Some 3000 m stats:
World record:
Cindy Klassen, Calgary, Mar 18, 2006
19,09 - 48,78 - 1.19,12 - 1.49,50 - 2.19,90 - 2.50,53 - 3.21,38 - 3.53,34
Lowland record:
Gunda Stirnemann, Hamar, Feb 17, 2001
20,28 - 50,87 - 1.21,60 - 1.52,88 - 2.24,13 - 2.55,64 - 3.27,58 - 4.00,26
Olympic record:
Claudia Pechstein, Salt Lake City, Feb 10, 2002
19,45 - 49,93 - 1.21,00 - 1.52,30 - 2.23,38 - 2.54,57 - 3.25,86 - 3.57,70
Rink record:
Renate Groenewold, Mar 12, 2009
20,18 - 51,13 - 1.22,85 - 1.54,80 - 2.27,01 - 2.59,16 - 3.31,94 - 4.05,43
Season best:
Martina Sablikova, Salt Lake City, Dec 11
19,68 - 50,02 - 1.20,67 - 1.51,57 - 2.22,55 - 2.53,56 - 3.24,80 - 3.56,29
Lowland season best:
Martina Sablikova, Berlin, Nov 6
19,77 - 50,26 - 1.21,05 - 1.52,45 - 2.24,10 - 2.56,07 - 3.28,27 - 4.00,75
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Best nation:
USSR/Russia, Germany(including East) and Netherlands with 4 wins each, respectively 1960, 1964, 1976 and 1994; 1984, 1992, 1998 and 2002; and 1968, 1972, 1988 and 2006. Norway have one.
Best individual skater:
Lidija Skoblikova, winning it the 2 first times, 1960 and ’64, and Gunda Niemann/Stirnemann, winning in 1992 and ’98.
Biggest win:
Stien Baas-Kaiser who won in Sapporo 1972 by 6.53 seconds, outshining silver medallist Dianne Holum.
Most surprising victory:
The most surprising win is Dutch as well. Ireen Wüst was more fancied for the 1500 m in 2006, but surprised everybody in twice the distance.
However, the more sensational surprise came in 1988. East German skaters were favourites for all five golds, but already in the 500, the machinery cocked up when Bonnie Blair beat favourite Christa Rothenburger by 2/100! 4.12.09 and a world record in the first pair of the 3000 the next day by title holder Ehrig surely would repair the damage and get the favourites an easy gold. Yvonne van Gennip was not a threat, though she was #3 in the EC, but a safe distance behind - it was thought. Yvonne thought differently. Andrea’s opening was hard, Yvonne’s even harder! Then she fell behind, but not much, never more than a second. At bell-ringing time, the German coaches checked the board in desperation. 63/100 behind. But the last Ehrig lap was weak, 35.64. And Yvonne makes 34.86! A win by 15/100 and a world record that stayed an Olympic record for 10 years.
Thus it started and thus it continued, the German victory machine suffered one defeat after another and in the end crawled home with a measly 1k gold.
Narrowest win:
One of the closest skating competitions ever was the 3000 m at the Innsbruck olympics 1976. Russian Tatiana Averina, the best female skater of the games, was first of the favourites in the 6th pair, but her race in 4.45.19 was only 1.48 ahead of the unknown Ines Bautzmann.
Would it be enough?
3 pairs later Norwegian hopeful Lisbeth Korsmo used the first half of the race to get rid of pairmate Erwina Rys. Then she started shadowing the times of Averina, passing in the same tenth of a second all the way until the end. Two laps left, she was 4/100 ahead. Last lap, 2/100 ahead! Would she copy Averina’s last lap as well? Yes! No! The viewers were in doubt for a second. 4.45.24. Five hundredths away! Would it be the closest silver ever?
It wouldn’t. It would be the closest bronze, because 14 year old Andrea Mitscherlich—the same woman who lost her gold to Yvonne by 15/100 in 88—started out like a blast, passing half way more than 4 seconds ahead. But then she burst like a balloon (Norwegian idiom) and her lead dwindled: 1800 m: 3.68 s., 2200 m: 2.91, 2600 m: 1.72. We held our breaths. Then the time was shown: 4.45.23.
The gold lost by 5/100. The silver by 1/100! But Lisbeth shed no tears, because in the 13. pair Karin Kessow skated 4.45.60 and was just 37/100 away from stealing her bronze as well! Makes you think: what are hundredths for...
Happy 3000 m to everyone!
LEF