Ireen Wuest emphatically confirmed her place as the world’s best speed skater, winning three of four distances for her fourth straight World Allround Championship in Heerenveen, Netherlands, this weekend.
Wuest, the Dutch star who won five medals in Sochi, swept the 500m, 1500m and 3000m. She finished second in the finale, the 5000m, on Sunday.
To some, the World Allround Championships are considered more prestigious than the Olympics because of the extreme test across sprints and distance races over two days.
Wuest became the second woman to win four straight World Allround titles, joining German Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann. Niemann-Stirnemann won five straight from 1995 through 1999 and a record eight total by a man or woman. Wuest now has five total World Allround titles.
The last woman to win all four distances was Canadian Cindy Klassen in 2006, when Wuest finished fourth as a 19-year-old.
The Netherlands’ Koen Verweij won the men’s title for the first time. Six-time champion Sven Kramer missed the meet after he ended his season early due to a respiratory operation.