No one had ever skated the 5000m in under six minutes and no one expected that to be possible outside the high-altitude tracks of Salt Lake City (USA) and Calgary (CAN). But on Saturday, Sander Eitrem (NOR) proved everybody wrong. The 23-year-old Norwegian clocked a time of 5 minutes and 58.52s to skate the first World Record in a classical distance at the German track in 40 years.

Before Eitrem's historic race, Jordan Stolz (USA) collected his second undefeated World Cup Trophy of the weekend in the 1000m, after completing a clean sweep of the 1500m on Friday.

Record-breaking Eitrem enjoys "best day ever"

Timothy Loubineaud (FRA) set the bar high in Inzell on Saturday. The Frenchman, who set the World Record at 6 minutes and 0.23s at the season’s first World Cup in Salt Lake City last November, broke the Inzell track record (6:04.52) set by Davide Ghiotto (ITA) in October. In a head-to-head battle with Ghiotto himself in the sixth of eight pairings, Loubineaud clocked 6:03.65.

Sander Eitrem (NOR) has realised his dream of breaking a World Record, hauling the 5000m mark below six minutes at the age of 23 © ISU 

Eitrem was impressed. "Beforehand, my plan was to skate for a podium place,” he said.

“The level is so high this season and the guys were skating so fast. I wasn't sure if I would be able to beat them."

During his race, Eitrem experienced something special, however.

"With four or five laps to go, I was feeling pretty good, and I knew I could manage to keep it together. 

"I had a side eye on the scoreboard, and I was a couple of seconds ahead of the World Record, so I knew I was going to get it. I think today I was just having my best day ever."

When Loubineaud skated his World Record in Salt Lake City, Eitrem had also been chasing that feat, but back then his nerves got the best of him.

"If you think too much about it, it will drain a lot of energy,” he admitted. 

“The weeks before Salt Lake City, I was thinking a lot about the World Record. I was struggling to sleep, so I was drained before the start. I think that's an important lesson learned."

In Inzell, Eitrem had never thought about his childhood dream of breaking a World Record. "I thought maybe next season."

Aware of his fast time throughout, Eitrem was still shocked when the clock confirmed he had shattered the historic barrier © ISU 

Eitrem is the first athlete to skate a World Record in Inzell since Karin Kania (GDR) set a time of 2 minutes and 2.23s for the 1500m in the German mountain village on 6 March 1986. Back then, racing took place on an outdoor rink, which was replaced by the indoor Max Aicher Arena in 2010.

Since the opening of the high-altitude rinks in Calgary (1988) and Salt Lake City (2001), World Records at the lower situated rinks in Europe have become scarce, because the air resistance is lower at high altitude. Oxygen is also scarcer, however.

"I think lower situated rinks suit me better than high altitude,” Eitrem revealed.

“It's hard to stay on the limit at high altitude, because you hit the wall pretty fast. At lower altitude it's easier to manage." 

Eitrem now holds the only World Record in a classical distance to be set outside Salt Lake City and Calgary, which he himself had deemed almost impossible too. His performance also made him the clear-cut favorite for the long distances at the Olympic Games in Milano Cortina. 

"I put myself in that position and I'll now have to deal with it, but it's OK. I just have to continue with what I do.

"Hopefully I'm not in top shape at the moment, so who knows. I need to stay away from injuries and illness."

Metoděj Jílek (CZE) was Eitrem's pairmate in Inzell. He finished second in a personal best time of 6 minutes and 1.98s, 1.67s ahead of eventual bronze medalist Loubineaud.

Metoděj Jílek (CZE, left) came in behind pairmate Eitrem to seal the long-distance Trophy. Previous record holder Timothy Loubineaud (FRA, right) took bronze © ISU 

Early on in the race, Jilek already knew that Eitrem was in a different league on Saturday.

"It was an incredible race from Sander, and also unexpected. I have no words,” he said.

"I knew from the first laps onwards that Sander was on a really good day. I could see it in the way he skated, so I knew it would be really tough to beat him."

By coming in second, Jilek secured the long-distance World Cup Trophy. 

"I was trying to race my own race, and I was racing for the overall. My real peak is going to be in two weeks [at the Olympic Games] in Milan, but still, Sander was way better today, and I had no response."

Stolz wraps up World Cup Trophy double-treble

Jordan Stolz (USA) took home the 1000m World Cup Trophy in a track record time of 1 minute 6.83s, shaving 0.28s off the previous mark set by Ning Zhongyan (CHN). 

The American Phenomenon left Damian Zurek (POL) 0.37s behind in silver. World Champion Joep Wennemars (NED) took bronze in 1:07.23.

Stolz adds the 1000m Trophy to the 1500m prize he sealed on Friday and the 500m Trophy which he has already secured with one race to go tomorrow. He retains all three World Cup Trophies after winning them for the first time last season.

Jordan Stolz (USA) won his fifth 1000m race in five World Cup rounds to retain the ISU World Cup Trophy for the distance © ISU 

Looking forward to Milan, Stolz felt confident: "It was all right. I was a bit tired from 1500m, and I think this is about where I think I would be right now.

"There isn't any way I can get slower right now, so that's good. I've done a lot of training."

Zurek was content too: "The race was really good. I just made some mistakes on the inner corner, but actually, the time was good so I'm happy I was second in the [World Cup] classification, so that's a really nice trophy too."

Friday's 500m winner Damian Zurek (POL, left) added the 1000m silver to his Inzell haul. Joep Wennemars (NED, right) took the bronze © ISU 

Wennemars had approached the race as an upgraded training event, and he too was content about his level, saying: "I thought: 'Let's get it over with and we're out of here’, that's the way I crossed the line. And then I end up third, so I'm super happy with that. It means that my base level is very good."