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| Event type

1,500 metres, Men

Date19 February 2002 — 13:00
StatusOlympic
LocationUtah Olympic Oval, Kearns, Utah
Participants48 from 17 countries
Olympic Record 1:47.87 WR / Ådne Søndrål NOR / 12 February 1998
StarterMatthijs de VrijerNED
RefereeKnut LudahlNOR

There were countless potential medalists in this event. Among them were the gold and silver medalists of 1998, Ådne Søndrål and Ids Postma, who had divided the four World Championships held since the Nagano Games between them, the Norwegian winning in 1998 and 2001, and the Dutchman in 1999 and 2000. In the running season, World Cup races had also been won by Dustin Molicki, Derek Parra and Petter Andersen. The latter had shared his victory with Jakko Jan Leeuwangh, who didn’t even make the Dutch team, as had Martin Hersman and Erben Wennemars, also World Cup medalists earlier in the season.

Not among those favorites was Jochem Uytdehaage, whose selection at the Dutch Olympic Trials had been somewhat controversial due to his lack of previous achievements at the distance. But with an Olympic gold medal from the 5,000 m in the pocket, the Dutchman skated the best 1,500 m of his life. With the best final lap of the competition, he broke Lee Gyu-Hyeok’s world record and lowered it to 1:44.57. Of the pre-race favorites, only one man was able to beat this time. Having finished second behind Uytdehaage in the 5,000 m, Derek Parra now took home the gold. A former inline skating World Champion, he had switched to speed skating in 1996 for a chance to compete in the Olympics. Having been an alternate in 1998, his results slowly improved, winning his first international prize at the 2001 World Single Distance Champions; a silver medal in the 1,500 m. He confirmed his status in that event by winning a World Cup race in November 2001, his only international win prior to his Olympic title.

The duel for the bronze was an interesting one, between Søndrål and Joey Cheek. Primarily a sprinter, Cheek had taken off incredibly fast, leading Parra’s splits by four tenths at the bell, and Søndrål by a full 1.75 seconds. As Cheek struggled on the final lap, Søndrål made up for the difference, beating the American by just 0.08 at the finish line.

PosPairCompetitorNOCTime
121ODerek ParraUSA1:43.95GoldWR
29OJochem UytdehaageNED1:44.57SilverWR
323OÅdne SøndrålNOR1:45.26Bronze
423IJoey CheekUSA1:45.34
516OIds PostmaNED1:45.41
65ONick PearsonUSA1:45.51OR
715OJan BosNED1:45.63
818OLee Gyu-HyeokKOR1:45.82
914IRintje RitsmaNED1:45.86
1014OYevgeny LalenkovRUS1:45.97
111ODmitry ShepelRUS1:45.98OR
1222ODustin MolickiCAN1:46.00
139IJanne HänninenFIN1:46.04
1419OJ. P. ShillingUSA1:46.29
1518IHiroyuki NoakeJPN1:46.38
168OSergey TsybenkoKAZ1:46.40
1724OKevin MarshallCAN1:46.75
1821ISteven ElmCAN1:46.99
191IRadik BikchentayevKAZ1:47.04
2022IPetter AndersenNOR1:47.21
2120OChoi Jae-BongKOR1:47.26
2216IAleksandr KibalkoRUS1:47.63
2313ITakaharu NakajimaJPN1:47.64
2417IStefano DonagrandiITA1:47.72
2519IKeiji ShirahataJPN1:47.78
265IEnrico FabrisITA1:47.83
274IVesa RosendahlFIN1:48.02
2812IPhilippe MaroisCAN1:48.13
292OCédric KuentzFRA1:48.20
3015IZsolt BalóHUN1:48.27
313ORoberto SighelITA1:48.40
3220IRisto RosendahlFIN1:48.57
334OMun JunKOR1:48.58
3424IYusuke ImaiJPN1:48.76
352IEskil ErvikNOR1:49.24
3611INikolay UliyaninKAZ1:49.42
3711OVadim SayutinRUS1:49.45
386IJohan RöjlerSWE1:49.50
3912OVladimir KostinKAZ1:49.57
4010IIhar MakovetskiBLR1:50.15
4117OJan FriesingerGER1:50.26
4210OYeo Sang-YeopKOR1:50.70
=433IAndriy FominUKR1:51.02
=438IFrank DittrichGER1:51.02
457IMa YongbinCHN1:51.81
466OLiu GuangbinCHN1:52.01
477OAliaksei KhatylevBLR1:52.87
DNF13OChristian BreuerGERfall