Nesbitt shatters world record
Christine Nesbitt is the definition of a perfectionist.
But it was hard for her to find something to pick at Saturday after the 26-year-old Canadian speed skating star set a new world record in the 1,000-metre distance to open the 2012 Essent ISU world sprint championships at the Olympic Oval.
The reigning sprint champion, 2010 Olympic gold medallist and a sure bet to star again at the 2014 Sochi Games, whipped around the track in a blazingly fast one minutes, 12.68 seconds.
“You know, it didn’t even feel like a perfect race,” Nesbitt said. “I know I say that a lot ... It felt like a really, really good race. And I don’t know if I can ever go faster. But there’s something you can find in everything.”
It might not have been perfect to her, but for the majority of the casual observers at the Oval — who were going ballistic as she crossed the finish line and made history — it was a mighty fine performance.
After 200 metres, Nesbitt was already skating faster than the world-record pace and maintained her speed at the 600 mark. The final time was well ahead of Marrit Leenstra and Margot Boer of the Netherlands, who finished second and third with respective times of 1:14.16 and 1:14.37.
Additionally, the mark bested Canadian teammate Cindy Klassen’s time of 1:13.11 set in 2006 on the same ice.
“It was really great to do it in Calgary and have a world record in Calgary,” she added. “This was a better race than my Olympic goldmedal race, so that’s really cool.”
Heading into the weekend, Nesbitt had been enjoying another stellar season, winning all four 1,000-metre World Cup races she’s entered, including last week in Salt Lake City.
So, what was Saturday’s special ingredient? The 26-year-old transplanted Calgarian from London, Ont., finished eighth in the 500 earlier in the day and, was not happy.
Alternate Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg, filling in for Anastasia Bucsis, who tweaked her back Friday at practice, was 21st. Kaylin Irvine of Calgary, competing in her first world sprint championships, was 23rd.
The other story of the day was Muncef Ouardi, a 25-year-old from Quebec who refers to himself as the “Fastest Sheik on ice” on his Twitter handle. After losing his skates in transit the week before competing in his first sprint world championships, Ouardi was forced to have his old skates shipped out West. It certainly didn’t slow him down.
Ouardi was the highest placing Canadian in the men’s 500, finishing third in 34.54 behind winner Kyou-hyuk Lee of Korea (34.33) and Dmitry Lobkov of Russia (34.46).
Jamie Gregg of Edmonton was fifth, while Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., finished 20th.