At the final event of the Mass Start World Cup series held in Inzell, Germany, Metoděj Jílek of the Czech Republic secured his first Mass Start World Cup gold through a successful solo breakaway, while Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands earned his first Mass Start World Cup Trophy. Damian Zurek of Poland continued his strong performance by setting another track record in the 500m event.
Source: ISU, International Skating Union, global
The Mass Start race was notable for its tactical nature, with Jílek, who was not actively competing in the general classification, taking advantage of his rivals focusing on intermediate sprint points. After the first sprint, he launched a solo breakaway and maintained his lead to win the race, describing his pace as controlled and faster than he would normally skate in longer distance races. Jílek acknowledged that based on previous attempts at breakaways during the season, he did not expect to hold the lead, making his victory a pleasant surprise.
Behind Jílek, Mathieu Belloir of France and Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark chased the leader, while the main pack was hesitant and trailed behind. Despite attempts by Belgian skater Indra Médard to support teammate Bart Swings in a sprint finish, Jílek’s solo effort remained unchallenged as he crossed the finish line first. World Cup leader Jorrit Bergsma, despite finishing 11th, secured the overall Mass Start World Cup Trophy by a narrow four-point margin over Andrea Giovannini of Italy, who placed third in the final race. Bergsma expressed relief and pride in winning the trophy, noting the intense competition with Giovannini, the previous two-time winner of the Mass Start Trophy.
In the sprint events, Polish skater Damian Zurek continued to improve his performance, breaking his own 500m track record twice during the weekend. He recorded a time of 34.06 seconds on Sunday, surpassing the 34.09 seconds he set on Friday. Zurek narrowly defeated American Jordan Stolz, who took silver and had already secured the 500m World Cup Trophy earlier in the weekend. Marek Kania, also from Poland, completed the podium in third place. Dutch skater Jenning de Boo, placing fourth in the event, commented on recovering from earlier technical issues after identifying a blade adjustment problem.
The event concluded with the Team Sprint competition, where the United States team composed of Conor Mcdermott-Mostowy, Cooper McLeod, and Zach Stoppelmoor set a new track record, winning with a time of 1 minute 17.61 seconds. The Dutch and Norwegian teams finished second and third, respectively. The American sprinters emphasized their support for including the Team Sprint as an Olympic event, highlighting it as one of the most exciting races in speed skating.
