Gustafsson Sets Skating Record, Then Loses It

When Swedish speed skater Tomas Gustafsson woke up Friday morning, his legs hurt and he felt awful.

Friday afternoon, Gustafsson set a world record on the indoor Olympic Oval here.

“I’ll never trust my legs again,” Gustafsson said.

Two pairs of skaters later, Gustafsson was a former world record-holder. Geir Karlstad of Norway broke Gustafsson’s minutes-old world mark in the 5,000 meters with a time of 6 minutes 43.59 seconds in what amounted to a record-setting opening day at the Calgary World Cup.

Gustafsson, who won the 5,000-meter Olympic gold medal at Sarajevo in 1984, had not been skating well since, but his time of 6:44:51 nevertheless broke his personal best by more than 15 seconds.

“People a few weeks ago didn’t think I could skate this fast,” Gustafsson said. “Neither did I.”

Karlstad, whose 6:45:44 was the world’s best in the 5,000 meters until Gustafsson’s race, learned he had been displaced while warming up.

“I was confident that maybe I could skate as fast,” he said. “I was thinking about skating, not the record. At 3,000 meters I felt very tired, but I did it.”

Meanwhile, American Bonnie Blair didn’t do it, although she came close.

Blair, 23, of Champaign, Ill., world record-holder in the 500 meters, came within a hundredth of a second of matching her world mark, winning in 39.44 seconds.

In something of a surprise, American Nick Thometz of Minnetonka, Minn., finished a disappointing eighth in the men’s 500 meters, the event in which he holds the world record.

Blair knew she wouldn’t get her record early in the race, slipping slightly as she skated into the first turn.

“My momentum slowed down a little bit,” she said. “I could have gone a little bit faster and definitely broken the record.”

A pair of East Germans trailed Blair. Christa Rothenburger finished in 39:48 and Karin Kania was third in 39:99.

Kania, the world record-holder in both the 1,000- and 1,500-meter races, came back a little later and won the 1,500 with a time of 2:00.16, which was .86 off her record 1:59.30 time.

Blair, a sprint veteran but a newcomer to the 1,500, was third, skating a 2:03.92, her personal best.

“I’m starting to feel more confident about that race,” she said. “And I sure feel at home on this track.”

The Olympic Oval is the rink that will be used for the Olympic speed skating events in February, when, for the first time in the Winter Games, speed skating will be held indoors.

Blair expects that the track, protected from the elements, is going to produce world records, not only this weekend, but during the Olympics as well.

“World records are definitely in the future,” she said. “If I’m going that fast now, I know for sure I can go faster later on.”

She said the 500-meter record is sure to be shattered.

“(The track) is definitely that fast,” Blair said. “If things go well for me, I think I can break 39 (seconds).”

Blair’s world record of 39.43 is not even her personal best. She skated to a 39.28 in the Soviet Union in March, but her time was unofficial because the meet was not recognized by the International Speedskating Assn.

If records are indeed set, the Olympic Oval will be largely responsible, Blair said.

“There’s no wind, for sure,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about rain or snow. The ice conditions stay the same throughout, whether you skate in the first pair or the last. That also makes it fair all the way around.”

In the men’s 500 meters, Ki-Tae Bae of South Korea was a surprise winner. Yukihiro Mitani of Japan was second and Guy Thibault of Canada third.

Thometz, who didn’t skate in last weekend’s Butte, Mont., World Cup because of the flu, said he just had a poor race and his illness was not the reason.

Bae’s time of 36:97 was well off Thometz’s world record time of 36:55.

“He’s been around for a while, but he really seems to have improved a lot,” Thometz said of Bae. “He was skating real good for this time of year, but it’s real early yet. Let’s see what he does later.”

Dan Jansen, 21, of West Allis, Wis., also skated a disappointing race, finishing 10th. Jansen blamed the ice and said it seemed as though there was too much water on it.

“I was slipping, even during warm-ups,” Jansen said. “I knew I wasn’t even able to push very hard, and that’s the whole race.”