1,500 metres, Women

This was the first women’s event in 1972, and although there was no clear favorite, several skaters were highly considered. This would include Soviet Nina Statkevich, 1971 World Champion, who won the 1,500 at that event; Holland’s Atje Keulen-Deelstra, 1970 World Champion and recent winner of the 1972 European Championship, who had won the 1,500 at the Europeans; her teammate Stien Baas-Kaiser, at her best in the distances, and the world record holder at 2:15.8, set in January 1971 in Davos; and American Dianne Holum, who had won the 1,000 at the 1971 World Championships, and placed fourth overall at the Worlds in 1970 and 1971. Keulen-Deelstra was off in the first pair and set a mark to shoot at, 2:22.05. She waited for the fifth pair which featured Holum and Statkevich. They were together through 700 metres, and ahead of Keulen-Deelstra’s splits, but Holum then pulled away, finishing in 2:20.85, which would bring her the gold medal. Statkevich fell off, eventually finishing only sixth. Baas-Kaiser was in the 12th pair, but she started very slowly, and although she had the fastest final lap, she fell just short of catching Holum, finishing in 2:21.05 for a silver medal. Keulen-Deelstra’s time held up for the bronze. Holum would compete for only a few more weeks, at the 1972 World Sprints and World Championships, winning both 1,000s at the Sprints. She would then turn to coaching, later taking on a promising young Wisconsin skater named Eric Heiden. Holum’s daughter, Kirstin, would later skate for the US at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.