Olympic Speedskating 2014: Women's 1500M Medal Winners and Final Results

For the third time in the 2014 Winter Games, the Dutch completely swept a podium in a speedskating event, fueled by Jorien ter Mors' record-breaking performance.

Ter Mors posted a final time of 1:53.51, which broke Germany's Anni Friesinger's 1:54.02 record-setting time posted at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Olympic legend Ireen Wust scored a silver medal and her third medal of the Games overall thanks to a 1:54.09 mark, while fellow countrywoman Lotte van Beek won bronze to round out the podium courtesy of a 1:54.54 time—a full 1.03 seconds behind ter Mors.

As Michael C. Lewis of The Salt Lake Tribune illustrated before the event's conclusion—it was painfully obvious no competitor was sniffing the all-Dutch podium—the Dutch hold a stranglehold on the sport thus far in Sochi:

As if to add insult to the rest of the field, Marrit Leenstra of the Netherlands took fourth place with a time of 1:56.40, although her mark was 2.89 seconds off the lead, perfectly illustrating just how dominant the top three truly were:

Rank	Country	Name	Pair	Lane	Result	Difference
1	NED	Jorien ter Mors	9	I	1:53.51 OR	0.00
2	NED	Ireen Wust	15	I	1:54.09	+0.58
3	NED	Lotte van Beek	18	O	1:54.54	+1.03
4	NED	Marrit Leenstra	13	I	1:56.40	+2.89
5	RUS	Yuliya Skokova	16	O	1:56.45	+2.94
6	POL	Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus	16	I	1:57.18	+3.67
7	USA	Heather Richardson	14	I	1:57.60	+4.09
8	RUS	Ekaterina Lobysheva	17	O	1:57.70	+4.19
9	RUS	Olga Fatkulina	5	O	1:57.88	+4.37
10	RUS	Ekaterina Shikhova	11	I	1:58.09	+4.58
11	POL	Luiza Zlotkowska	11	O	1:58.18	+4.67
12	NOR	Ida Njaatun	15	O	1:58.21	+4.70
13	CZE	Karolina Erbanova	12	O	1:58.23	+4.72
14	USA	Brittany Bowe	17	I	1:58.31	+4.80
15	POL	Natalia Czerwonka	10	O	1:58.46	+4.95
16	CAN	Kali Christ	7	I	1:58.63	+5.12
17	CAN	Christine Nesbitt	8	I	1:58.67	+5.16
18	USA	Jilleanne Rookard	8	O	1:59.15	+5.64
19	GER	Claudia Pechstein	18	I	1:59.47	+5.96
20	BEL	Jelena Peeters	2	I	1:59.73	+6.22
21	KOR	Bo Reum Kim	2	O	1:59.78	+6.27
22	JPN	Misaki Oshigiri	6	O	2:00.03	+6.52
23	CHN	Xin Zhao	3	O	2:00.27	+6.76
24	GER	Monique Angermueller	14	O	2:00.32	+6.81
25	JPN	Maki Tabata	13	O	2:00.64	+7.13
26	CAN	Brittany Schussler	12	I	2:00.65	+7.14
27	CHN	Qishi Li	6	I	2:00.89	+7.38
28	KAZ	Yekaterina Aidova	1	I	2:00.93	+7.42
29	KOR	Seon Yeong Noh	3	I	2:01.07	+7.56
30	GER	Gabriele Hirschbichler	7	O	2:01.18	+7.67
31	JPN	Ayaka Kikuchi	9	O	2:01.29	+7.78
32	JPN	Nana Takagi	10	I	2:02.16	+8.65
33	NOR	Hege Bokko	5	I	2:02.53	+9.02
34	AUT	Vanessa Bittner	1	O	2:02.84	+9.33
35	CAN	Brianne Tutt	4	O	2:03.69	+10.18
36	KOR	Shin Young Yang	4	I	2:04.13	+10.62

For ter Mors, the Olympic record is a nice feather in the cap, but fans in no way should have been surprised to see her near the top. Alex Goldberger of NBC has the scoop on her recent strong form:

To add to that point, ter Mors broke a course record back in December of 2013 at a World Cup event in Berlin, Germany—one year from taking up long track. She told reporters, via Olympic.org, that she had focused on her technique, which clearly played a part in her record-breaking performance in Sochi:

"

I know that I skated fast while trying to maintain a regular rhythm, and that enabled me to produce a great time. I’m focusing on my technique and I can see that I still have room for improvement. I love what I do, whether it is on the long or short track.

"

The host country's Olga Fatkulina provided some early fireworks thanks to a jaw-dropping pace and looked to be a contender for the top of the podium.

For a major trial of endurance, Fatkulina got off to an extremely ambitious start in front of her home crowd and was well in the lead, but she trailed off near the end and nearly fell on the final turn as her legs gave way. Willie Cornblatt of NBC put it best: 

Yuliya Skokova ended up being Russia's best hope in a lopsided affair, as she came in right behind Leenstra with a time of 1:56.45.

Perhaps the biggest storyline was the struggles to date for America, with Heather Richardson and Brittany Bowe the only two who entered Sunday's race with a legitimate chance to medal. As Cornblatt reported before the race, the duo reverted to old suits in an effort to help turn things around:

The problem did not turn out to be the suits, although Richardson turned in a nice performance. She actually sat in position to snag a bronze thanks to her 1:57.60 time, but Wust and van Beek proceeded to knock her off the podium and into a free fall to seventh place.

Bowe fared much worse as one of the race's final participants. She landed in 14th place with a time of 1:58.31—a full 4.80 out of first place.

Sunday was likely America's last chance to grab an individual medal with only the ladies' 5,000-meter event remaining, which is set for Wednesday. After that, things give way to the team-pursuit events, which the U.S. may stand a better chance in—although seeing the Dutch atop that podium seems to be cemented at this point.

Perhaps the biggest threat to a perfect podium for the Dutch in the 5,000-meter race is Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic, who holds the record in the event and specifically dropped the 1,500-meter race to better focus on her best event.

As for American star Richardson, she followed up a disappointing seventh-place finish in the 1,000-meter event—arguably her strongest event—with another seventh-place result Sunday. Though she fared better in the 1,500, it's yet another example of how some of Team USA's biggest stars haven't lived up to expectations in Sochi amidst all-world talent. 

Richardson will look to rebound in the women's team pursuit finals scheduled for Saturday. A strong showing would go a long way toward healing some of the wounds caused by her early shortcomings. However, with more and more pressure mounting to turn things around, nothing is certain.