Witty Loses Her Record and Role as the Favorite

Chris Witty might want to be a little more careful about what she wishes for.

Witty, the most decorated speedskater on the U.S. team, said three days ago that she preferred not being in the Olympic favorite’s position, a spot she had reassumed after setting a world record in the 1,000 meters last weekend in Calgary. She hadn’t handled that pressure well at the last Olympics, winning a silver medal while expected to get gold.

Her wish was granted Saturday, but finishing fourth in the 1,000 at the World Single Distance Speedskating Championships left her feeling more disappointed than relieved.

Witty came within one-hundredth of a second of her world record, 1 minute 14.58 seconds, but could not withstand the times at this first test event of the 2002 Utah Olympic Oval, clearly the world’s fastest speedskating rink. World records fell in three of the four events Saturday, bringing the two-day total to four in seven events.

The three medalists in the women’s 1,000 all bettered the old record, led by Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt of Germany in 1:14.13. Garbrecht-Enfeldt beat teammate Sabine Volker by only one-hundredth of a second, and Catriona Le May Doan of Canada was third in 1:14.50.

“This will put the pressure on the other girls for the Olympics,” Witty said. “Sometimes it’s nice to be the underdog and not have people telling you every day you’re going to win the gold medal. Now it will be just, ‘Good luck,’ and that’s it.”

Japan’s Hiroyasu Shimizu, who withstood enormous national pressure to win Olympic gold three years ago in Nagano, can expect more after his performance Saturday.

In the 500 meters, decided by combined time of two races, Shimizu led two men under the old world record in the second race. His time of 34.32 seconds ripped 0.31 seconds off the mark held by Canada’s Jeremy Wotherspoon, who earned silver with a second-race time of 34.52. Casey FitzRandolph of Verona, Wis., lowered his U.S. record to 34.72 to take the bronze.

The remarkably consistent Shimizu, 27, has won the 500 five times in the six-year history of the single-distance meet.

“I think he is the greatest sprinter ever,” FitzRandolph said.

There is no such superstar in the women’s 1,000, where Garbrecht-Enfeldt reclaimed the record she lost to Witty a week ago.

“This will give Chris extra motivation,” said her coach, Tom Cushman. Witty, a 25-year-old from Milwaukee, thought she lost the race in the first 200 meters after false-starting once “because of nerves. On the second start, I sat back so much it messed up my first 200.”

Germany continued its domination of the women’s events with a 1-2 finish in Saturday’s 5,000, as Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann broke her own world record by nearly three seconds with a time of 6:52.44. Niemann-Stirnemann won the 3,000 Friday, and the German women have three gold, four silver and one bronze medal in four races.