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Kearns • With each quickening stride, Marrit Leenstra ignored the pressure building in her lungs. She skated faster and faster on the final lap, a victorious push toward the highest step on the podium.
The Netherlands skater not only upset the field to win her first ISU World Cup medal, she also defeated countrywoman and favorite Ireen Wust on Saturday afternoon in the women's 1,500-meter race at the Utah Olympic Oval. Leenstra finished in 1 minute, 53.38 seconds to Wust's 1:53.75.
"I started really fast," said Leenstra, punctuating answers with coughing spells. "It's tough skate at altitude and humidity. It's difficult to talk.
"In Calgary last week I started a lot slower so the goal today was fast openers. The last lap was when I won my first World Cup."
It was an all-Dutch day as Bob de Jong captured the men's 10,000 meters, his time of 12 minutes, 53.17 seconds, easily defeating South Korea's Seung-Hoon Lee's 12:54.27. Holland's Bob de Vries was third. However, the excitement came in the final race of the women's 1,500 as Canada's Christine Nesbitt was paired with Leenstra.
Another favorite — Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic, who set a world record in the 5,000 meters Friday — lost any chance after American Jilleanne Rookard lost her edge and crashed into the wall, taking Sablikova with her.
While Rookard was the lone woman to fall, Wust nearly lost her balance, too. Her left skate slipped and the bobble cost a shot she had hoped would be a Dutch record.
"I had a good opener, a good first lap," Wust said. "I almost crashed and then my race was over. It was not good enough anymore for a national record and that was very frustrating. I am in good shape and the ice was fast. To have a fast time you have to do everything well."
American Heather Richardson skated a personal best, 1:54.25, and hoped that it would have been good enough to medal. She paced fourth.
"It couldn't have been any better," she said. "I opened up extremely hard. The last lap I was trying to hold on.
Richardson said the ice was "a little breaky for a sprinter."
Leenstra, however, had no trouble.
"The last two years I skated really bad," she said. "It made this win even nicer. I missed the feeling of good skating and good racing, and to be back this year and make World Cup win, it's really, really, really nice."
Saturday's results
R Women's 1,500 meters
1 • Marrit Leenstra, Netherlands, 1:53.38
2 • Ireen Wust, Netherlands, 1:53.75
3 • Christine Nesbitt, Canada, 1:54.16
Men's 10,000 meters
1 • Bob de Jong, Netherlands, 12:53.17
2 • Seung-Hoon Lee, South Korea, 12:57.27
3 • Bob de Vries, Netherlands, 13:01.83 —
More photos
O For a photo gallery of Saturday's events, visit sltrib.com/sports