Duggento, CadoMotus & MPC - The World 200m Title

Italian Gregory Duggento reclaimed his crown in the 200-meter time trial on a sunny Gijon afternoon during the World Speed Skating Championships.

Gregorio Duggento
The King stands poised on the starting line, ready to reclaim his crown

On the grassy infield he waited until the final skater had crossed the finish line, and then moments after he had thrown his head back and his arms in the air, he was laying on the grass beneath a pile of excited Italians. Beneath the bodies, beneath his feet, in an undercover, no-graphics guise was a pair of CadoMotus 1-1-2 HiLo frames, fitted with MPC wheels.

16.772
Eyes down, and captured in true dynamic form, Gregory stops the most important clock once again

“I think it is superstiff, both front, middle and back,” said Gregory.

“The DualBox provides the best steering.”

The Italian has won the time trial event 12 times. From 1998 in Pamplona, Spain, when the road event was still 300-meters, to 2006 in Anyang, Korea. These victories have included 2002 in Zandvoorde, Belgium, where the World Championships were track-only, and setting the World 300-meter road record in Barrancabermeja, Colombia in 2000 with a time of 23.681-seconds, the then-World 300-meter track record in Belgium with a time of 24.720-seconds, and the World 200-meter record in Anyang, Korea in 2006 with a time of 16.209-seconds.

King Gregory
Draped in his nation's flag, Gregory jogs the infield - followed by an excited Italian team

In 2007, after 7 years of dominance, the unthinkable happened - King Gregory was defeated in the 200-meter by Belgium’s Wouter Hebbrecht. Was this the heralding of a new era? A new King? Were Gregory’s days as the man who started more trackside watches and stopped more trackside conversations than anyone before him, over?

As a year passed, Hebbrecht claimed both the European 300-meter track, and 200-meter road titles in Germany - growing in confidence and maturity as a sprinter of the highest calibre.

On September 8, 2008, with a time of 16.772-seconds (to Juan Jardine’s 16.821, and Hebbrecht’s 16.930), Gregory answered - and he chose the DualBox-3 1-1-2 HiLo to do so.

“For me, this is the best frame.”

On top once again
World 200-meter Champion, 2008