Speed skater Nico Ihle finished his training three weeks before the start of the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang (9th place). till 25. February) celebrated an important success, but missed the hoped-for medal. On the final day of the home World Cup in Erfurt, the Chemnitz sprinted over 1000 m in a strong 1:08.98 minutes to the ungrateful fourth place.
Ihle, who underpinned his medal ambitions for South Korea with an increase in performance this weekend, was defeated by World Champion Kjeld Nuis (Netherlands/1:08.40), Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (Norway/1:08.66) and the Russian Denis Juskow (1:08.95). Joel Dufter (Inzell) finished 17th in 1:10,75 minutes as the second German starter. Place.
Before his good 1000 m run, Ihle had already convinced over 500 m on Sunday. Fifth in 35.05 seconds to bronze and the Canadian Alex Boisvert-Lacroix (35.00) only needed five hundredths of a second.
The victory was won by Lorentzen (34.85) ahead of Dutch World Champion Jan Smeekens (34.95).
Ihle was considerably faster in his sprint than in the debacle two days earlier, when he was only 17th on the grid due to technical errors. Rank (35,62).