3,000 metres, Women

The defending champion was Dutchwoman Ans Schut, but she had retired after the 1971 World Championships. The event had co-favorites, with Soviet skater Nina Statkevich having won the 1971 World and European Championship, and the distance at the 1972 Europeans in January; and the Netherlands’ Stien Baas-Kaiser, who was the world record holder, set in January 1971 in Davos, the defending bronze medalist from Grenoble, and who had won the distance at the 1971 World Championships. Despite these results, Baas-Kaiser was chosen only as a substitute for the Sapporo Olympics. When Trijnie Rep performed disappointingly, she was allowed to skate, and would justify her selection with silver in the 1,500 and gold in this event. Statkevich was off in the second pair and finished in 5:01.79, well off Baas-Kaiser’s world record of 4:46.5. American Dianne Holum was in the next pair, and bettered Statkevich’s time with 4:58.67 to take the lead. And that time held up until Baas-Kaiser went off in the next-to-last pair, and she shattered Holum’s time, finishing in 4:52.14 to easily win the gold medal, with Holum holding on for the silver, and the bronze going to Dutchwoman Atje Keeulen-Deelstra. Statkevich placed fifth. For her, after winning the 1971 World and European Championships, it was a disappointing Olympics with two fifth places and a sixth. For Baas-Kaiser, this was her first gold medal and fourth Olympic medal. She would skate at the World Sprints and World Championships in the coming weeks, and then retire at the end of an esteemed career that saw her win four Olympic medals, the 1967 and 1968 World Championships, and set nine world records. For Holum, this was her fourth Olympic medal, with a gold in the 1972 1,500, silver in this event and the 1968 500, and a bronze in the 1968 1,000.