Speed Skating 2018/Women's 5000 metre

Women's 5000 metre
General information
Sport	Speed Skating 2018
Date	16 February 2018
Competitors	12 athletes
Venue	Gangneung Oval
Previous medalists
Gold	Martina Sablikova
Silver	Ireen Wust
Bronze	Carien Kleibeuker
Conditions
Temperature	17°C / 62.6°F
Length	5000 metres
Medalists
	Esmee Visser
	Claudia Pechstein
	Natalia Voronina

The women's 5000 metre of Speed Skating 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 16 February 2018 in the Gangneung Oval. With 12 athletes competing, the event was won by Esmee Visser from Netherlands, with Claudia Pechstein from Germany taking the silver medal and Natalia Voronina from Olympic Athletes from Russia taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of six head-to-head races of 5000 metres. The competitor with the fastest time is the winner.

Preview

Twelve athletes qualified for the event, and even though there were only a few competitors, there were no real favorites. Martina Sáblíková was in contention for a third consecutive gold medal in the event, with another veteran, Claudia Pechstein, trying to retain her level of years before. The latter had won two gold medals in the World Cup season so far; her best season in years, while also winning the only World Cup race over 5000 metres of the season. Ivanie Blondin, who became second in that race, was another medal contender, while Natalia Voronina was ranked third in the 3000/5000m World Cup ranking of the season. The Dutch speed skaters Annouk van der Weijden and Esmee Visser could surprise, with the latter being the brand new European champion over 3000 metres, despite racing only her third international race, with Isabelle Weidemann, who had a very strong season in the World Cup, being another outsider.

Esmee Visser was the youngest athlete to compete, with veteran Claudia Pechstein being almost 25 years older. Only two out of twelve competitors had competed at least twice before, with Martina Sablikova competing since Torino 2006, and Pechstein competing since Albertville 1992. Out of the reigning medalists, only Sablikova competed again, with Ireen Wust competing in other distances, and Carien Kleibeuker just missing out on qualification.

Current Records

Record	Date	Nat.	Name	Time
WR	18 February 2011		Martina Sáblíková	6:42.66
OR	23 February 2002		Claudia Pechstein	6:46.91
TR	11 February 2017		Martina Sáblíková	6:52.38

Results

In the first pairing, Annouk van der Weijden broke her own personal record of five years by almost 6 seconds, setting a time to be reckoned with, several seconds below 7 minutes. In the third pairing, Weidemann was the second athlete to break the seven minutes line, with Nana Takagi, Maryna Zuyeva, Jelena Peeters and Carlijn Schoutens not reaching the time set by Van der Weijden either. The fourth pairing would see the first 'favorite' with Esmee Visser against Misaki Oshigiri. Visser, who had never competed against her eleven opponents directly, was able to break her personal record by almost 15 seconds, also chewing off four seconds from the time set by Van der Weijden. The last two races would see the veterans Claudia Pechstein and Martina Sablikova, with Pechstein showing up first, against Ivanie Blondin. Against the odds, Blondin won the race, settling on third place, while Pechstein was already sure that she wasn't able to win a medal. The last matchup between Sablikova and Natalia Voronina would decide the final standings, with the provisional standings having the Dutch skaters on one and two. In the last race, Voronina took a quick lead, with both skaters crossing the split time by Visser. Due to lower split times, Sablikova took the lead in the pairing, with Voronina taking advantage of her slipstream, both skaters ultimately finishing within 6:55.00, racing to a silver and bronze medal, behind Visser.

Esmee Visser won the Olympic title in only her fourth international race, while veteran Martina Sablikova won her sixth Olympic medal, winning all events she participated in at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014. Natalia Voronina won the only speed skating medal won by the Olympic Athletes from Russia, with many Russian skaters banned for a nation-wide doping scandal. Annouk van der Weijden missed the podium on less than a second, after finishing fifth in the 3000 metre at Sochi.

Result	Athlete	Nationality	Time
	Esmee Visser	Netherlands	6:50.23	PR
	Martina Sablikova	Czech Republic	6:51.85
	Natalia Voronina	Olympic Athletes from Russia	6:53.98
4	Annouk van der Weijden	Netherlands	6:54.17	PR
5	Ivanie Blondin	Canada	6:59.38
6	Isabelle Weidemann	Canada	6:59.88
7	Maryna Zuyeva	Belarus	7:04.41
8	Claudia Pechstein	Germany	7:05.43
9	Misaki Oshigiri	Japan	7:07.71
10	Jelena Peeters	Belgium	7:10.26
11	Carlijn Schoutens	United States	7:13.28
12	Nana Takagi	Japan	7:17.45