Brittany Bowe rebroke her 1000m world record on Saturday. Heather Richardson took it away about three minutes later.
The U.S. Olympic teammates went one-two in the season-opening World Cup on blazing-fast ice in Calgary.
Bowe, the reigning World Sprint champion, began the day holding the world record of 1:12.58 in the distance, set on Nov. 17, 2013, in Salt Lake City, an oval also known for quick times.
Bowe raced just under it in Calgary, in 1:12.54.
Richardson, the World 500m champion, followed in the next pair and knocked Bowe out of the record books in 1:12.51. It’s Richardson’s first single-distance world record.
“Yesterday, I was a little disappointed with my speed,” Richardson, who was fourth in the 500m on Friday, told Dutch broadcaster NOS. “I kept my cool today and was able to pull it off.”
Here’s video of Bowe and Richardson from NOS.
For perspective, take Dan Jansen‘s emotional 1000m victory at the Lillehammer 1994 Olympics. That came in 1:12.43, before the clap-skate era.
Bowe and Richardson, who were part of U.S. speed skating’s zero-medal effort at Sochi 2014, went one-two in both 500m and both 1000m races at the World Sprint Championships last season. They split one-two finishes in the 500m and the 1000m at the World Single Distance Championships as well.
In other events in Calgary, two-time reigning Olympic champion Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea took the 500m on Friday. Czech distance queen Martina Sablikova earned the 3000m title.
On the men’s side, Shani Davis was fifth in the 1000m on Saturday, while the Netherlands’ Sven Kramer beat out countryman Jorrit Bergsma (Richardson’s husband) in the 5000m on Friday.
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World record for Mrs. Bergsma!! 😃 Proud on my wifey @hlynnrichardson #WCCalgary pic.twitter.com/glfkGyJwXk
— Jorrit Bergsma (@JorritBergsma) November 14, 2015
