Wiklund and Krol claim World Championship success in Heerenveen

Ragne Wiklund produced a performance that defied her years to secure 1500m World Championship gold in Heerenveen on Sunday.

The 20-year-old ran a personal best time of 1:54.613 in Holland to claim her maiden world title win, with American star Britanny Bowe her nearest challenger 0.42s behind, and Evgeniia Lalenkova of Russia finishing third 0.48s back.

After posting her time in the seventh pairing of the day, Wiklund had to wait for ten more athletes to register times before being able to celebrate her success, and even then she still couldn't believe what she had achieved.

"It has probably still not sunk completely. It was incredibly exciting to see the last couple. Seeing that they were behind was absolutely fantastic," the Norwegian said.

In the men's event, the Dutch skaters made the most of their home advantage to claim all three spots on the podium, with Thomas Krol claiming a second world title.

The 28-year-old flew round the track in a time of 1:43.75 to recapture the World Championship crown after doing similar back in 2019 in Calgary.

Krol takes the crown from compatriot Kjeld Nuis, who had to settle for second place this time around, with the 2020 champion finishing 0.35s behind his countryman.

Fellow Dutchman Patrick Roest claimed third to seal a Dutch one-two-three in Heerenveen, as he edged out Russia's Sergey Trofimov by just 0.02s with a time of 1:45.493.

Sunday's victory was a tale of redemption for Krol, who was disqualified from the 1000m event on Saturday for not standing still at the start, and he responded in the perfect fashion this time around.

"That disqualification in the 1000 meters was a very bitter pill, a big disappointment. I also had chances of winning at that distance," Krol said.

"But I could only blame myself. I knew I would get a second chance on the 1500m. That allowed me to quickly switch the switch and fully concentrate on that race."