THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — Christine Nesbitt had to win the battle with her head before her victory on the speedskating oval.
The 22-year-old from London, Ont., was beset by doubts prior to her 1,500-metre race Saturday at the Essent ISU World Cup, but she shed them in time to earn her second straight gold in that distance this season.
"I was bad nervous probably until an hour and a half before this race," Nesbitt said. "I was thinking about the past, thinking about the future, not thinking about what I had to do.
"I really just kind of let it all go."
Nesbitt hadn’t skated a great 500 metres the previous day, which triggered an onslaught of negative thoughts during her pre-race warmup Saturday: her legs were heavy, she had never skated to her potential at a World Cup on her home track in Calgary and she felt the pressure of expectations that came with her first career World Cup win a week earlier in Salt Lake City.
While she pedalled on the stationary bike between her warmup and race, Nesbitt found some peace of mind.
"I just really tried to focus on remembering how I felt last week and prepared myself mentally," Nesbitt explained. "I’m really happy I got into that state of mind. I was really calm in my race."
"It’s pretty exciting to be able to use the good stuff from last week when I was not feeling great for a while."
It was an important development in the psyche of Nesbitt, who represents the next generation of Canada’s speedskating talent behind Cindy Klassen, Clara Hughes and Jeremy Wotherspoon, and who is very much a medal prospect for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
"She’s getting to be a mature athlete," her coach Marcel Lacroix said. "This summer, we trained really, really hard and she was very disciplined with her training."
Nesbitt’s time was one minute 52.75 seconds. Anni Friesinger of Germany was second in 1:53.09 and Ottawa’s Kristina Groves was third in 1:53.18.
Wotherspoon’s victory in the 500 metres was his fourth straight to open this season and his second in as many days at the Olympic Oval.
The 31-year-old from Red Deer, Alta., took all of last season off from competition and has returned faster than ever. He set a world record of 34.03 in his season-opening race in Salt Lake City on Nov. 9, but was well off it Saturday at 34.24.
"It’s nice to win when you feel like you didn’t race your best," Wotherspoon said. "I think I want to be faster every time I race so sometimes I get a bit frustrated when that doesn’t happen."
American Tucker Fredricks was second in 34.31 and Mika Poutala of Finland was third in 34.39.
Sven Kramer of the Netherlands shattered the world record in the men’s 5,000 metres Saturday, beating it by more than four seconds in a time of 6:03.32.
It was the second world mark to fall at the Oval on the weekend after Germany’s Jenny Wolf set a standard in the women’s 500 metres the previous day.<.
Kramer had been the world-record holder until Enrico Fabris of Italy took it from him in the season-opener on Nov. 10 in Salt Lake City. His time of 6:07.40 seconds was .08 seconds better than Kramer’s.
The 21-year-old Dutchman skated like a man bent on reclaiming the world record and he did so in resounding fashion. Kramer was so exhausted after crossing the finish line that he collapsed into the safety barriers around the Oval.
"I was disappointed from last week because it was so close," Kramer said. "Fabris did a really good job last week and I was not good enough to beat his time last week.
"Today was really important for me. I was focused the whole week for this race and this moment."
Fabris was second Saturday in 6:06.42 and Kramer’s Dutch teammate Carl Verheijen was third in 6:11.15..
Earlier, Germany’s Jenny Wolf won the women’s 500 metres for the second straight day in a time of 37.15, which was .13 seconds off her world-record time. China’s Beijing Wang was second in 37.55 and Annette Gerritsen of the Netherlands was third in 37.63.
The World Cup concludes Sunday with the men’s and women’s 1,000 metres and the team pursuits.