Russia's Denis Yuskov broke the men's 1,500-meter world record in the World Cup speedskating event at the Utah Olympic Oval. Yuskov finished in 1 minute, 41.02 seconds to break the mark of 1:41.04 set by American Shani Davis on the same ice in a World Cup race on Dec 11, 2009. Dutchman Koen Verweij was second in 1:41.63, and countryman Thomas Krol was third in 1:42.63. American Joey Mantia was fourth in 1:42.77, Davis 13th, and American Brian Hansen was 16th. Mantia, who said he was battling a cold, slipped a couple of times during his race. He was paired with Yuskov in the final pairing and couldn't keep up with the Russian skater after the initial lap.
"I haven't really been myself the last couple of days," Mantia said.
"I don't know if that had any bearing on the race. I was just a little bit out of it today.
Japan's Miho Takagi won the women's 1,500 in 1:51.49. Marrit Leenstra of the Netherlands was second in 1:52.31, and Russia's Yekaterina Shikhova finished third in 1:52.86. Brittany Bowe, the lone U.S. skater competing, was 13th. She finished in 1:55.49, her best 1500 time in nearly two years. Bowe said her speed isn't where she wants it to be yet, but feels like she can keep making up ground before the Olympics in February.
"We've got two more months and I'm confident that if I can have two solid months, without any more obstacles, that we'll be right where we want to be," Bowe said. Japan's Nao Kodaira won the women's 500 for the second time in two days. Kodaira finished in 36.54. South Korea's Lee Sang-Hwa was second to Kodaira again, finishing in 36.79. Japan's Arisa Go was third in 37.05. Mitchell Whitmore and Sugar Todd were the only U.S. skaters competing in the 500s. Whitmore finished ninth in the men's race. Todd was 18th in the women's race. Russia's Ruslan Murashov finished in 34.02 to win the men's 500. Dutchman Kai Verbij was second at 34.13, followed by countryman Dai Dai Ntab at 34.15. South Korea's Seung-Hoon Lee won the men's mass start at 7:58.22. Switzerland's Livio Wenger was second. Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida took the women's race in 8:53.49. China's Dan Guo was second.
