Ragne Wiklund and Sander Eitrem both captured their fourth senior national allround titles after three days of competition at the Norwegian Championships held in Bjugn, Trøndelag.
Schaatsen.nl, published in the Netherlands, reports on the event.
The world allround champions traveled to the small town of Bjugn as part of their obligations and dominated the competition with little resistance. Wiklund displayed a commanding lead in the women’s events, winning every distance by substantial margins. She completed the 500 meters in 39.90 seconds, finishing 0.63 seconds ahead of the second place skater. In the 3000 meters, her time of 4:07.03 was over twelve seconds faster than her closest competitor, while her 1500 meters time of 1:57.67 put her more than six seconds ahead of Aurora Grinden Løvas, a recent World Championships participant. On the final event, the long distance race, Wiklund again secured a decisive victory with a time of 7:02.34, finishing 26 seconds faster than Dine Storelid, the runner-up in the overall standings.
Sander Eitrem faced some challenges early on with a 500 meter time of 37.76 seconds, trailing faster Norwegian skaters. However, he recovered on the 5000 meters by setting a new track record of 6:20.21, exceeding the time of Sigurd Henriksen, who formerly held the junior world record on this distance. Eitrem continued to excel, winning the 1500 meters in 1:49.27 and concluding the competition with an impressive 10,000 meters time of 13:08.74—another track record—beating Henriksen’s previous best by nearly 34 seconds.
In the Norwegian Sprint Championships, Bjorn Magnussen also showed clear dominance by winning all four sprint distances and placing ahead of promising skater Miika Klevstuen. On the women’s side, Julie Nistad Samsonsen maintained a similarly comfortable lead in the sprint allround, winning both 500 meter races with more than two seconds to spare over Pauline Lyse Olsen. Martine Solem was second in the 1000 meter races, trailing Samsonsen by over two seconds on each occasion.
Full results of the Norwegian Allround and Sprint Championships are available on the official event pages.
