1,500 metres, Women

The Canadian team was quite strong in this event. Most notably, it featured the winner of the 1,000 m, Christine Nesbitt and Kristina Groves, who had won the event at the 2009 World Championships only to be disqualified for touching the lane divider with her skate. The other two team members were Brittany Schussler, who had been on the podium at the Berlin World Cup, and the star of the 2006 Games, Cindy Klassen, who had been injured in 2009 and appeared to be past her prime. With the 2008 and 2009 World Champion, Anni Friesinger-Postma out of shape due to an early-season injury, the biggest threat to the Canadians were 2007 World Champion Ireen Wüst (NED) and Martina Sáblíková (CZE), who had recently expanded her domain from the long distances to the 1,500 m.

Friesinger’s rink record of 1:58.66 was first broken by Annette Gerritsen, followed by Nao Kodaira and Margot Boer, the latter setting it to 1:58.10. Then it was Ireen Wüst’s turn, the 3,000 m champion of the Torino Games. She had seen some poor results in the past seasons, Wüst had recorded many good results in sprint, all-round and distance competitions. She had won the World Cup race in Heerenveen earlier in the season, and again displayed that form in Richmond. Starting out all-or-nothing as always, she held on to record 1:56.89. Quite the opposite skater, Martina Sáblíková raced next, but even her formidable final lap couldn’t make up for her 1.74-second loss in the first part of the race. She did move into second place with 1:57.96, though.

Next up were the Canadians. Groves took off even faster than Wüst, and she enjoyed a half-second lead at the bell. But Groves had to pay for her fast start in the final 400 m, dropping behind Wüst with 1:57.14. In the last pair, Nesbitt followed much the same pattern as Groves. She held the same pace as the Dutchwoman until 1,100 m, but losing contact in the final lap. Nesbitt even dropped out of the medals, leaving Wüst to win ahead of Groves and Sáblíkova.