Gold and more! Czech speed skater Martina Sáblíková sets two new world records

31-year-old speed skater Martina Sáblíková is one of the Czech Republic’s greatest contemporary athletes, and was the country’s first to win two gold medals at one Olympic Winter Games back in 2010 (she has since been joined by snowboarder-skier Ester Ledecká).

She hasn’t slowed down since then: over the March 3-4 weekend in Calgary, Sáblíková won her fifth World Allround Speed Skating Championship, and she did it in record fashion.

Sáblíková set not only one but two new world speed skating records over the weekend, finishing the 3000-meter event on Saturday with a record time of 3:53.31.

On Sunday, Sáblíková topped her own world record in the 5000-meter event with a time of 6:42.01. The time was .6 seconds faster than her record set in Salt Lake City in 2011, and 3.6 seconds faster than her original world record set in 2007.

In addition to Sáblíková’s two Olympic gold medals, she has now set official world speed skating records on four separate occasions. She also holds a world record in the 10000-meter event, which is not an official distance for women.

A month ago, Sáblíková won two gold medals (in the 3000-meter and 5000-meter events) at the ISU 2019 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in Inzell.

Sáblíková was awarded the overall gold medal at the World Allround Speed Skating Championship in Calgary on Sunday; Japan’s Miho Takagi, last year’s champion, came in second, while Dutch skater Antoinette de Jong finished with the bronze.

The Netherlands’ Patrick Roest took home the gold medal in the men’s division.