Gregg claims World Cup gold
Edmontonian surprised time held up for win
Edmonton’s Jamie Gregg won his first career speed-skating World Cup gold medal Friday, claiming the 500-metre race in time of 35.06 seconds at the ISU World Cup final in Berlin.
Gregg edged out Pekka Koskela of Finland by 0.01 seconds (35.07) and Tae-bum Mo of South Korea by 0.11 seconds (35.17). World Cup leader in the 500 metres with 610 points, American Tucker Fredricks finished 14th in a time of 35.43 seconds. Koskela is second (584), Mo is third (582) and Gregg is seventh (436).
“I was happy with my race,” Gregg said. “I think I had two technical points that I was focusing on: trying to skate relaxed and skate with my shoulders up. I was able to do both of those and it translated to a fast time. I was happy with that.
“I knew it was good race when I finished it. But I knew that Berlin usually has faster ice, and so I didn’t think that time would hold up to be the winner. I was hoping just to get a medal. Then I was just pretty happy when I saw it ended up being a gold medal.”
One more 500-metre race will be skated Saturday to determine the overall champion.
In the women’s 500 metres, Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., was Canada’s top female skater finishing fourth in a time of 38.39 seconds.
Nesbitt was 0.45 seconds off the winning time of 37.94 seconds by Jing Yu of China and was only 0.02 seconds from the bronze medal won by Germany’s Jenny Wolf ( 38.37). Sang-hwa Lee of South Korea took second place (38.00).
With one World Cup 500-metre race remaining, Yu leads the 500-metre ranking with 810 points, followed by Wolf (779) and Lee (770). Nesbitt is the top Canadian in 10th spot with 307 points.
In the women’s 3,000 metres, Winnipeggers Brittany Schussler and Cindy Klassen were 11th and 17th, respectively. Marina Sablikova of the Czech Republic crossed the finish line in four minutes, 3.14 seconds to take the gold medal. Sablikova was also the season champion in the 3,000 metres with 650 points, while Klassen was seventh (225 points) and Schussler 20th (84 points).
In the men’s 1,500 metres, Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B. C., had a time of 1:48.37 to finish in ninth place. Havard Bokko of Norway won in 1:47.49. Dutch skaters Kjeld Nuis (1:47.69) and Koen Verweij (1:47.72) were second and third, respectively.
In the season final ranking, Morrison finished in fourth with 312 points. Bokko won the title with 472 points, while Nuis was second (430) and American Shani Davis was third (425).