2001
Skating seems to have become fashionable again in the new millennium and the Olympic Games coming up, giving us 32 participant: AUS, AUT, BEL, BLR, CAN, CHN, CZE, DEN, FIN, FRA, GER, HUN, IRE, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KOR, LAT, MEX, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, POR, PRK, ROM, RUS, SWE, SWI, UKR, USA. Thus we can arrange a full first round proper again of 16 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, AUT, GER, NOR, JAP, USA, NED, CAN and RUS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: CAN-UKR, BLR-NED, KOR-CHN, SWE-USA, MGL-POR, HUN-LAT, CZE-FIN, POL-AUS, PRK-ROM, AUT-FRA, NOR-SWI, ITA-NZL, GER-MEX, BEL-DEN, KAZ-RUS, IRE-JAP. The matches:
Canada-Ukraine 11-0
Belarus-Netherlands 0-11
South Korea-China 5-6
Sweden-USA 2-9, Swedes have made bad draws lately
Mongolia-Portugal 1-3, and the Mongolians have made good ones, but this time it didn’t help
Hungary-Latvia 5-5; distances: 9-5 — Ilonda wins! Hopes to draw Portugal...
Czechia-Finland 2-9
Poland-Australia 11-0
North Korea-Romania 1-9
Austria-France 6-5
Norway-Switzerland 11-0
Italy-New Zealand 11-0
Germany-Mexico 11-0, quite a task for Eric
Belgium-Denmark 11-0, a convincing victory over the Green family
Kazakhstan-Russia 3-8
Ireland-Japan 0-11, Paul and Claire, though substantially improved, are not up to this.
Then the second round consists of: AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, FIN, GER, ITA, JAP, LAT, NED, NOR, POL, POR, ROM, RUS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, CAN, GER, NED and JAP, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: JAP-POR, NOR-POL, CAN-ROM, FIN-LAT, BEL-CHN, GER-ITA, AUT-USA, RUS-NED. The matches proceed as follows:
Japan-Portugal 11-0
Norway-Poland 9-2
Canada-Romania 11-0
Finland-Latvia 6-5, that was close
Belgium-China 4-7
Germany-Italy 10-1
Austria-USA 0-11
Russia-Netherlands 5-6, 0.20 1500m seconds from a win
The quarter-final consists of: CAN, CHN, FIN, GER, JAP, NED, NOR, USA. The finalists from last year, GER and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: USA-JAP, NOR-NED, GER-CAN, CHN-FIN. Results of the matches:
USA-Japan 2-9
Norway-Netherlands 2-9
Germany-Canada 6-5
China-Finland 5-6, first semi-final since 1980!
Semi-final draw: GER-NED, JAP-FIN. Matches:
Germany-Netherlands 5-6
Japan-Finland 11-0
Bronze final: Germany-Finland 9-2
FINAL: Netherlands -Japan
37,98- 38,06 (1-0) 1.15,36- 1.15,24 (1-1) 1.55,68- 1.54,76 (1-2) 4.04,56- 4.03,74 (1-3) 7.05,94- 7.05,39 (1-4) 35,05- 34,32 (1-5) 1.08,70- 1.08,78 (2-5) 1.46,22- 1.45,49 (2-6) 3.42,75- 3.47,80 (3-6) 6.19,58- 6.26,04 (4-6) 13.03,40-13.19,92 (5-6)
Final result 5-6, pretty exciting stuff
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x RUS GOLD 36x NED GOLD 14x FIN GOLD 4x JAP GOLD 3x SWE GOLD 2x GDR GOLD 2x GER GOLD 2x AUT Silver 5x HUN Silver 2x USA Silver 2x CAN Silver 2x CZE Silver 1955 CHN Silver 1965 LAT bronze 1940 GBR bronze 1949 PRK bronze 1963 ITA bronze 1991 SWI 4th 4x POL 4th 3x FRA 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 BEL 4th 1946 KOR 4th 1982 KAZ 4th 1994 EST QF 5x ROM QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 UKR 2R 2x POR 2R 2x MGL 2R 1989 BLR 2R 1995 NZL 1R 12x IRE 1R 9x YUG 1R 5x GRE 1R 2x BOS 1R 2x ISV 1R 1972 ESP 1R 1989 IRN 1R 1993 ARG 1R 1994 PAN 1R 1995 RSA 1R 1998 MEX 1R 2001 ISR PR 5x ICE PR 2x TPE PR 2x COL PR 1933 HKG PR 1986