Ed Odeven 
Miho Takagi zoom across the ice in the women's 1,000 meters at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup meet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 31, 2025. (©KYODO)
Read the full story on SportsLook - [ODDS and EVENS] Miho Takagi Excelling in the 2024-25 Speed Skating Season
Miho Takagi is having an exceptional season on the ISU Speed Skating World Cup circuit. Most notably, she's unbeaten in five 1,000-meter events in the 2024-25 campaign, which began in November in Nagano.
Heading into the final meet of the World Cup season, Takagi is also in first place in the standings for both the women's 1,000 and 1,500 meters.
She demands excellence from herself, and anything less than the best frustrates her.
The Hokkaido Prefecture native placed second in the 1,500 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, on February 21, for example. For her, it was an unacceptable result in a World Cup meet.
"Not so much with my placing, but my skating was so bad," Takagi told reporters at the arena.
A day later, the three-time Olympian returned to winning form, obliterating the field in the 1,000. Takagi was so strong in her race that her time (1 minute, 14.80 seconds) was more than 1.5 seconds faster than the rest of the field.
There was a mental reset between February 21 and 22 that fueled Takagi's competitive spirit.
Or as she put it: "Yesterday, I was overthinking the race, but I didn‘t really feel the excitement of a World Cup race, I just lacked the passion. You don't need all that thinking in a race, but you do need that passion. I was angry with myself yesterday, but today was different."
Miho Takagi Chasing a Track Record in Season Finale
The 2024-25 World Cup campaign concludes with a meet over the weekend of February 28 to March 2 in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Takagi, 30, has her sights set on making history at the Thialf ice arena. She announced her goal during the previous week's meet in Poland, stating that she's "going for a track record." Thus, the standard could be eclipsed in the women's 1,000 or 1,500.
Which means she'll need to skate faster than Dutch standout Jutta Leedram did on December 28, 2022, (1:12.80) in Heerenveen in the shorter distance. Or beat the time of Leedram's compatriot Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong in the 1,500 (1:52.95), also on that same December day.
Continue reading the full story on SportsLook.
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Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.
