The 500m heats were first up and the quarters and semi's followed soon after. With so many competitors and a tight time schedule everything was run pretty quickly often with no chance to actually warm up on skates.
In the first round of the 500's I finished second behind Erica Zanetti, who broke the 300m World record the night before. Round two second behind Jersy Puello, who was second the night before in the 300m. The third round was stacked, I had Jersy, Erin Jackson, Cecilia and Thum. All skaters that have had medals at either Junior or Senior World Championships and three of them (that I know of, 4 including me) that have placed in that particular event. I finished second behind Jersy and the time was good enough to qualify for the final.
I didn't have the legs to match the girls in the final and finished fifth, Jersy won and Sabine Berg second. The other finalists were Zanetti and Paola (Colombia).
The men's 500 final was stacked with four skaters from Powerslide and Bart. Munoz lead from the start and no one ever looked like passing him. Kwinten Tas surprised everyone, maybe even himself finishing up second and a wobbly Kalon third.
I qualified comfortably in the 5km points race heats, 15 from each heat went through to the final.
The final was tough, I felt like I was at a World Championships on the start line. Colombians to one side, three Italians in front of me, a team of Germans and skaters even wearing radios. It was hard against all the strong national teams with numerous skaters. The early points I got I had to work hard for because I was being marked by a skater. I then managed to get on a few small breaks and collect some points but with no one to catch me in the pack it was hard to recover. I led on points for most of the race until the last sprint, Mareika won the last sprint collecting three points and winning the race. I was second and Di Eugenio third. I was pretty pleased with the race, it was always going to be tough racing against teams of four and five skaters.
The men's race was packed with strong teams but the Powerslide Express (as the announcer called them) couldn't stop Bart Swings and I think Ferre finished second. The men's race was only 5km as well, by the time I got off the track and took my skates off I only managed to see the final sprint.
Tomorrow we have the 10km elimination, I'm not sure how the overall points system works and couldn't find official results before I left the track but I think I'm leading and Mareika in second.
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