On Sunday we had the last race in Gross Gerau, the 10km elimination. I ended up finishing third and Mareika won so I finished up second in the overall ranking. At times during the race I felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I ended up having to lead a lot because it was either that or be in about 9 or 10th place in the pack behind the German and Italian teams and sprinting each lap not to be eliminated. Watching some of the elimination races beforehand I thought it was safer to be at the front. A lot of skaters were being caught out and eliminated with big trains swooping off of the corners.
I didn't have any skaters that could sacrifice being eliminated for me so I only had one life. I made it to the final five but had to use a lot of energy. On the last lap I tried to pass Laura up the inside before the final corner. If I could race it again I wouldn't have made that choice but at the time she left the gap open and I took the opportunity but it didn't end up paying off. The problem was I didn't get in front of her enough before the final bend and ended up getting jammed into the edge of the track as she started turning in. I couldn't get full cross overs in so I ended up loosing a lot of my momentum. Mareika wound up around the outside and got the swoop. Laura was still at the front a few meters before the line but neglected to lunge so ended up finishing second.
Bart won the mens elimination and Fabio second, with Bart also taking out the overall ranking.
Overall I was pleased with my results, 5th in the 500m, 3rd in the elimination and 2nd in the points race. I didn't do any specific training on my skates in the off season and haven't worked on speed at all. I generally tend to be stronger on the track than the road so I'm happy with the results from the weekend against World class skaters and national squads.
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