Hello speed skating enthusiasts!
It’s been a wild week. World Championships brought us
some massive upsets, some huge chokes, and a whole lot of movement in the
league standings. Who came out ahead? Who is falling behind? And how much of
this is self inflicted?
I’ll start today by going over the
Top Skaters of
the Weekend
. Next, I take a look at the
Shitters of WSD.
Following
this, I’ll take the opportunity to point out all the embarrassing
Management Mistakes
that you all made (spoiler: a lot of you made mistakes).
No
Power Ranking
update for this post, but it’s
coming soon. I’ll get that out in time for the final competition of the season,
World Allround and Sprint Championships in Inzell, Germany in three weeks. I
also promise to release an update
Injury and Free Agent Tracker
in the
next few days. For now, though, let’s take a look at the World Championships
that’s just wrapped up.
Top Skaters of the Weekend
Who were the best skaters this weekend? For this list,
I’m not just going to go through the top 10 skaters in the skater rankings. Skaters
like Mommy Miho, Ghiotto, Roest, and Blondin all showed up and earned some
serious points, but nothing beyond what was expected of them. On the other
hand, some lower-earning skaters put up big points compared to where they stand
in the skater rankings. These are the picks that make a good team great, and so
the focus here is on finding skaters who made an outsized impact on their teams.
Honourable Mention:
Danielo Di Stefano (80 points) –
If you had told me a year ago that Di Stefano would be relevant by now, I wouldn’t
have believed you. If you told me two days ago that he would get top 5 in the
men’s 1500m, I would have thought you were insane. And if you thought that his
only shot at earning a single point this weekend was shot down early by his
fall three laps into his mass start semi-final, you probably have a head on
your shoulders. But this kid somehow managed to put up 80 points this weekend.
Only reason I won’t place him on the list is because he’s never been drafted or
picked up by a team in our league.
Honourable Mention:
Yang Binyu (116 points) –
Wait,
who? Seriously, who the fuck is this? And how did they earn so many points? The
five skaters directly
after
Yang in the WSD skater rankings are Min-Sun
Kim, Femke Kok, Jutta Leerdam, Ragne Wiklund, and Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong.
That is an absolutely stacked up field full of first and second round picks. Like
Di Stefano, Yang was born a Free Agent and is still a free agent. She was
featured on the last Free Agent Tracker and no one made a move. Sucks to suck!
10.
Livio Wenger (60 Points)
– When people
think about World Champs medalist, Switzerland never crosses their mind. And
rightly so, because Switzerland doesn’t exactly have any good skaters. Yet,
Livio continued an impressive mass start season to claim a bronze medal
(despite falling on the home straight and jumping back to his feet with a
little help from his opponents). The fact that Livio is a free agent in every
pool but one shows how much of an overperformance the majority of the league
thought his bronze medal was.
9.
Irene Schouten (280)
– I know I just said
that top skaters that were expected to do well wouldn’t make this list, but
there’s a strong case for Schouten. She fell in one of her races and still
managed to put up 280 points out of 300. That’s insane. Considering she
finished 80 points ahead of the next best skater (none other than Mommy Miho),
I think Schouten deserves mad respect this weekend.
8.
Graeme Fish (60)
– The one-hit-wonder is now
a two-hit-wonder. Based on his current WSD medal pace, I’m already looking
forward to his 2028 World Championships medal. With his performance this past
weekend, you now only need about 13 Graemers to make up for one Stolz. That’s a
quick improvement from the 175 Graemers that you needed a week ago!
7.
Jordan Stolz (320)
– Much like Schouten,
this guy kinda goes against my preamble. But 320 points out of 300 is record
breaking. He’s earning points at a rate that even a first-round pick shouldn’t be
able to.
6.
Sablikova (120)
– With a pair of medals from
the 3000m and 5000m, Sablikova now has 50% more individual World Single Distance
Championships medals than either Ireen Wust or Spence Kreamer. That’s a pretty
impressive achievement. She also put up the 18
th
most points this
weekend after getting drafted in the middle rounds of the draft. Any team with
Sablikova on it is just that much deeper.
5.
Isabelle Weidemann (124)
– Despite the early
season struggles, Izzy came back with a vengeance at Worlds. She set the standard
early in both the 3000m and 5000m events and came out with a silver medal in
the first of the two. Though her improvements have been visible over the past
few events, her points haul was a nice departure from her fall points pace.
4.
Laurent Dubreuil (128) –
He may not have
been able to give Stolz much of a run for his money in the 500m, but a pair of
great races have reestablished Larry as the favourite to win World Sprints. After
failing to earn a single point in the 1000m all World Cup season, 4
th
place and 48 points in the distance looks pretty damn good.
3.
Damian Zurek (96) –
An historic Polish
bronze medal in the 500m and a respectable 1000m combined for the 23
rd
highest points total for the weekend. Tied with Antoinette? Yup. Within 5 points
of Ragne, Femke, and Jutta? Yup. That’s pretty impressive company for a guy who
has never cracked the top 50 in the skater rankings before.
2.
Joy Beune (160) –
She only qualified for two
individual distances and they happened to be on the same day. Nonetheless, Joy
took down Schouten in the 5000m with one of the most ambitious and impressive races
I’ve ever seen. Then, with the weight of the 5000m in her legs, she claimed a
medal in the 1500m ahead of a bunch of rested skaters: Antoinette, Groenewoud, Blondin,
Sato, and Goetz. Insanity. Also pretty crazy that this performance didn’t earn
her the top spot on this list, but someone else also had a pretty incredible weekend.
1.
Mei Han (196) –
A 7
th
place
finish in the 3000m had me worried that Han was headed for an underwhelming
weekend, but then she popped off with a pair of bronze medals in the middle distances.
Beating the defending 1000m champ Jutta and making Antoinette and Goetz look
irrelevant in the process was about as unexpected a result as possible. For a
skater picked mostly in the 7
th
round, a 4
th
place finish
in the World Champs skater rankings (only 4 points back from Miho) is nothing
short of incredible.
Shitters of WSD
Much like the last list, we don’t care too much about
which skaters got the absolute lowest number of points. A first-round pick
snagging a few more points than a bench-rider isn’t a great look, even if they
technically got more points. So, who sucked more than they should have?
Honourable Mention:
Brittany Bowe (40)
– Averaging
20 points a race (ie averaging non-top-10 finishes) is a big departure from the
Bowe we all know and love. The cracks have been starting to show for a few
years now, but she also managed to stay in the top-6 at every previous 1000m
this season and finished 3
rd
in the classification. But, like I
said, the cracks have been starting to show for a bit so I guess we can’t be
too too surprised.
10.
Marijke Groenewoud (140) –
Wait, you’re
telling me that 140 points, good enough for 12
th
, is an
underperformance?
Yes, yes I am. Not an insane underperformance, but
Marijke had a shot at three podium finishes this weekend and managed to lock
down only a bronze medal (and even that one by only 0.06 seconds ahead of Ms
Nobody aka Yang Binyu). Could this have gone even worse? Definitely. But there
was also a lot of ceiling left above her performance.
9.
Valerie Maltais (88) –
Based on pre-season expectations,
this would have actually been pretty respectable. But Val finished in the top 4
in four different distances at various World Cups and the expectations had gone
up significantly. She only scored about 30 points more than she was earning at
Worlds a few years back, despite being a much stronger skater now and also having
added the 1500m and the 5000m to her repertoire (therefore doubling her
distances). This wasn’t a terrible points haul, but she only managed to earn
about double her regular points per distance on a weekend with 4x points so I’d
say this wasn’t exactly an ideal weekend.
8.
Vanessa Herzog (56) –
Last year’s expectations
had long since been dampened, but missing the top 10 in a relatively weak women’s
500m field is a tough look. Imagine how bad things could have been if the Russians
and Belarusians were back.
7.
Yuma Murakami (28) –
Mr Consistent managed
to go 9 for 10 at the World Cups with top-5 finishes. The only miss was an 8
th
place stinker earlier in the season. This World Champs race was even worse than
that. Nuff said.
6.
Erin Jackson (52) –
With a history of clutch
races, she was one of the three favourites to win the 500m. She finished 5
th
,
which isn’t awful but cost her over half the points that she really had a shot
at earning. Her 1000m didn’t do her any favours (though, admittedly, we never
expect much from her 1000m anyways).
5.
Jutta Leerdam (100) –
For a unanimous top-3 overall
draft pick, 20
th
in the weekend rankings at the biggest weekend of
the year just isn’t enough. She hadn’t posted this low of a point total since
2019, back when she was just finished her junior career. Last year’s gold-bronze
performance may not have been in the books again, but 120 points would have
been considered rock bottom not too long ago. She managed to hit sub-rock
bottom.
4.
Hallgeir Engebraten (24) –
He medaled at
the most recent World Cup. He showed at the Beijing Olympics that he can be incredibly
clutch. He also has a knack for missing races, which really showed this
weekend. An underwhelming 5000m and a pair of scratches on Sunday earns this
frustrating Norwegian a spot on this list. You never know which version of
Hallgeir you’ll get: middling? really fast? or absent? He managed to combine
the two bad options this weekend.
3.
Jenning de Boo (16)
– This kid dusted
everyone at Dutch Trials, popped off at Europeans, posted some very impressive
and consistent results on the World Cup Circuit, and then forgot how to skate
fast when things mattered most. Better luck next year buddy!
2.
Ragne Wiklund (100) –
There are very few
skaters on the circuit that I expect steady points from more than I do from Ragne.
There are also very few skaters on the circuit that tend to show up at Worlds
and fuck on the competition more than Ragne. With three races in distances that
she has historically medaled in a lot, she pulled off a pair of meh long-distance
races and then narrowly beat Abi McCluskey in the 1500m. She had a chance at
clearing 200 points this weekend and clearly fell very, very short of that.
1.
Tatsuya Shinhama (40) –
I’ll admit that his
1000m was fine – nothing crazy but definitely not bad. But that 500m? Good
enough for zero points? Losing to Yankun Zhao, Haonon Du, and Zach Stoppelmoor?
Like what the actual fuck? For perspective, the only Canadians to rank lower
than him in a distance this weekend were Alison Demarais and Heather Carruthers
– hardly the company expected for a skater who was probably the favourite to
win World Sprints a week ago. Even Jordan Belchos managed to crack the top 20.
Jesus Christ.
Management Mistakes (aka You Suck and This
is Why)
Lots of you made mistakes. In fact, it was almost most
of you. Some of you even made multiple mistakes. Over 20 skaters on the bench
earned more points than an active skater on the same roster. That’s pretty embarrassing
for a bunch of self-proclaimed speed skating professionals. You should all be
ashamed!
I’ll limit this list to the top 15 mistakes of the weekend.
I’ll also mention off the top that Dad’s team didn’t make this list. In fact,
Dad made no mistakes this weekend. Oh, the joy of having multiple skaters not
show up to race at Worlds! At least it makes setting your roster easier. I
digress though. What I mean to say is that all of the following people are
stupider than Dad.
15.
Jake and Dylan – Benched Liiv to skate Chung (missed
out on 16 points)
I get the thought here: Chung can actually win stuff
so he’s got a higher ceiling than Liiv. Honestly, I probably would have done
the same. I’m just looking for an excuse to point out that the managers in
first place are actually idiots and are making constant mistakes and yada yada
yada.
14. Kiersten and Hayleigh – Benched Hoolwerf
to skate Chung (missed 24 points)
It takes a lot of skill to know who is going to win
more points in the mass start. Not luck, but skill. Clearly this is something
that these two managers are lacking.
13. Sam – Benched Kojima to skate Bosker
(missed 28 points)
Kojima is one of the greatest Japanese sprinters of
all time. Bosker is some random Dutch joker that keeps getting selected to race
things like the Olympics and World Cup mass starts despite not actually doing
the hard work of being good at skating and qualifying on his own merit. This was
a reckless and stupid mistake.
12. Cody – Benched Hoolwerf to skate de
Boo (missed 28 points)
Imagine benching a guy who medaled at Worlds last year,
hit the podium at half the World Cups this year, and has only finished outside
the top 4 once in the past 12 months (and even that result was because of a
fall) and then, in his place, choosing to skate some kid who has never skated
World Champs before and couldn’t even crack the top 4 at Juniors last year. Imagine
doing that? Most of us have to imagine what it’s like to do that, but not Cody.
Cody KNOWS what it’s like.
11. Jill – Benched Huizinga to skate
Verkerk (missed 36 points)
I’ll admit, I didn’t think Huizinga would do as well
as he did. But Verkerk wasn’t even racing, so this should have been a no-brainer.
10. Paul – Benched Liiv to skate Kazuya Yamada
(missed 36 points)
Liiv has something like 65 national speed skating
records. Kazuya has the highest ratio of strides taken to arms swung in the
entire league. Should this not have been an obvious decision?
9. Rob – Benched Dijs to skate Qishi
(missed 40 points)
Dijs is one of those classic, solid Dutch skaters. Guy
may not necessarily win (especially in the Stolz era) but he’s one of a few skaters
in the men’s mid-distances who, if they are present, will earn your team points.
On the other hand we have Qishi who quit the international racing circuit back
in November, won a bunch of prize money at China Winter Games, and used that
money to start an underground sex club somewhere in the suburbs of Changchun. This
should have been one of the easier choices on the list. I now have serious
concerns about how much intelligence is needed to receive a PhD in engineering.
8. Brooke – Benched Prins to skate
Otterspeer (missed 44 points)
They compete in similar distances, but that’s just about
where the similarities end. Prins has been on a heater, Otterspeer is kinda
washed. Prins is young and strong, Otterspeer is old (but still strong I guess).
Prins qualified to race in Calgary, Otterspeer did not. Prins is pretty friggin
ugly, Otterspeer is arguably the hottest piece of manflesh on the circuit.
Prins is probably still a virgin, Otterspeer is allegedly fucking Femke Kok
(when he’s not too busy fucking his wife). I originally thought this would have
been an easy choice but now I’m not so sure….
7. Charlotte – Dropped Prins for Morozova
and skated Morozova (missed 44 points)
Brooke only benched Prins, but Charlotte went the
extra step and dropped him. His replacement? Some absent shitter who hasn’t been
seen at a circuit event for a few months. She only missed 44 points this
weekend, but had the distinct pleasure of missing even more than that if we were
to count other events in this ranking list.
6. Darby – Benched Jorrit to skate Krol (missed
44 points)
Drafting Jorrit this year was already an L, but if you
have him on your team then you may a well use him when he’s racing. Especially when
he’s competing in a distance that: 1) he has a history of success in, and 2) has
only 12 competing skaters in it, so even a fall would earn him 16 points. Also,
Krol was nowhere near making WSD so this was essentially a decision between guaranteed
points and guaranteed no-points. Hmmm, tough choice.
So, up to this point, none of these decisions were
that crippling. Any mistake under 50 points can pretty easily be recovered.
Maybe one of these decisions will be the difference between someone landing
either in or out of the money, but this will have to already be close. Keep in
mind that half the league made mistakes, so maybe you lost 36 points but the
manager right next to you in the standings lost 28, so it’s pretty much a wash.
Not all mistakes were harmless though. Things pick up
pretty quickly from here. These last five managers made mistakes that will
likely have a legitimate impact on the standings.
5. Rachel – Benched Gelinas-Beaulieu to
skate McDermott-Mostowy (missed 72 points)
Like this manager, I also often mix up my North American
skaters with egregiously long and hyphenated last names. What I don’t mix up is
skaters with a history of strong WSD performances and skaters who would be
lucky to get a participation ribbon. I’ll forgive this one a little bit since
Tony was masquerading as a shitter all season long, but 72 points is a lot to
miss out on. This manager would be in the top half of the league right now if
these two skaters had been swapped.
4. Luca – Benched both Gelinas-Beaulieu
and Huizinga to skate both Henriksen and Speijers (missed 116 points)
There are so many problems with this. Rachel at least benched
Tony to skate someone who was racing (and admittedly earned 8 points). Luca
benched Tony and another skater who was actually at Worlds so that he could
skate two guys who weren’t even on the entry list. Making matters even worse,
Luca is treading water near the bottom of the league. 116 points is a lot for
any team, even the teams up in the top of the league. But, for a manager who
averaged only 107 points per World Cup, this mistake essentially set him back more
than an entire weekend of racing.
3. Peter – Benched Weidemann to skate Pearman
(missed 124 points)
If Team Sprint counted for points, this would have
been a much less questionable decision. But, alas, it doesn’t. So now Peter is
down 124 points since he wanted nothing to do with Izzy’s amazing silver medal
performance in the 3000m nor her rock-solid top-5 finish in the 5000m. The
craziest part? Peter still earned the most points at WSD. If he had skated Izzy,
he would have gapped the rest of the league at Worlds by a very impressive 132
points and would currently be sitting in 3
rd
in the league standings
with a bit of breathing room to protect a potential $55 payout at the end of
the season. There is a very high chance that this mistake is going to cost
Peter quite a bit of prize money.
2. Christian – Dropped Han for Masaya Yamada,
then Dropped Yamada for Gao, then had to skate Inagawa (missed 172 points)
This train wreck started back at the first World Cup
of the season. Some of the worst team management decisions ever seen in this league
resulted in Inagawa coming in to skate at Worlds when it could have been Mei
Han. The result? Inagawa’s half decent 24 points were no where near the 196
that Han earned. Han earned the 4
th
most this weekend, Inagawa didn’t
even crack the top 60. Christian would be 7 spots higher if he had been able to
skate Han this past weekend. If we look at the points lost from not being able
to skate Han since WC1, that turns into almost 15 spots.
1. Lindsey – Benched both Roest and Goetz
to skate Lollobrigida and Lorentzen (missed 268 points)
As I was putting the weekend’s results up on Sunday
night, I was horrified to find out that Lindsey had benched her top two draft
picks. Roest and Goetz skated a combined six distances of which they were
strong medal contenders in four. They both finished in the top 10 in skater
points this weekend, raking in a combined 300 points. Lorentzen mitigated a
teeny-tiny bit of the damage, while Lollobrigida is 8 time zones away spending
time with her family. Every year, someone fucks up really badly at World Champs
and leaves someone pretty good on the bench by accident. This takes the cake by
a mile. Maybe even ten miles. Lindsey was paying enough attention to put her
two superstars on the bench for the Quebec World Cup (neither of them attended
it) but then failed to put her roster back in order for WSD. This cost her 268
points, nine spots on the leaderboard, and a lot of respect.
That’s all for today, folks. I’ll be back in the
coming days with some updated trackers, maybe some other stuff. Eventually I’ll
get the update
Crappy Tire Power Rankings
out. Though most of the
season’s points have been paid out, about half the league still has a shot at
earning some money this year. If you’ve still got some free agent slots, make
sure to make some changes before World Sprints and Allrounds in March.
Cheers,
Dad