Skating,, eh? Bloody hell.
Double heartbreak in the very last pair of the 10,000m in the allround world championship in Amsterdam.
First, Sven Kramer. He was already in a difficult position, having to beat Sverre Lunde Pedersen by 16 seconds and Patrick Roest by about half as much, in order to win overall. But after just a few rounds, it was clear that he didn't even manage to follow Pedersen.
Then SLP ... with more than half the race done, a firm lead over Roest and also dominating Kramer in the pair ... he fell. And everyone who has fallen during a skating race, especially 10,000m, will tell that it is nearly impossible to continue with the same speed after a fall. But Pedersen gave it a real try, actually caught Kramer again and beat him, but ended behind Roest both in the 10,000m and overall ...
A fall from being the first Norwegian to win an allround title since 1994. But kudos to the crowd, who seemed to appreciate his effort. The cheer he got when entering the podium to receive his silver medal sounded even louder than the cheer for the winner ...!
Now it's going to be exciting to see just how good Roest will become. Maybe next year we'll have another duel between him and Pedersen? But what will happen to Kramer? Can he come back to his best one more time?
) but finished the race and even did very well. Van Vleuten was on target for a double before the fall 90 kilometers from the finish. Even after crashing, she still finished seventh.