10,000 metres, Men

There had been only one international 10,000 m in the 2005/2006 season, but it had been extremely competitive. No less than four skaters broke the 13-minute barrier at the Heerenveen World Cup, with Carl Verheijen winning in a world record time. Verheijen lost his World Record on 31 December to Chad Hedrick, who set the mark at 12:55.11. Other medal hopefuls were the two other skaters to beat 13 minutes, Lasse Sætre and Eskil Ervik, and the other Dutchmen, 5000 m silver medalist Sven Kramer and Bob de Jong.

De Jong was the first of these favorites to start. He had medaled in the event at the World Championships every year since 1997, winning the title in 2003 and 2005. He had won an Olympic medal in the event in 1998, but had mysteriously struggled at the 2002 Games. His Torino race was steady and brought him a new personal best of 13:01.57, which seemed good, but not unbeatable. Yet, as the pairs went by, none could match the Dutchman’s time, his pairmate Grødum still the runner-up after seven of eight pairs. The last pair featured the season’s two world record holders, Verheijen and Hedrick. The American started off fast, but by 4,000 m, he was trailing De Jong’s time. But Hedrick managed to consolidate, and only lost terrain slowly, eventually finishing about four seconds behind De Jong. Meanwhile, Verheijen had set his sights on Grødum’s time, surpassing the Norwegian’s mark at 7,200 m for the bronze medal.