Speed skating: Ihles dream start: Speed skaters win silver and Olympic norm

Silver around the neck, the Olympic norm in your pocket: Speed skater Nico Ihle has made a dream start into the World Cup season. At the start in Heerenveen, the Chemnitzer sprinted to second place in the 500 m race – his fast and technically strong run in 34.78 seconds sparked cheer at the German medal opening for the 2018 Winter Games.

“Madness! I’m overjoyed,”said Ihle, who was born on the 14th day of her life. For the 11th time on the World Cup podium it said:”This is very cool. The fact that it worked out in the first race with the norm is of course mega.”

With a view to the season’s highlight in Pyeongchang, the DOSB demands a top 8 result or two top 16 results on the individual courses – a requirement that Ihle easily mastered on Friday.

The 31-year-old Ihle only had to admit defeat to the Norwegian Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (34,69). Third place went to the Dutchman Kai Verbij (34.84).

In the duel with Finnish Mika Poutala Ihle got off to a good start, the first 100 meters he covered in 9.72 seconds “I walked without hectic and noticed that I have Mika under control”, said Ihle, who went through the final inside curve technically cleanly and sprinted with great distance to the finish line “, said I had the power and good stability on the ice.

After the perfect debut, Ihle has an extensive race programme waiting for him on the weekend, besides the 500 m he is also challenged over 1000 m as well as in the team sprint “I know exactly how freed I ran in the past with the achieved Olympic norm”, said Ihle.

Meanwhile, Claudia Pechstein’s German team squadron fell well short of the podium. Trio Pechstein (Berlin), Gabriele Hirschbichler and Roxanne Dufter (both Inzell) finished in sixth place in 3:02.85 minutes and revealed further growth potential.

The victory in the world record time of 2:55.77 minutes was secured by Japan, which improved the previous record set eight years ago by two hundredths of a second. The Netherlands (2:59.06) and Canada (3:00.65) completed the podium.

In Pyeongchang, the German women’s team is hoping for a surprise success. Next February, eight teams will compete against each other at the season’s climax. South Korea hosted the race, and on Friday fifth (3:02.66), has a secure starting position. The highly esteemed Russian women were disqualified in the direct race against the German trio after a fall.

The Olympic tickets will be awarded by the ISU World Federation via a points and time ranking. The results of the first four World Cups are decisive. Further stations are Stavanger/Norway, Calgary/Canada and Salt Lake City/USA.