Minin University student Natalia Voronina took 3rd place in the 5000 metres speed skating competition with a time of 6 minutes and 53.98 seconds. First place went to Esmee Visser from the Netherlands (6 minutes, 50.23 seconds) and the silver went to Martina Sáblíková of the Czech Republic, who was 1.62 seconds behind Visser.
Voronina competed in the last pair with Martina Sáblíková. Though she came in behind Sáblíková, Voronina skated 0.19 seconds faster than Dutch Annouk van der Weijden who had skated in the first pair and was holding 3rd place.
Voronina’s time, 6:53.98, was just a few tenths of a second behind her personal best 6:53.16, set at the Speed Skating World Cup in Salt Lake City in the United States in 2015.
Here’s a look at some of Voronina’s accomplishments:
-- Voronina was a bronze medalist in the World Cup in South Korea, and a medalist in the World Cup in Norway and in the United States.
-- In December 2017, she won the 3000m race at the World Cup in Salt Lake City, earning a new record for Russia and coming in ahead of Martina Sáblíková (Czech Republic).
-- In 2017, she won the title of “Best Athlete of the Year” in the Winter Olympic Sports category in the Russian national competition “Best in Sports – 2017.”
