AP News, March 11th, 2007
Germany's Jenny Wolf broke a world record that stood for nearly six years and Sven Kramer of the Netherlands shattered a mark that didn't even last a month.
Wolf broke the record for the women's 500 meters and Kramer broke the men's 10,000 mark _ both by significant margins _ Saturday at the World Single Distances Speedskating Championships.
"I thought before maybe it was possible with a couple of seconds but not like this _ destroy," said Kramer, who finished in 12 minutes, 41.69 seconds, more than 8.19 seconds better than his old mark.
Kramer had set the world record with a time of 12:49.88, set Feb. 11 in his home country. He methodically churned through the grueling distance Saturday, finishing 18.77 seconds ahead of anyone else.
Kramer broke the record for the longest race shortly after Wolf did it in the shortest.
Wolf's 500 time of 37.04 seconds was 0.18 better than the record Canadian Catriona LeMay Doane had held since December 2001. It also cut more than a half second off Wolf's personal best.
"I couldn't believe it," said Wolf, who also set the world record with a combined time of 74.42 seconds in the two heats. "When everybody was screaming so loud, (I knew) it must be something really fast."
Wolf's personal best in the 500 had been 37.71.
The records set by Wolf and Kramer upstaged American Shani Davis, who had just received a loud ovation from the U.S. fans when he won the men's 1,000.
Wolf said she looked to the scoreboard, expecting to see a time of 37.4 or maybe 37.3 seconds. When she noticed the extra zero _ .04 _ on her time, she was shocked.
"During the race, I had no idea that I was so fast," she said.
Wolf bested the previous mark of 37.22 that Doane set in Calgary. Wolf also broke Doan's record for the two heats with a combined time 0.3 seconds faster than the record Doan set in March 2001 in Utah.
"Catriona was always my role model. Now I'm faster than her and that's so big for me," Wolf said.
Davis, the Olympic gold medalist in the 1,000 last year and world record holder in the 1,000 and 1,500, was the first American to win an event at the four-day championships.
Davis finished in 1:07.28, just ahead of Canada's Denny Morrison (1:07.30). Lee Kyou-Hyuk of South Korea was third (1:07.51).
Morrison, who used to train with Davis in Calgary, went four pairs ahead of Davis and the American knew what he had ahead of him. When he finished, he smiled and waved as he slowed on the inside of the track and by the time he stepped on top of the podium he let loose with a wide grin.
And when he walked downstairs toward the locker room, Davis was back to being nonchalant.
"You've got to block it out mentally," Davis said of Morrison's time. "On any given day you can have maybe the top four positions reversed."
Wang Beixing of China was second in the women's 500 (74.53), followed by Sayuri Osuga of Japan (75.200).
Kramer, who also won the world allround championships last month, led a Dutch sweep in the 10,000. Carl Verheijen was second at 13:00.46, followed by Brigt Rykkje (13:06.03).
The day closed with the women's team pursuit, with Canada winning in a time of 2:58.15. The Netherlands (2:59.18) finished second and Germany third (2:59.38).
