Marten Liiv 6th after speed skating world champs day one
Speed skater Marten Liiv has got his campaign at the 2026 ISU Speed Skating Allround & Sprint World Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands off to a good start, and currently sits in sixth place.
Liiv, who represented Estonia in the recent Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, had finished 12th and 15th in Heerenveen in the 500-meter races, and placed seventh and fifth in the 1000-meter events at the world championships two years ago, finishing seventh overall that time.
On day one he put in a time of 34.74 seconds in the 500 meters, placing 11th as noted, a little under a second behind the eventual winner Jenning De Boo (Netherlands).
Over 1000-meter distance, Laurent Dubreuil initially set the best pace of 1:08.35, but Liiv also delivered a strong race and ultimately finished only 0.05 seconds behind the Canadian. The world's top skaters still had their say, however. De Boo crossed the line in 1:06.52, beating Stolz—who had started better—by as much as 0.62 seconds. Third place went to another Dutchman, Joep Wennemars, who finished 0.85 seconds behind his compatriot.
Overall Liiv sat in sixth place (68.940 points; +1.90) at the end of the opening day.
Day two is today, Friday, at the Thalif stadium in Heerenveen. The two events Liiv will be competing in are over the same distances, ie. 500 meters and 1,000 meters.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kristjan Kallaste
