Speed ​​skating all around world championship 1966

All-around world champion Walentina Stenina (here at the 1967 World Cup)

The 24th all-around world championship for women was held on February 12th and 13th, 1966 at Øya Stadium in Trondheim , Norway . Which found separated therefrom Men 60th all-around world championship on 19 and 20 February 1966 at the Ullevi in Swedish Gothenburg instead.

In the women's category, Valentina Stenina continued the 15-year winning streak of the Soviet speed skaters, but only overtook North Korean Kim Song-soon , who was the first Asian woman to win a World Cup medal, in the final 5000 meter race . The men's competition ended in adverse conditions with a Dutch double victory for Kees Verkerk and Ard Schenk . Verkerk won three of four legs.

Participating Nations

Women

The field of participants in the women's all-around event consisted of 35 female athletes from 15 nations.

• 5 starters: Soviet Union 
• 4 starters: Netherlands ↑↑, People's Republic of China ↑↑  
• 3 starters: Finland 
• 2 starters: FR Germany ↑, German Democratic Republic ↓, Japan ↑, North Korea ↓↓, Norway , Poland ↑, Sweden ↓↓, United States ↑↑        
• 1 starter: Australia ↑, France ↑, Hungary ↑   

Athletes from Canada were no longer represented compared to the previous edition . Overall, the field was five participants larger than in 1965.

Men

The field of participants in the men's all-around competition consisted of 37 athletes from 15 nations.

• 5 starters: Netherlands , Norway  
• 4 starters: Soviet Union 
• 3 starters: People's Republic of China ↑, Finland , Sweden ↓   
• 2 starters: BR Germany ↓, German Democratic Republic ↑, France , Canada , United States     
• 1 starter: Italy ↓, Japan , Austria , Switzerland ↑    

Compared to the previous edition, athletes from Mongolia, North Korea and Hungary were no longer represented. Overall, the field was six participants smaller than in 1965.

competition

Women

The North Korean Kim Song-soon , pictured here at a launch in 1967

Since 1952, the speed skaters of the Soviet Union had dominated the all-around world championships and occupied at least the first two places. The last two title winners, however, were not at the start: Lidija Skoblikowa has been on maternity leave since her four-time Olympic victory in 1964 and the previous year's world champion Inga Woronina was stabbed by her husband in January 1966. The last representative of the successful Soviet generation remained the Belarusian Valentina Stenina , who had also won the World Cup twice - in 1960 and 1961 - and was the oldest starter in the field at the age of 31. Third in the 1965 World Cup, Stien Kaiser was in the focus of Dutch observers.

After the Soviet runners had set their best in the 500-meter sprint, North Korean Kim Song-soon surprised with the fastest time over 1500 meters, with which she also took the overall lead after the first day - when the temperatures in Trondheim dropped to −17 Degrees dropped - took over. Kim had already achieved top ten results at the Olympic Games and previous world championships, but had never won a medal. On Sunday the North Korean defended her lead after the third sub-discipline, the 1000-meter run, before falling behind Belarusian Stenina in the final 5000-meter run. Stenina won her third world title and extended the Soviet Union's winning streak, while Kim was the first - and until 1990 the only - Asian woman to win an all-around world championship medal. Behind them, Stien Kaiser moved up to bronze with the fastest 5000 meter time. Kaiser, who was already far behind in the overall standings after the 500-meter start, set a new national record and missed the world record held by Inga Woronina by only six tenths of a second.

In retrospect, the German sports journalist Karl Adolf Scherer highlighted on the one hand the increasing performance of the 15-year-old West German Hildegard Sellhuber (who ran the German record over 1000 meters, but clearly missed the final of the best 16), but saw above all the upcoming " End of Soviet domination ”, which could possibly be broken by a Korean woman, possibly Stien Kaiser. In fact, Kaiser won the subsequent world championships in 1967 and 1968 , while only two of the following ten world titles went to Soviet runners.

The following table shows the best 16 participants in the overall ranking. Only these athletes were qualified for the final 3,000 meter race. The best individual route results are printed in bold. The placement on the respective individual route is given in brackets.

rank	Surname	500 meters	Pt.	1,500 meters	Pt.	1,000 meters	Pt.	3,000 meters	Pt.	Total pts.
1	Valentina Stenina	47.7 (3)	47,700	2: 31.5 (3)	50,500	1: 36.3 (3)	48.150	5: 08.3 (2)	51,383	197.733
2	Kim Song-soon	47.9 (4)	47,900	2: 29.4 (1)	49,800	1: 36.2 (2)	48,100	5: 14.6 (5)	52.433	198.233
3	Stien Emperor	49.5 (20)	49,500	2: 31.4 (2)	50.467	1: 36.3 (3)	48.150	5: 06.6 (1)	51,100	199.216
4th	Irina Yegorova	46.9 (1)	46,900	2: 33.6 (5)	51.200	1: 37.4 (10)	48,700	5: 19.2 (7)	53,200	200,000
5	Kaija Mustonen	49.0 (13)	49,000	2: 31.9 (4)	50.633	1: 37.1 (8)	48,550	5: 12.8 (4)	52.133	200.316
6th	Han Pil-hwa	48.7 (11)	48,700	2: 34.3 (6)	51,433	1: 37.3 (9)	48.650	5: 10.9 (3)	51.817	200.599
7th	Lāsma Kauniste	48.2 (7)	48,200	2: 34.9 (8)	51.633	1: 36.7 (7)	48,350	5: 20.6 (8)	53,433	201.616
8th	Tatiana Rastopschina	48.8 (12)	48,800	2: 35.8 (10)	51.933	1: 35.9 (1)	47,950	5: 21.4 (9)	53.567	202.249
9	Carry Geijssen	48.5 (8)	48,500	2: 34.6 (7)	51,533	1: 38.6 (11)	49,300	5: 19.2 (6)	53.150	202.483
10	Ying Chun	48.6 (9)	48,600	2: 36.4 (11)	52.133	1: 38.8 (12)	49,400	5: 25.8 (11)	54,300	204.433
11	Shuyuan Wang	48.1 (6)	48,100	2: 37.4 (13)	52.467	1: 39.2 (14)	49,600	5: 26.7 (12)	54,450	204.616
12	Sigrid Sundby-Dybedahl	49.2 (16)	49.200	2: 35.3 (9)	51.767	1: 36.4 (5)	48,200	5: 33.8 (15)	55.633	204.799
13	Kaija-Liisa Keskivitikka	49.2 (16)	49.200	2: 38.9 (15)	52.967	1: 40.0 (16)	50,000	5: 29.4 (14)	54,900	207.066
14th	Wil Burgmeijer	49.3 (18)	49,300	2: 38.9 (15)	52.967	1: 40.7 (18)	50,350	5: 28.6 (13)	54.767	207.382
15th	Lisbeth Berg	49.6 (22)	49,600	2: 38.8 (14)	52.933	1: 41.3 (23)	50.650	5: 35.6 (16)	55.933	209.116
16	Wil van Wees	58.4 (35)	58,400	2: 36.4 (11)	52.133	1: 39.0 (13)	49,500	5: 24.2 (10)	54.033	214.066

Men

Kees Verkerk (left) and Ard Schenk, here in 1968

The men's speed skating scene was international in the early 1960s. Reigning world champion was the Norwegian Per Ivar Moe . With the Swede Jonny Nilsson and the Russian Viktor Kossitschkin two other runners were on the list of participants who had already won the world championship. Two weeks before the world championship, Moe's compatriot Fred Anton Maier had improved the world record for the longest run distance from 10,000 meters to 15: 32.2 minutes in an international match in Oslo and at the same time also set a world point record in the all- around event . In the same competition just behind Maier was the 21-year-old Dutchman Ard Schenk , who had recently won the European championship held in Deventer in January . Schenk as well as the European Championship runner-up Kees Verkerk benefited from the fact that a lot had been invested in speed skating in the Netherlands since the early 1960s - including the construction of the artificial ice rink in Deventer, where the European championship had taken place.

The competition took place in the Ullevi football stadium, which was prepared with artificial ice, in front of a crowd of 40,000, including many guests from Norway and the Netherlands. In the opening 500 meter ice sprint, the specialists in particular showed their strengths: the fastest was the American Thomas Gray in 40.9 seconds, followed by the Japanese Suzuki and the West German Erhard Keller , who set the only national record in 41.6 seconds of the competition. All three athletes played no role on the longer distances and dropped out of the championship early. Ard Schenk took over the clear lead at halftime after the 5000 meter race, making him the top favorite after the first day. On the second day of the competition, the event was dominated by a blow-dryer: Fog and mild temperatures made conditions difficult, the ice became softer and harder to walk on. From these circumstances, Kees Verkerk, who was considered to be “more robust”, benefited from Schenk, whose aesthetic running style made him equally susceptible to adverse conditions as did Fred Anton Maier, who was also initially promising. Verkerk won - after the best time over 5000 meters - the two final races over 1500 meters and 10,000 meters with a clear lead, which made him the clear world champion despite his initial deficit from the 500-meter sprint. Ard Schenk completed the media-celebrated Dutch double victory ahead of the Swede Jonny Nilsson.

With the triumphs of the two friends Kees Verkerk and Ard Schenk - who were later jointly named Sportsman of the Year in the Netherlands - in the winter of 1965/66, an extremely successful period of Dutch speed skating began, which lasted until the 1970s. The German sports journalist Scherer stated that in the victories of the Dutch, the athletes from Norway, Sweden, Finland and above all "the Russians used to win" fell by the wayside, who for the first time since their first World Cup appearance were completely without a podium result on an individual route left. From a German point of view, Gerhard Zimmermann convinced with a ninth place overall, which entitled to more starting places at other major events. For Austria, the endurance specialist Hermann Strutz reached the final of the best sixteen athletes, in which, however, he finished last.

The following table shows the best 16 participants in the overall ranking. Only these athletes were qualified for the final 10,000 meter race. The best individual route results are printed in bold. The placement on the respective individual route is given in brackets.

rank	Surname	500 meters	Pt.	5,000 meters	Pt.	1,500 meters	Pt.	10,000 meters	Pt.	Total pts.
1	Kees Verkerk	43.0 (20)	43,000	7: 42.8 (1)	46.280	2: 12.9 (1)	44,300	16: 21.6 (1)	49.080	182.660
2	Ard Schenk	41.6 (3)	41,600	7: 43.9 (3)	46.390	2: 15.4 (5)	45.133	16: 47.5 (4)	50.375	183.498
3	Jonny Nilsson	43.7 (24)	43,700	7: 45.9 (5)	46,590	2: 14.5 (2)	44.833	16: 32.2 (2)	49.610	184.733
4th	Per Willy Guttormsen	43.3 (22)	43,300	7: 45.7 (4)	46,570	2: 15.6 (7)	45,200	16: 38.4 (3)	49.920	184.990
5	Svein-Erik Stiansen	42.8 (17)	42,800	7: 50.0 (7)	47,000	2: 15.0 (3)	45,000	16: 47.9 (5)	50.395	185.195
6th	Eduard Matusewitsch	42.3 (8)	42,300	7: 46.5 (6)	46.650	2: 16.1 (8)	45.367	17: 02.2 (8)	51.110	185.426
7th	Fred Anton Maier	43.2 (21)	43,200	7: 43.2 (2)	46,320	2: 16.5 (11)	45,500	17: 02.3 (9)	51.115	186.135
8th	Rudie Liebrechts	43.3 (22)	43,300	7: 56.0 (11)	47,600	2: 15.2 (4)	45,067	16: 53.0 (6)	50.650	186.616
9	Gerhard Zimmermann	42.9 (18)	42,900	7: 55.9 (10)	47,590	2: 16.8 (14)	45,600	17: 09.6 (11)	51,480	187,570
10	Per Ivar Moe	42.3 (8)	42,300	7: 51.3 (8)	47.130	2: 16.5 (11)	45,500	17: 35.6 (14)	52.780	187.710
11	Viktor Kosichkin	42.4 (12)	42,400	7: 54.3 (9)	47,430	2: 17.3 (15)	45.767	17: 24.1 (13)	52.205	187,801
12	Peter Nottet	44.3 (26)	44,300	7: 56.2 (12)	47.620	2: 15.4 (5)	45.133	17: 00.6 (7)	51.030	188.083
13	Johnny Höglin	42.7 (16)	42,700	7: 56.2 (12)	47.620	2: 20.6 (20)	46.867	17: 08.6 (10)	51,430	188.616
14th	Örjan Sandler	44.4 (28)	44,400	7: 58.3 (15)	47.830	2: 18.3 (17)	46.100	17: 18.4 (12)	51.920	190.250
15th	Ants Antson	46.5 (36)	46,500	7: 57.2 (14)	47.720	2: 16.2 (9)	45,400	17: 41.8 (15)	53.090	192.710
16	Hermann Strutz	45.2 (32)	45,200	7: 58.6 (16)	47.860	2: 25.7 (32)	48,567	17: 44.7 (16)	53.235	194,861

Web link

• Results of the all- around world championship 1966 women and men on speedskatingnews.info

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Grandioze rit op 3000 meters brings Stien Kaiser brons . In: Leidse Courant (February 14, 1966).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Karl Adolf Scherer : Balance in speed skating . In: German Olympic Society (Hrsg.): Olympic fire . Issue 4, April 1966. pp. 15-17.
3. ↑ Verkerk troeft Schenk af in Zweden on nos.nl. Released January 22, 2017. Accessed March 26, 2020.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Verkerk en Schenk were onbetwist de sterksten ter wereld in Gothenburg . In: Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant (February 21, 1966).
5. ^ Knut Bjørnsen (1968): Fred A. Maier , Oslo: Aschehoug. P. 74