Brittany Bowe (center) poses for a photo with her medal at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating on Nov. 17, 2019 in Minsk, Belarus.
Brittany Bowe was virtually unstoppable in the 1,000-meter last season, and no one could beat her in the first world cup race of this season at the distance, either.
Picking up where she left off, the two-time Olympian and reigning world cup and world champion in the 1,000-meter broke the track record at Minsk Arena in Belarus on the third and final day of the first world cup weekend of the fall to go along with the bronze she won in the 1,500-meter on Saturday.
Bowe’s time of one minute, 15.354 seconds beat the old track record of 1:15.82 set by Marrit Leenstra. It was also .59 seconds faster than Jorien ter Mors of the Netherlands, who finished second in Sunday’s race in 1:14.950. Russia’s Yekaterina Shikhova was third with a time of 1:15.962.
Last season, Bowe not only won the world cup season title in the 1,000-meter, she also set a world record in the process with her time of 1:11.610, a personal best in the last race of the season. It was her third season and first since 2016 winning the world cup title at the distance. She’s also the reigning world single distances champion in the 1,000-meter.
The next stop on the world cup circuit is next weekend in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
