WINTER OLYMPICS : Rothenburger Wins 1,000-Meter Race; Bonnie Blair Third

Bonnie Blair, the United States’ one-woman speed skating army, travels on her stomach as well as her skates, but Friday night she might have spread her peanut butter and jelly a little too thin.

Christa Rothenburger and Karin Kania, two East Germans from Dresden, broke the world record and Blair’s chance for a second gold medal as if they were shattering a place setting of china.

Rothenburger won the 1,000-meter speed skating race and took the gold medal in a surprising upset. Kania lost not only her world record, but also her position as the pre-eminent women’s speed skater in the world.

Kania got the silver medal. Even though she bettered her world record with a time of 1:17.70, she still lost to Rothenburger by five-hundredths of a second. Rothenburger’s time was 1:17.65.

Blair finished third in 1:18.31. That was good enough for the bronze medal and also good enough for Blair, who is the United States’ only double-medalist in the Olympics.

“I wasn’t really expecting me to win the gold in this race,” Blair said. “To get another medal for myself and for the U.S. was a pretty good thing to happen, I’d say.”

On Monday, Blair won a gold medal in the 500-meter race after she had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast. Blair had another one before the 1,000-meter race.

Yet even though the breakfast was the same, the distance of the race was not.

“My legs tightened up pretty much, and it was a hard last corner for me,” Blair said.

“I was really happy with my race, though,” she said. “I beat my personal best by 1.2 seconds. This is not really my best race . . . not like the 500. In this race, I’m the type of skater who has to start fast and then just hope I hold on.”

Her grip didn’t last very long. Blair got to hold onto the top time until Kania skated in the next pair. Kania’s time bumped Blair to second and then Rothenburger bumped both of them by having the time of her life.

There wasn’t any way Blair’s time would hold up, she told herself after she had finished her race, not with Kania and Rothenburger still to skate.

“They’re unbelievable,” Blair said.

Kania’s defeat was also pretty hard to believe. She had not lost a 1,000-meter race in more than a year, but Kania faded badly in Tuesday’s 3,000-meter race and speculation arose that she was ill.

When Kania received her silver medal, she began to cough. Kania did not talk with the media after the race. However, Rothenburger said Kania is all right.

“Karen is in very good condition, and she proved that tonight,” Rothenburger said. “She could have won, but in the end, I won.”

Around the track she skated, her gold medal virtually assured because no one after her offered a serious challenge. Rothenburger’s coach and fiance, Ernst Luding, greeted her on the victory lap.

Luding lost his balance and fell to the ice.

“In all this happiness, I guess that can happen,” Rothenburger said.

In a matter of months, Rothenburger may be cycling her way across the pages of the record book. A member of the national team in cycling, Rothenburger is the 1986 women’s world sprint champion and she will compete in that event at the Olympics in Seoul.

Only one other person has won gold medals in winter and summer Olympics. American Eddie Eagan won a gold medal in boxing in the 1920 Games at Antwerp, Belgium. He won another gold in 1932 at Lake Placid, N.Y., in the four-man bobsled.

Rothenburger could be cycling in Eagan’s tracks. “I have only completed one of my wishes,” she said. “The second will come in September or October (in Seoul).”

The United States could not have wished for much better in the 1,000. If Blair was satisfied with her medal, the U.S. team also placed two other skaters in the top 10. Leslie Bader was seventh, and Katie Class was eighth.

Blair races tonight in the 1,500 meters, another longer race and one in which her best chance may be for another bronze.

“I just hope I can get another personal best,” she said. “If I can do that, I’ll be satisfied.”