Brittany Bowe Is Back Atop The Podium As Long Track World Cup Season Opens

Brittany Bowe competes in the 1500m Ladies during Day Two of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating at Thialf Stadium on Jan. 23, 2021 in Heerenveen, Netherlands. 

Brittany Bowe won the women’s 1,500-meter event Saturday as the abbreviated long track speedskating world cup season ramped up in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Her time of 1:53.881 bested second-place Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands, the defending Olympi champion, by .69 of a second behind. Only three women finished within a second of Bowe.
The win is Bowe’s first in the 1,500 since the 2018-19 season, when she won twice and also claimed her second season title at the distance. The two-time Olympian expressed a “sense of urgency” about the 1,500 this season after dropping to ninth in the standings last year.
Bowe also finished 14th in the 500-meter race Saturday. Among U.S. men competing in Day 2 of the competition, two-time Olympian Joey Mantia was seventh and Conor McDermott-Mostowy was 16th in the 1,500. In the mass start, Ian Quinn finished 11th and Mantia 15th.
This year’s international racing season has been shorted and limited to a single hub city due to COVID-19. Following this weekend’s event, another world cup will be held at Heerenveen’s iconic Thialf stadium next weekend, and the world championships will be at the same venue Feb. 11-14.
In addition to Bowe, Mantia, Quinn and McDermott-Mostowy, the U.S. team includes 2018 Olympian Erin Jackson and Ethan Cepuran.
This weekend’s event began Friday with the team pursuit events and mass start heats, and the first weekend of racing wrap up Sunday with men’s and women’s 500- and 1,000-meter contests, as well as a women’s 3,000-meter and men’s 5,000-meter.
Bowe is the two-time defending world cup champ in the 1,000 and has won the title four times overall.