Maybritt Vigl in action. © Leo Holzknecht / Adolf Bertolini

Italy's speed skating juniors shine in Klobenstein

The Junior Speed ​​Skating World Cup on Ritten opened on Saturday with competitions in the 1000 and 3000 meter distances as well as the mixed relays. Athletes from a wide variety of nations won, with the big highlights certainly being the victory of the Italian Laura Peveri in the 3000 meters in the neo-seniors and the mixed relay victory in the same age group.

02 December 2023

From: pm

22-year-old Laura Peveri from Lombardy relegated Norway's Julie Berg Sjobrend and Austria's Anna Molnar to second and third place, leaving Sjobrend behind by a respectable margin of 1,91 seconds. The Italian team, which also included Maybritt Vigl, Carmen Thurner and Romedius Thurner from Rittner, also had some top 10 placements as well as the final mixed relay victory for Federica Mattei and Mattia Bernabe in the neo-seniors.

The first day of the race didn't start quite as the organizers wanted. In the morning there was a thick fog over the ice ring in Klobenstein, then there was heavy snowfall at times. But because all the helpers and even the trainers from the various 27 nations worked diligently and cleared the ice surface again and again, this obstacle was also overcome. The Junior World Cup opened with the 1000 meter distance. In the women's category, Meike Veen from the Netherlands won in the juniors category. In the Neo-Senior category, Kazakh Inessa Shumekova was named the winner. Rittner Maybritt Vigl finished in 15th place among the juniors. In the men's category, the South Koreans Kyungmin Koo (Juniors) and Kyungrea Kim (Neo-Senior) delivered the best times, and Romedius Thurner from Rittner achieved tenth place in the Neo-Seniors.

Carmen Thurner took 26th place. © Adolf Bertolini

Around midday the weather changed and at times the sun even peeked out from the dense cloud cover. There were top conditions on the Ritten Arena ice ring for the 3000 meters. The Norwegian Aurora Grinden Lovas and the Czech Metodej Jilek made the best use of this in the juniors. As already mentioned, the Italian Peveri won in the Neo-Senior category, while Gabriel Groß from Germany prevailed in the men's category. A local hero was also at the start again: Carmen Thurner finished 26th among the juniors.

Bitter pill for Maybritt Vigl

Maybritt Vigl was also involved in the final mixed relay, but things didn't go quite as planned. She and her partner Lorenzo Minari were disqualified in the junior relay after a transition error. The Dutch duo Meike Veen/Ties Van Seumeren took victory ahead of South Korea (Leewon Lim/Eunwoo Ko) and Norway (Aurora Grinden Lovas/Finn Elias Hanneberg). There was a home win to celebrate in the Neo-Seniors category. The two Italians Federica Mattei and Mattia Bernabe took first place ahead of South Korea (Seoyeon Cho/Kyungrae Kim) and Spain (Sara Cabrera/Alexander Rezzonico).

The second day of racing is scheduled for Sunday on the Ritten Arena ice ring. It starts at 9 a.m. with the semi-finals in the mass start, followed by the 500 and 1500 meter distances. At the end of the Junior World Cup in Klobenstein, the big mass start finale will take place in the evening.

1000 meters women:

Juniors:
1. Meike Veen (Netherlands) 1.20,69:XNUMX minutes
2. Rio Kawahara (Japan) +0,65
3. Wiktoria Dabrowska (Poland) +1.17
15. Maybritt Vigl (Ritten/Italy) +3,37

Neo-Senior:
1. Inessa Shumekova (Kazakhstan) 1.22,34
2. Arina Ilyachshenko (Kazakhstan) +0,27
3. Magdalena Smedzik (Poland) +0,86

1000 meters men:

Juniors:
1. Kyungmin Koo (South Korea) 1.11,76:XNUMX minutes
2. Issa Gunji (Japan) +0,25
3. Yeongjun Cho (South Korea) +1,40

Neo-Senior:
1. Kyungrae Kim (South Korea) 1.13,41:XNUMX minutes
2. Joonas Valge (Estonia) +0,29
3. Emil Pedersen Matre (Norway) +1,05
10. Romedius Thurner (Ritten/Italy) +2,82

3000 meters women:

Juniors:
1. Aurora Grinden Lovas (Norway) 4.36,59:XNUMX minutes
2. Hana Noake (Japan) +2,01
3. Leewon Lim (South Korea) +3,72
26. Carmen Thurner (Ritten/Italy) +35,30

Neo-Senior:
1. Laura Peveri (Italy) 4.24,20:XNUMX minutes
2. Julie Berg Sjobrend (Norway) +1,91
3. Anna Molnar (Austria) +2,94

3000 meters men:

Juniors:
1. Metodej Jilek (Czech Republic) 3.49,06:XNUMX minutes
2. Didrik Eng Strand (Norway) +3,16
3. Freek Van Der Ham (Netherlands) +4,80

Neo-Senior:
1. Gabriel Groß (Germany) 3.55,62:XNUMX minutes
2. Sigurd Holbo Dyrset (Norway) +0,29
3. Bogdan Brauer (Germany) +0,64

Mixed relay:

Juniors:
1. Netherlands 3.05,57:XNUMX minutes
2. South Korea +1,01
3. Norway +2,47

Neo-Senior:
1. Italy 3.04,81:XNUMX minutes
2. South Korea +0,51
3. Spain +5,77