth, not shaking hands after races,
Hedrick out drinking like Bode Miller.

They were everything the Olympics shouldn't be.

Thank goodness we had that other skater Joey something.

Hockey and speedskating are the two events I'll get into during the Winter Games, I hope they act like humans the next time around.

[th0m]

Hmm, I did not know that. Too bad. Most of the speedskating world is pretty tightly-knit, I think. The Americans are newcomers to the speedskating though, most of them coming from inline-skating I think (or shorttrack). If I'm not mistaken there's gonna be a world championship of some sort in Salt Lake City before the season is over.

Joey Cheek was a class guy indeed. He told everybody he was going to skate for a gold medal I think, and then donate his winning fee to charity and stop skating altogether because he felt it was the highest achievable. And he stuck to his words. Really cool.

I'm all speedskating during the Winter Games, but that's mostly because that's all we're good at in the winter ;)

Similarly I pretty much solely watch swimming during the Summer Games.

[AppGuy04]

Speedskating is exciting to watch

Where is Appolo???