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World record:
Cindy Klassen, Salt Lake City, Nov 20, 2005
25,08 - 52,37 - 1.21,08 - 1.51,79
Lowland record:
Ireen Wüst, Heerenveen, Feb 10, 2007
25,53 - 53,66 - 1.22,87 - 1.54,05
Olympic record:
Anni Friesinger, Salt Lake City, Feb. 20, 2002
25,14 - 53,48 - 1.22,83 - 1.54,02
Rink record:
Christine Nesbitt, Oct 18, 2009
25,75 - 54,33 - 1.24,58 - 1.56,89
Season best:
Christine Nesbitt, Salt Lake City, Dec 12
25,37 - 52,75 - 1.21,52 - 1.52,77
Lowland season best:
Kristina Groves, Hamar, Nov 22
25,90 - 54,02 - 1.23,60 - 1.55,16
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Best nation:
3 wins each for the USSR with Lidija Skoblikova 1960 and 1964 and Galina Stepanskaya 1976 (2.16,58), for the Netherlands with Annie Borckink 1980 (2.10,95), Yvonne van Gennip 1988 (2.00,68) and Marianne Timmer 1998 (1.57,58), and for Germany with Karin Enke 1984 (2.03,42), Jacqueline Börner 1992 (2.05,87) and Anni Friesinger 2002 (1.54,02). Finland, the USA, Austria and Canada have 1 each.
Best individual skater:
Lidija Skoblikova with her two wins in 2.25,2 (and world record), Squaw Valley 1960 and 2.22,6, Innsbruck 1964.
Biggest win:
At Innsbruck, Lidija Skoblikova was 2.9 seconds ahead of Kaija Mustonen, the winner at Grenoble 4 years later.
Narrowest win:
Jacqueline Börner, the winner at Albertville 1992 with 2.05,87, only 5/100 in front of Gunda Niemann.
Most surprising win:
The women’s 1500 does have a few surprising winners, but possibly the most surprising Olympic speedskating gold ever was that of 1980. The biggest favourite was Natalia Petruseva with Beth Heiden as a strong outsider on her home ice, but there were just about half a dozen other medal hopes as well. The Dutch thought Ria Visser’s race in the national championship was promising, winning the distance with a margin of more than 2 1/2 seconds, and that ought to be good for something. Ria did not disappoint her fans. In the snowstorm on the first day of the Games, paired with Petruseva, she topped Heiden’s 1st pair time of 2.13,10 and clocked 2.12,35, completely outskating the favourite and beating all the rest - except one!
Her teammate Annie Borckink had had a disappointing season so far. In the world championship at Hamar she was only 12th, with a 9th place in the 1500 m. But this didn’t prevent her from forcing her way through the avalance of snow two pairs later, finishing in 2.10,95 and one of the biggest wins in Olympic 1500 m history!
Let’s just mention that this was the only 1500 win she achieved in serious national and international competitions in the season 1979/80, and that she never showed anywhere near the same class either before or after. In fact, she never even won the distance in Dutch championships!
Anyhow, happy 1500 meter to everybody!
LEF