Last weekend, the European Championships of Speed Skating came to an end in Heerenveen, the Netherlands, and the host team, the Netherlands, was in good shape: winning 11 gold medals in 14 small events, showing a strong competitive momentum, in stark contrast to the sluggish performances of the previous four World Cups.
In the four World Cups this season, the Netherlands did not play well, and only the men's 1000 meters ranked first in all 14 Winter Olympic games, and none of the remaining 13 events ranked first in the World Cup standings, which was not a situation that had not occurred in the past few decades. In order to ensure the results of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Dutch side did not fully refer to the results of the domestic selection competition held not long ago, but selected more experienced Kramer, Worcester and other famous players, looking forward to the honor of them can bring surprises to the world in the "ice ribbon". Due to the general performance of the World Cup, many people have come to the conclusion that the competitiveness of the Dutch team in the Beijing Winter Olympics has declined", but in fact, as the well-deserved "king" of the speed skating field of the Winter Olympics, the Dutch can never be underestimated.
Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 1000m, 1500m champion Kilder Nius
The important warm-up race before the Beijing Winter Olympics, the speed skating European Championship also proved this: in the men's 1000 meters competition, the World Cup points first, second Kroller, And Nius continued their good form, and once again both slid into 1 minute and 8 seconds, and they will also be the most powerful contenders for this small gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Men's 1500 meters, Nius, Kroll respectively skated 1 minute 43 seconds 608, 1 minute 43 seconds 916 results, the same compared to the World Cup Norway station progress is obvious, considering that there have been Dutch celebrities world cup performance downturn, but once the big game on the big game on the four sides of the situation, the current World Cup points ranking of the first small American mandia, China's Ning Zhongyan need to pay attention to the Dutch opponents. Men's team chase, the Dutch team composed of Kramer, Busque and Rost skated out a time of 3 minutes 37.975 seconds, which greatly improved their winning time in the World Cup Poland 3:44.567, which is close to the victory of the American team in Canada and the United States, which ranked first in the World Cup this season, and also better than the Best World Cup of the Chinese selection team of 3 minutes 38.930, It is worth mentioning that the Netherlands adjusted the lineup in the men's team chase in the last two World Cups. Therefore, the decline in performance is not indicative, considering the unparalleled thickness of the Dutch team,000, they are still strong contenders for medals and gold medals in most of the minor and even speed skating events.
Scotten
The Dutch women's form is also outstanding: especially Skauteng skated a time of 3 minutes 56.623 seconds in the women's 3000 meters, not only successfully won the championship, but also set a new field record, taking the advantage of second place De Jong by as many as 3 seconds, which is also better than her own Polish 4:04.009 winning time, in fact, this season's World Cup adopts the combined points method of 3000 meters and 5000 meters, and the single round of 3000 meters is the first place, He is also the strongest athlete in this small event at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Youngsters Lildham and De Jong skated 1:13.602 and 1:53.812 in the women's 1,000m and 1,500m respectively, winning the championship twice. In terms of team chases, the ultra-luxurious lineup composed of Worcester, De Jong and Scotten skated a time of 2:54.128, which was in the top three of the three World Cups set up for the women's team chase.
Lildam
Even if the Dutch team has slowed down in this Winter Olympic cycle, especially this season's World Cup, they are still the only team in the Beijing Winter Olympics speed skating event to qualify for 9 male and 9 female full athletes. As the technical director of the Dutch team, Remi de Witte, said, no one can despise the Dutch team in the Winter Olympic games.
Image source Isu official website of the International Skating Federation