American Jordan Stolz was fastest in the 1000m at a World Cup stop for a second consecutive week, but this time he did it in the absence of his primary rival.
Stolz, a 19-year-old from Wisconsin, clocked 1 minute, 8.64 seconds in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, on Friday.
He was 12 hundredths shy of the track record and prevailed by 1.09 seconds, greater than the margin separating second place from last place of the 19 finishers in the A division.
Dutchman Kjeld Nuis, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, is sidelined by illness.
Last week, Nuis won the World Cup 1000m in Stavanger, Norway, but Stolz skated a faster time from the lower-ranked B division. Stolz skated in the B division last week because he skipped the previous World Cup in Beijing.
Last March, Stolz became the youngest skater to win a world title and the first man to win three individual golds at a single worlds. He swept the 500m, 1000m and 1500m. Nuis was closest to him among those three races, 23 hundredths behind in the 1500m.
Thomas Krol, the Olympic champion and last year’s world silver medalist at 1000m, didn’t make the Dutch World Cup team in the 1000m this season.
Then on Saturday, Olympic gold medalist Erin Jackson earned her third 500m win this season. She prevailed in 37.80 seconds, topping South Korean Kim Min-Sun by 16 hundredths.
Jackson has finished in the top four in all seven 500m races this season and leads the World Cup standings in the event.
The speed skating World Cup continues in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on Sunday and streams live all season on Peacock.