NAGANO, Japan, 17 January 2004 — Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon is poised to defend his world speed skating title against homegrown challenger Hiroyasu Shimizu and the Netherlands’ Erben Wennemars in the sprint championships here this weekend.
Looking forward to his third straight world championship and fifth in all, Wotherspoon has kept himself in top form, stretching his winning streak in the World Cup series this season to four races at his favorite 500 meters distance.
Shimizu, three-time championship runner-up who has also taken the bronze medal three times, returns to the site of his 1998 Olympics victory over a second-placed Wotherspoon to win the 500m gold, to which he also added the 1,000m bronze.
The 29-year-old Japanese ace proved he is back in form by winning the national sprint championships for the seventh time in December after struggling with a lumbago problem last season.
Wennemars, the bronze medalist last season and in 1998, is also in with a fighting chance of gold in the 500m.
The Dutch skater won five 1,000m races to become the World Cup champion last season and has continued to dominate the distance, winning three out of three this season. He has placed fifth, second, eighth and 14th in the four 500m races so far.
In all, 70 skaters will compete in the sprint championships, competing over the 500m and 1,000m courses twice each for a combined points tally.
Meanwhile, the women’s event is wide open, with five-time champion Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt of Germany back in action after having skipped the World Cup last month due to a knee injury. The favorites include American Jennifer Rodriguez, who has won three 1,000m races in the World Cup, world sprint bronze medalist Shihomi Shinya of Japan, China’s Wang Manli and Marianne Timmer of the Netherlands.
