Natalia Maliszewska finished second in the 500m final at the World Cup short track event in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The winner was Dutchwoman Suzanne Schulting. The Pole strengthened her lead in the general classification of this competition. Among the men, the winner was Diane Sellier representing Poland (third in the ‘general’). In turn, the Polish mixed team finished third.
Maliszewska, a 27-year-old skater from Juvenia Białystok, who has four World Cup victories at her crown distance, repeated her result from previous World Cup competitions in Montreal and Salt Lake City.
The Pole confidently advanced to the two quarter-finals of the ‘500s’ on Friday with times of 44.192 and 43.998, and she won her heat (43.952) in the competition for the first semi-final. At this level, Nikola Mazur and Kamila Stormowska dropped out on Saturday, finishing 13th and 17th respectively. Gabriela Topolska, on the other hand, will start in Sunday’s 500m quarter-final.
The best of the Poles, who has been struggling with a fever for two days, started her semi-final run from the fifth-last position. She passed three rivals over the distance, finishing the race in second place (43.934).
In the next race, Diane Sellier won the 500m final. The Pole of French origin beat Canadian Steven Dubois and Kazakh Denis Nikisha in a lifetime best performance.
Sellier has twice reported in the A-final this World Cup season. Each time he finished 5th. This was the case in Salt Lake City and a week ago in Almaty.
Today Sellier did well. The national record-holder passed two rivals on the way and finished in a time of 41.104, with Dubois second (41.153) and Nikisza third (41.267).
Meanwhile, the Polish mixed relay in short track took third place in the World Cup competition. This is the best result for the white and red team in the history of this competition. The winner was South Korea, ahead of Belgium. A fall on one of the last laps was recorded by the Dutch, who were in third place until that moment.
The Polish team consisted of Kamila Stormowska, Michał Niewiński, Gabriela Stormowska and Diane Sellier, who had won the 500m final a few minutes earlier.