Long and short of winning gold

Dutch skater Jorien ter Mors thought her world had ended when she finished outside the medals in the short track 1,500m on Saturday.

What a difference a day makes.

The 24-year-old, the first woman to compete in long and short track speed skating at the Olympics, stunned her rivals by winning the long track 1,500m at the Adler Arena on Sunday.

"Yesterday it felt like I had lost everything," said ter Mors. "I woke up this morning as a new person. But I would have loved to trade a medal yesterday for this one."

The discipline of the long track time trials is not something ter Mors enjoys, even though she finds it easy.

"If I have to choose between long track or short track, my heart really goes to short track," she said.

"I worked my ass off for that little track, that is why is close to me. But I am also able to skate very fast on the long track. It comes natural to me.

"But I have to work hard for long track speed skating too. I put in a lot of training hours. It is not easy.

"I will always be a short tracker. Only long track does not make me happy."

Her ability to switch between tracks impressed her long track rivals.

"It is very impressive that she can combine the two. She is one of a kind," compatriot Irene Wust said after finishing second to ter Mors in the defense of her 1,500m title.

American Brittany Bowe finished 14th, almost five seconds back of Ter Mors' time of one minute, 53.51 seconds on the low altitude oval by the Black Sea.

Ter Mors kept her orange bobble hat on as she watched Wust, Bowe and co all fall short of her time.

When Lotte van Beek crossed the line in the final heat to take third and confirm victory for the multi-tasker, the tears began to flow.

"Physically it is not that big a problem for me, I'm getting used to racing a lot," she said of competing a day after completing three 1,500m short track races.

"The emotional part is, it has been a really hard year for me with the death of my father in the summer, it has been hard. So that is why I got emotional when winning this gold medal.

"I never imagined I would win a gold here on long track. It is crazy."

Ter Mors will return to the short track ice at the Iceberg Skating Palace for the 1,000m but may return to Adler Arena to compete in the team pursuit on the oval.

The lineup for the team event, which starts on Friday, has not been decided but Wust made her preference clear.

"I definitely want her there," the triple Olympic champion said.

"We should skate the team pursuit with the girls we had on the podium here. I want to finish the Games with gold and we owe it to ourselves to win one."

(China Daily 02/18/2014 page23)