Jenning de Boo encountered a close call during his 500-meter race in Inzell when a late-race mishap by Kazakh skater Jevgeni Kosjkin nearly disrupted his finish, resulting in De Boo finishing just off the podium.
According to Schaatsen.nl in the Netherlands, De Boo faced Kosjkin, considered one of the world’s best starters, on Sunday afternoon. The primary risk occurred near the end of the second curve when Kosjkin experienced some instability on the inside lane. Subsequently, he stumbled and slid towards the outer lane just as De Boo was speeding towards the finish at nearly 60 kilometers per hour. Kosjkin managed to pull his hand back in time, preventing a collision with De Boo’s skates. This unexpected event likely cost De Boo a place on the podium, as he finished with a time of 34.37 seconds, just 0.08 seconds behind the bronze medalist. De Boo reflected calmly on the incident, stating he noticed Kosjkin’s errors out of the corner of his eye and acknowledged how little reaction time there was at that speed.
Following the race between De Boo and Kosjkin, two other leading skaters – Damian Zurek from Poland and American Jordan Stolz – competed in the 500-meter race. Stolz had won three World Cup classifications (500, 1000, and 1500 meters) that weekend but was outpaced by Zurek in this race. Although Stolz had the stronger start, Zurek overtook him in the final meters with a winning time of 34.06 seconds. This time was 0.04 seconds faster than Stolz and just 0.03 seconds off the track record he set on Friday. Zurek’s performance demonstrated his continued strong form following recent European sprint titles.
