The 2007–08 Speed Skating World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of speed skating. The season began on 9 November 2007 and lasted until 22 February 2008. The World Cup was organised by the ISU, who also run world cups and championships in short track speed skating and figure skating.
Races
WC 1, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 11–13 November
The first World Cup meet of the season was held in the Utah Olympic Oval, which last staged an international meet in March, the 2007 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships. The meet resulted in three world records and one equalled world record in the first four races for men, like in the meet held here during the 2005–06 season, when six races resulted in four world records.
Race results
Date Event Podium Top 10 + B-group 9 Nov Women500 mISU 1. 37.32 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. , 10. ; B 1. 2. 37.47 3. 37.84 The gold and silver medallist at the 2007 World Single Distance Championships faced off in the 14th pair, with Wang rallying in the last outer lane to skate 26.94 on the final lap and pipping Wolf to the line after the German had opened in 10.18. Defending World Cup champion Wolf in second place was half a second ahead of any competition, though only Wang's time was in the all-time top ten. In the final pair, Sayuri Yoshii of Japan took her first World Cup podium since December, while World Single Distance bronze medallist Sayuri Osuga took 13th and last year's World Cup runner-up Lee Sang-hwa finished 17th. Men500 mISU 1. 34.03 WR 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. ; 10. ; B 1. 2. 34.20 3. 34.31 Wotherspoon, starting in the 11th of 15 pairs, returned to the international speed skating circuit after a one-year absence by smashing the world record set by Lee Kang-seok at the World Single Distance Championships in March, taking the record for the first time since March 2001. After the previous six years had seen the record lowered by 0.07 seconds, Wotherspoon cut 0.22 off the record. Three pairs later, Lee Kyou-hyuk bettered his personal best in the 14th pair, making the fifth-fastest time ever in a pair where former world record holder Joji Kato took a tumble, before Lee Kang-seok rounded off the race by recording the second-fastest time ever in the final pair.All Time best performances as of 07-07-01 , Evert Stenlund, retrieved on 10 November 2007. Last season's World Cup winner and WSD bronze medallist Tucker Fredricks finished 11th, 100m World Cup winner and WSD silver medallist Yūya Oikawa 12th. Women1000 mISU 1. 1:14.19 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. , 10. ; B 1. 2. 1:14.29 3. 1:14.31 Starting in the 7th of 15th pairs, Wang Beixing took her second World Cup after skating the first 600m in 44.81, nearly four-tenths of a second ahead of any competition. Though her final lap only came sixth, it was good enough to win her first race on the 1000m, after five race wins on the 500m. Anni Friesinger, who finished first or second on the distance in all her eight major international starts last season, took second, while Wang Fei took her first podium place after beating Canada's Christine Nesbitt, WSD bronze medallist in 2007 by 0.01 seconds on the final lap; the two had identical passing times at the 600m mark. 2007 World Cup winner Chiara Simionato took 5th, the 2007 WSD gold medallist, Ireen Wüst finished 7th, while world record holder Cindy Klassen placed 11th. Men1500 mISU 1. 1:42.32 WR 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. ; 10. ; B 1. 2. 1:42.79 3. 1:42.92 The day of world records was not over. After 2006 Olympic gold medallist and 2007 World Cup runner-up Enrico Fabris of Italy had taken the lead in the 13th of 15 pairs, 2007 World Cup winner and WSD silver medallist Erben Wennemars faced world record holder and 2007 WSD gold medallist Davis in the penultimate pair. Davis had been involved in a conflict with US Speedskating and had threatened to not start at the meet, but after late negotiations he had turned up at the start.Skating season opens, Jared Eborn, Deseret Morning News, retrieved 10 November 2007. Wennemars took an early lead of four-tenths of a second, and despite a good second lap by Davis, he was never quite able to beat the Dutch skater. Wennemars was behind Davis' world record lap times from Calgary throughout the race, but a final lap of 27.56 saw him equal the world record mark, lowering his personal best by nearly half a second; Davis took to second place six-tenths behind. In the final pair, Denny Morrison skated the race's fastest third lap with 25.95, distancing pairmate Yevgeny Lalenkov by half a second, and was just one tenth behind Wennemars when the bell rang for the final lap, but was unable to keep up the pace to the end. 10 Nov Women500 mISU 1. 37.22 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. , 10. ; B 1. 2. 37.45 3. 37.90 Wang and Wolf faced off once more, and with last outer lane, Wolf took the win and joined Wang on top of the aggregate World Cup standings. Gerritsen, who finished fourth yesterday, struggled at the start in her pair with Yoshii due to hearing a whistle for a false start, Jenny Wolf neemt revanche op Wang , NOS Teletekst, retrieved 11 November 2007. and finished 16th, though only half a second behind Yoshii. Men1000 mISU 1. 1:07.00 WR 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. ; 10. ; B 1. 2. 1:07.18 3. 1:07.34 Koskela, ranked seventh on the World Cup list last season, took his second 1000m race win by beating Shani Davis' two-year-old world record by 0.03 seconds. Earlier, in the seventh pair, Jeremy Wotherspoon had clocked 40.62 over 600 metres, with his second full lap faster than on his world record race yesterday; his last lap was only the 16th best of the 27 finishers. Koskela was three-tenths of a second slower over 600 metres, but had a better finish. In the 13th pair, Lee Kyou-hyuk matched Koskela's opening, but lost four-tenths of a second on the final lap, and though Wennemars in the 14th and Davis in the 15th had better finishes than Koskela, they had lost too much time early on. Women1500 mISU 1. 1:52.75 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. , 10. ; B 1. 2. 1:54.25 3. 1:54.65 In the absence of Anni Friesinger, winner of four World Cup races and WSD silver medallist last season, due to caution over poor health,Friesinger sagt 1500-m-Rennen ab, sport1.de, retrieved 11 November 2007. and with last season's World Cup winner Ireen Wüst in poor form, the Canadians dominated. Nesbitt, fourth in the World Cup last year with seven individual podiums on 1000 and 1500 m races under her belt, now set a personal best with 1.7 secondsLadies Personal Records, from SpeedSkatingResults.com, retrieved 11 November 2007. to take her first World Cup win. Nesbitt took the lead after 700 metres, and no one could match her last two laps either. Groves, who finished third in the World Cup lead last year, was upstaged by her younger compatriot, while Simionato, who finished 19th in the World Cup last season, took her first podium on the 1500 metres in the World Cup in three years. Men5000 mISU 1. 6:07.40 WR 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. , 10. ; B 1. 2. 6:07.52 3. 6:14.14 The fourth of four possible world records. Unlike in his last world record race, in Calgary in March, Sven Kramer did not have the knowledge of his foremost rivals' times, and had to set the pace himself. He set out with laps around 29 seconds, and was two seconds ahead of his Calgary world record at one point, but lost time with 29.5-laps towards the end. In the following pair, Enrico Fabris gave away two seconds in the opening kilometre, but skated a race around the world record time. With one lap to go, he was 0.03 seconds behind the world record and 0.47 seconds behind Kramer's time today; however, a finishing lap of 28.58 saw him take both the record and the race win. Norwegian Håvard Bøkko took his first individual podium in a World Cup race. 11 Nov Men500 mISU 1. 34.14 4. and ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. ; 10. ; B 1. 2. 34.23 3. 34.49 Wotherspoon faced Lee Kang-seok in the final pair, and though both skated below the world record mark before the weekend, it was only the second and fourth fastest race of all time after the event had been completed. Lee Kyou-hyuk and Dmitry Lobkov, third and fourth in Friday's race, lost two-tenths on yesterday's times, allowing Yu Fengtong to take China's first podium place since December last year, when he took second on the 100 m. Women1000 mISU 1. 1:13.47 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. , 10. ; B 1. 2. 1:13.71 3. 1:13.92 With Wang Fei resting ahead of the 3000 m, the podium was considerably changed from Friday's race. Wang Beixing improved her time, but so did all the others starting in the last two pairs, and Wang could only take fourth place. She remained in the overall World Cup lead as Friesinger failed to beat Simionato, as the Italian took her tenth victory on the distance, though it was the first time she'd beaten Friesinger at a major international race over 1000m. Men1000 mISU 1. 1:07.03 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. ; 10. ; B 1. and 2. 1:07.04 3. 1:07.07 Though Koskela withdrew due to fears over a thigh injury, which would later keep him out of the Calgary meet, ME-mies Pekka Koskela ei luistele Calgaryn maailmancupissa, Helsingin Sanomat, retrieved 15 November 2007. the race was still at a high class, with four races among the top six of all time. All Time best performances as of 07-07-01 , Evert Stenlund, retrieved 15 November 2007. In the 12th of 15 pairs, both Mun Jun and Jan Bos skated more than two-tenths below their personal bests, with Mun taking the pair due to a better opening lap. Two pairs later Lee Kyou-hyuk opened in 16.19, four-tenths faster than Mun, and kept his lead till the end. The decision came in the final pair, when Wotherspoon and Davis faced off; Wotherspoon gained a second over the first 600 metres, and though Davis produced the fastest last lap of the race and clocked a time 0.01 behind his PB, he had to leave Salt Lake City without a win despite three podium places. Wotherspoon, the race winner, took over the World Cup lead. Women3000 mISU 1. 3:57.98 4. ; 5. ; 6. ; 7. ; 8. ; 9. , 10. ; B 1. 2. 3:59.37 3. 3:59.79 Sáblíková, World Cup winner last season, took her fourth successive long-distance win in the World Cup, and had not been beaten on the longer distances in the World Cup since November 2006, but could not set the first women's world record of the season, finishing 4.5 seconds behind the world record and one second behind her own personal best. Klassen and Groenewold came in later pairs, but were unable to beat Sáblíková's times, though they took their first podium places of the World Cup season.
WC 2, Calgary, Canada, 16–18 November
Race results