2007 World Allround Speed Skating Championships
2007 World Allround Speed Skating Championships
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2007 World Allround Speed Skating Championships

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2007 World Allround Speed Skating Championships

The 2007 World Allround Speed Skating Championships were held in the indoor arena Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands on 9–11 February 2007. The Championships were three-day allround events, with the skaters completing four distances before the final championship standings are determined based on the samalog system. The organising body, the Royal Dutch Speed Skating Association [nl] (KNSB), celebrated its 125-year anniversary with full stands on all three days.

Athletes from the host country, the Netherlands, won both the men's and the women's event; Sven Kramer set a world record on the men's 10,000 metres on his way to the European and World Allround double, while Ireen Wüst won by nearly two points after being narrowly beaten by Martina Sáblíková at the European Championships. For the first time since 1979, the male and female World Champion came from the same country. Defending champion Shani Davis finished sixth after losing time on the two longest distances, while former sprint World Champion Erben Wennemars debuted at the World Allround Championships with a fifth place. Last year's female champion, Cindy Klassen, finished third, a quarter of a point behind Anni Friesinger, who did not compete in 2006.

World Championships debutant Wennemars won from the last pair, just ahead of Morrison (silver in 2006) and Davis (gold in 2006). European Champion Kramer, who won the bronze medal in 2006, finished fifth, more than a second closer to the lead than in 2006, after setting a new personal best time of 36.41. From the fourth of twelve pairs, 2004 champion Hedrick took the lead with his time of 36.77, but still finished twelfth, nine places down from 2006.

In 2006, Kramer had won this distance by a hundredth of a second over Hedrick, and half a second over fourth-placed Davis. Now, Kramer was dominant, clocking a time which Verheijen in the final pair could only come within four seconds of. Davis finished 14 seconds adrift, falling down to third in the overall standings after the first day, while Fabris in second had also lost to Kramer compared to 2006. Ervik, distance fifth in 2006 only a couple of seconds behind Kramer, opened at 1500-metre pace and slowed down considerably, falling all the way down to ninth.

This became Kramer's weakest distance of the championship, weak enough to allow Fabris to catch up in the overall standings before the final distance. The distance between the two before the final distance was 1.26 seconds, half a second more than in Collalbo. Kramer and Fabris skated in the last pair; before that, Wennemars had set a track record with 1:45.19 in the tenth pair. Davis finished fourth, three places down compared to Calgary, and needed to beat Wennemars on the 10,000 to take bronze - while also keeping Verheijen within 12 seconds, though Verheijen had beaten Davis by ten seconds over the half-distance. Hedrick's thirteenth place meant he was not good enough to qualify for the final distance, but his win over Canadian Justin Warsylewicz in the allround total, however, kept Warsylewicz out of the final distance.

In the final pair, Kramer, who set a world record at the 2006 Championship, now bettered that world record by a second to become the first to skate 10 km below 12:50. Kramer only required to skate 13:12 to become world champion, but in the final pair he and Verheijen were in a class of their own. Verheijen beat Fabris by 15 seconds, but needed to beat him by 19 seconds to take the silver medal, thus the allround podium was identical to that at the European Championships. Ervik finished on the podium on the 10,000 metres for the first time in any race this season, but did not advance significantly in the final standings.

NQ = Not qualified for the 10000 m (only the best 12 are qualified)
DQ = disqualified

Friesinger, the three-time gold medallist from the World Championships, turned up for the first time since 2005 and did so by winning the first distance, just like in 2005 when she won all four distances. With 38.44, Wüst got her best 500 metre performance at a World Championships, while defending champion Klassen, who had then beaten all opponents by over a second at this distance, finished third.

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