World Championships Inline Speed Skating 2016: Results day 2 of the road competitions

The rain favors the French athletes

One Lap Senior Men: second world title for Gwendal Le Pivert

The 1-lap-race on the road is equivalent to the 500m on the track. The athletes complete several heats before heading into the final. Four skaters compete in each heat and the one who crosses the finish line first wins. In Nanjing the road course was about 600m long. The races began in the early morning under heavy rains.

In the senior man the majority of the favorites qualified easily for the quarterfinals. But therefore the competition was much harder in the semifinals, for example Simon Albrecht (GER), Diogo Marreiros (POR), Rémon Kwant (NED) and Lucas Silva Santibanez (CHL) went out.
Andres Jimenez (COL), Jhoan Guzman (VEN), Andres Munoz (COL) and Gwendal Le Pivert (FRA) qualified for the final. Gwendal Le Pivert was the fastest in front of Jhoan Guzman, who secures silver with a nice hawk. Andres Munoz completed the podium. The Frenchman realized the double victory on track and road in his favorite race.

One Lap Senior Women: Colombia wins

Except for maybe Erin Jackson, the majority of the best skaters in the world got to the semi-finals without any major problems. As in the men’s race, the semi-finals were the biggest obstacles. Anke Vos (BEL), Erika Zanetti (ITA), Stien Vanoutte (BEL) and Giulia Bongiorno (ITA) did not make the final. Qualified were the two Colombians Paola Segura and Jercy Puello, the Taiwanese Yang Ho Chen and the Venezuelan Solymar Vivas. Ultimately, the world champion Jercy Puello wins the title in front of Solymar Vivas and Yang Ho Chen, after a disqualification of Paola Segura.

Long distance races

20k elimination Junior Men: Martin Ferrié conquered the gold medal

It’s raining, 8 competitors have chosen not to start. There are only 42 participants at the start line. The peloton has a constant high speed and is led by China, the Netherlands and Colombia. Also France and Italy skate in the front third, to avoid being eliminated. In the last lap the last 5 skaters fight for the victory. The Frenchman Martin Ferrié goes first into the last corner, followed by Carlos Franco (COL) and Giuseppe Bramante (ITA). The order does not change until the finish line. After many fourth and third places, the Frenchman finally reaches his well-earned individual gold medal.

20k elimination Junior Women

A total of 39 girls are at the start line. The Colombians, Venezuelans, Taiwanese and Dutch lead the pack. Unfortunately, the skater from Taiwan crashed a few laps before the finish. In the last lap, the Dutch Berber Vonk, the Chinese Huiyan Fang and the two Colombians Daniela Mendoza and Maria Fernanda Barros fight for the win, as well as the winner of the points race on the road Gabriela Vargas (ECU). In the end the two Colombians win against Vargas.

10k points Senior Women: the duel China / Italy

Only 3 skaters are not at the start line, and only 9 do not finish the race. The pack is led by Guo Dan (CHN), Mayra Yaquel Aria (ARG), Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA), Yang Ho Chen (TPE) and Jhoana Viveros (COL). The protagonists stay in the front of the pack and control the race.
The points race turns quickly into a duel between Francesca Lollobrigida and Guo Dan. It’s a very close race. Also Mayra Yaquel Arias (ARG) and Yang Ho Chen (TPE) scored a few points, but the Italian wins at the end with 10 points in front of Guo Dan (9 points). Guo Dan cheers euphorically about her silver medal. The third place is fought between 3 skaters who have scored 5 points each: Yang Ho Chen (3rd place), Mayra Yaquel Aria (4th place) and Jhoana Viveros (5th place).

10k points Senior Men: a very close decision

The points race of Senior men is a millimeter decision. The Frenchman Ewen Fernandez scored a lot of points at the beginning of the race. Julio Mirena (VEN) summed also some points during the race. The Italian Ricardo Bugari examined his chance, just like Felix Rijhnen from Germany. Felix breaks away along with Nolan Beddiaf, the second Frenchman in the race. Nolan did a very nice second half of the race, as he was able to take away some of Felix’s points to prevent that the German obtains more points than Ewen.
At the finish, Ewen wins the world title with 7 points. Julio Mirena (VEN) won silver. Diogo Marreiros (3rd place), Riccardo Bugari (4th place) et Nolan Beddiaf (5th place) fought hard for the bronze medal.

The medal ranking before the last day

With 3 titles that were won in a day, the French team takes the 2nd place behind Colombia. Italy currently ranks 3rd. The last two days of the road competition will be very important for the final ranking.

Links

2016 edition of the World Roller Speed Skating Championships in Nanjing (China)