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Christine Nesbitt wins Olympic long-track gold at Vancouver Games

Christine Nesbitt has claimed Canada’s first long-track speedskating gold at the Vancouver Olympics, scoring a narrow win Thursday over Dutch rival Annette Gerritsen in the 1,000 metres.
Christine Nesbitt
Canadian speedskater Christine Nesbitt stands on the podium during a flower ceremony after winning gold in the womens 1

RICHMOND, B.C. — Christine Nesbitt has claimed Canada’s first long-track speedskating gold at the Vancouver Olympics, scoring a narrow win Thursday over Dutch rival Annette Gerritsen in the 1,000 metres.

The 24-year-old from London, Ont., extended her domination in the event, finishing in one minute 16.56 seconds at the Richmond Oval.

Gerritsen won silver in 1:16.58 while fellow Dutchwoman Laurine van Riessen captured the bronze in 1:16.72. Ottawa’s Kristina Groves just missed out on a medal, placing fourth in 1:16.78. She won a bronze in the 3,000 metres earlier this week.

It’s Canada’s third gold of the Games.

Nesbitt credited the crowd for helping drive her on in the final lap.

“Today really I didn’t have a great race, physically I could feel I wasn’t skating well. But I just kept going until the end and it paid off,” she told CTV.

Groves said she was pleased with her race.

“That’s my best result in the 1,000 this year, it’s my strongest event for sure, so I’m actually pretty happy with how I skated,” she said. “I saw the four in brackets right away and was kind of like, darn. I didn’t realize until I saw the time that it was as close as it was. I did the best I could and for me in the 1,000, that was a great result.”

Nesbitt is the defending 1,000 world champion and has won all four World Cup races at the distance this season. Gerritsen is second to Nesbitt in the World Cup standings over 1,000 metres.

Nesbitt won a silver medal in the team pursuit at the 2006 Games in Turin. She was 14th in the 1,000 four years ago.

She’s also among the favourites in the 1,500 on Sunday and is part of the world-record holding Canadian pursuit team that is expected to win gold next week.

Nesbitt was in the penultimate pair of the competition, accelerating in the final stretch to edge out Gerritsen for the gold. Groves went in the final pairing but couldn’t crack the podium, missing out by six one-hundredths of a second.

Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg finished 21st in 1:18.174 while Brittany Schussler, also of Winnipeg, was 25th in 1:18.31

The medal is the long-track team’s second and comes a day after contender Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., finishing 13th in the men’s 1,000. It was a jarring result for the Canadians, making Nesbitt’s performance a welcome tonic.

Pressure had been building on Nesbitt ever since her victory at the world championships last spring, and she stepped up to the challenge each time. As Nesbitt piled up her World Cup victories, it was clear she had elevated her game for this season.

Nesbitt’s approach to racing is meticulous. A step-by-step plan for her 1,000 at the world championships was jotted down on a piece of paper, detailing what she should be doing at various points of her 2 1-2 laps. A relentless self-critic, she’s continued refining the blueprint this season, unwilling to leave anything to chance.

A strong performance in the women’s 500 on Tuesday — she was 10th in an event she uses as a warmup — showed Nesbitt was on form. And it gave her some experience with how to deal with the roaring ovations the oval crowds have given each Canadian.

Notes: The Zamboni from Calgary was covered up with Vancouver 2010 markings after arriving at the oval plain white. It again teamed with an Olympia unit, which received some on-ice adjustments from chief icemaker Mark Messer. ... South Korea’s Kim You-Lim lost an edge heading into a turn and fell, smashing her mouth on the ice as she slid into the padded barrier. She got up on her own, a hand covering her mouth. ... Several skaters were left suffering after their race. Australia’s Sophie Muir and Germany’s Jenny Wolf both were left hunched over, clutching their legs after crossing the line, getting some assistance to come off the ice.