Skater Antoinette Reepma de Jong wins the silver medal in the 1,500 meters at the World Cup in Obihiro, Japan. The world champion at this distance finished second behind Miho Takagi with a time of 1.56.24. The Japanese were much faster than the rest of the field with a 1.54.54. American Kimmy Goetz came in third place with a time of 1:56.56.
Rijpma-De Jong defeated compatriot Esther Kiel in the final stage. He was unable to keep up with the world champion’s pace from the start and finished only sixteenth with a time of 1.59.54. Rijpma-De Jong was slightly faster than Goetz with a good final lap but was far from reaching Takagi’s time which was 1.69 seconds faster.
Joey Pyun earlier beat Goetz, who already won the 500m this weekend and reached the podium in the 500m and 1,000m. The 24-year-old from Overijssels appeared to have overtaken the fast American on the final lap, but was stranded at 1.56.88 and finished fifth.
Rijpma-De Jong, Beune and Kiel were the only Dutch skaters in the 1500 metres. Marieke Groenwood and Melissa Wijve, who qualified at the end of October, will miss the World Cup in Japan with their national team.
