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From the Olympics Toward Tomorrow
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Sondral smashes world record for Olympic skating gold
 Aadne Sondral |
15:00- Start
Most saw the wall of Dutch speed skaters as impenetrable. Not Aadne Sondral.
Once called ''Big Loser,'' the 26-year-old Norwegian staged a stunning coup over his Dutch speed skating rivals Thursday with a new world record to win the Olympic men's 1,500-meter title, ending a six-year quest for the Olympic gold medal.
He stopped the clock at 1 minute, 47.87 seconds to lop more than a full second off Dutchman Rintje Ritsma's record set last December in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Ids Postma, the reigning world champion and another former world record holder from the Netherlands, skated 1:48.13 to win the silver while Ritsma did 1:48.52 for bronze.
Beating the Dutch was not easy, but it was the second straight time a Norwegian pulled off such a feat at this distance. At the Lillehammer Olympics four years ago, Norway's Johann Olav Koss skated faster than two Dutchmen to win the 1,500-meter gold.
''It feels good to continue Norway's success in this event,'' Sondral said. He finished behind Koss and settled for the 1,500-meter silver at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games and was fourth in Lillehammer.
Sondral also tipped his hat to the ice makers at Nagano's M-Wave indoor oval by saying the ice was ''almost exactly the same'' as at the Hamar rink back home.
The Dutch skaters showed their tremendous depth by taking four of the top six places. Before the race, they seemed poised to claim another gold and a new world record to add to the mark posted by countryman Gianni Romme in the men's 10,000 meters last Sunday.
But in the end, Sondral tripped up the confident Dutch and sent the crowd of 10,000 into a horn-tooting frenzy.
In the second-to-last pairing of the day, Sondral and Postma raced side by side at a world-record pace and were dead-even with one lap to go.
Postma, who fell in a 500-meter race earlier in the week, stumbled around the final curve and threw away his chances at the Olympic gold.
Sondral took advantage of Postma's mishap, surged down the final straightaway to etch his name in the record books.
''I knew he was behind me on the final stretch and I was listening for his skates,'' Sondral recalled. ''But I didn't hear him behind so I felt really happy.''
The crowd roared with delight as the Olympic record was rewritten four times before Sondral snatched the world record.
Nagano native and former world record holder Hiroyuki Noake finished seventh with a time of 1:50.49 -- 0.19 second ahead of compatriot and four-time Olympian Toru Aoyanagi who was eighth.
Aoyanagi easily revamped his personal best as did Noake, whose time was faster than his former world record set two years ago.
''I'm really satisfied with my race and I'm looking forward to the next one,'' Noake said. (Kyodo News)
Results of speed skating men's 1,500 meters Thursday in the 18th Olympic Winter Games at M-Wave indoor oval, Nagano:
1. Aadne Sondral, Norway 1 minute, 47.87 seconds (World record)
2. Ids Postma, Netherlands 1:48.13
3. Rintje Ritsma, Netherlands 1:48.52
4. Jan Bos, Netherlands 1:49.75
5. KC Boutiette, U.S. 1:50.04
6. Martin Hersman, Netherlands 1:50.31
7. Hiroyuki Noake, Japan 1:50.49
8. Toru Aoyanagi, Japan 1:50.68
9. Christian Breuer, Germany 1:50.96
10. Andrey Anufriyenko, Russia 1:50.99
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12. Choi Jae Bong, South Korea 1:51.47
15. Chun Joo Hyun, South Korea 1:51.65
16. Yusuke Imai, Japan 1:51.70
19. Sergey Tsybenko, Kazakstan 1:52.03
21. Keiji Shirahata, Japan 1:52.23
27. Radik Bikchentayev, Kazakstan 1:52.87
36. Wan Chunbo, China 1:54.64
39. Jung Jin Euk, South Korea 1:55.02
41. Sergey Kaznacheyev, Kazakstan 1:55.22
43. Feng Qingbo, China 1:56.45
 Hiroyuki Noake |
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Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun