Great Britain take bronze in the 1000m men’s World Speed Skating Championships!
Cornelius Kersten, 28, is the first athlete to medal in Speed Skating (Long Track) for 72 years! After representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games, Cornelius has fought back from an ankle injury in pre-season to land on the podium.
The championships were held over the weekend in Heerenveen, Netherlands and along with Cornelius Kersten; Ellia Smeding and Gemma Cooper also represented Great Britain.
Cornelius commented on his medal winning performance “I’m stoked to have won a world championship medal; this is unreal especially after the injury I had earlier in the year. All I wanted to do today was send it and I’m so happy with my performance.”
“Would like to extend my gratitude for my wider team, Novus and British Ice Skating have been a critical part of my development across this season!”
Ellia Smeding blasted into 8th in the Women’s 1000m just after Cornelius took the bronze and placed 11th in the 1500m smashing through her Personal Best which was previously set at high altitude making it an even bigger feat of performance.
Ellia commented “I’m really happy to finish off the season with my best races to date, excited about the progress we have made this year and I can’t wait to build on these performances next season.”
Gemma Cooper skated in the Women’s Mass Start Event and placed 10th in the semi- final, narrowly missing out on the final!
Congratulations to our three performance Speed Skating athletes on a brilliant season! No stopping GB in 23/24!
Photo kindly given permissions by @ISUSpeedSkating