Speed Skating 2019 - 2020 Discussion Thread

[Dennis 765]

44 minutes ago, Gianlu33 said:

Just a curiosity, there is no chance to see the Elfstedentocht in the next 10 years?

Depends on the weather. Pray for the coldest winter in decades and you might see one. So probably not.

 

Gonna post a full update of the national records in two weeks or so, but I noticed that Luisa Gonzalez Salazar, a 16-year old  skater, skated 41,45 in Inzell. Not a poor time at all. Last year October her PB was 43,93. If she keeps developing at this pace, I'm wondering if she could qualify for Beijing 2022?

 

 Niginabonu Jamoliddinova also improved her PB on the 500m with 4 seconds in less than a week (1st November 2019: 49,19; 26th October 2019: 53,57, both times skated in Minsk) . Still far from times that could help her come close to Olympic qualification, but she is 15 years old, so enough time to develop.

 

 

 

 

[heywoodu 16,142]

7 hours ago, Gianlu33 said:

Just a curiosity, there is no chance to see the Elfstedentocht in the next 10 years?

It's always possible

 

I have no doubt there will be another one at some point, saying there will never be is just really unrealistic in my opinion ('never' is a long, long time after all). But as Dennis said, it depends entirely on the weather  

[Olympian1010 8,274]

41 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

It's always possible

 

I have no doubt there will be another one at some point, saying there will never be is just really unrealistic in my opinion ('never' is a long, long time after all). But as Dennis said, it depends entirely on the weather  

Maybe we should just come up with a Canadian or Alaskan version at this point 

[Olympian1010 8,274]

@heywoodu and @Dennis what is the ideal time to start looking at weather patterns, etc. to determine the likelihood of the Elfstedentocht taking place?

[heywoodu 16,142]

1 hour ago, Olympian1010 said:

@heywoodu and @Dennis what is the ideal time to start looking at weather patterns, etc. to determine the likelihood of the Elfstedentocht taking place?

 

According to optimistic people: as soon as temperatures drop below 0 during the night, even if it's one cold night with -0.5 or something in September.

 

More realistic: probably January or something. Weather patterns don't really mean much more than two weeks in advance or so, even though weather companies like to make you believe otherwise, so there's not specifically an ideal time. January and February are the coldest months though.

[Dennis 765]

 team for the first World Cups:

 

Women:

• Jutta Leerdam (20) - 500m, 1.000m
• Michelle de Jong (20) - 500m
• Dione Voskamp (22) - 500m
• Esmee Visser (23) - 3.000m, 5.000m
• Sanneke de Neeling (23) - 500m
• Antoinette de Jong (24) - 1.000m, 1.500m, 3.000m, 5.000m
• Melissa Wijfje (24) - 1.500m, 3.000m
• Reina Anema (26) - 1.500m, 3.000m, 5.000m
• Letitia de Jong (26) - 1.000m
• Irene Schouten (27) - 5.000m
• Jorien ter Mors (29) - 500m, 1.000m, 1.500m
• Carlijn Achtereekte (29) - 3.000m, 5.000m
• Ireen Wüst (33) - 1.000m, 1.500m

 

Men:

• Marwin Talsma (21) - 10.000m
• Marcel Bosker (22) - 1.500m, 5.000m, 10.000m
• Patrick Roest (23) - 1.500m, 5.000m, 10.000m
• Dai Dai Ntab (25) - 500m, 1.000m
• Kai Verbij (25) - 500m, 1.000m
• Lennart Velema (26) - 500m
• Thomas Krol (27) - 1.000m, 1.500m
• Kjeld Nuis (30) - 1.000m, 1.500m
• Hein Otterspeer (31) - 500m, 1.000m
• Ronald Mulder (33) - 500m
• Sven Kramer (33) - 1.500m, 5.000m
• Jorrit Bergsma (33) - 5.000m, 10.000m
• Douwe de Vries (37) - 5.000m, 10.000m

 

About half of the men's team is 30 years or older, whereas the women's team is way more balanced age-wise. On the women's side the qualification events were won by Esmee Visser (3.000m and 5.000m) and Jorien ter Mors (500m, 1.000m, and 1.500m).

 

On the men's side, we had four different winners: Dai Dai Ntab (500m), Kai Verbij (1.000m), Kjeld Nuis (1.500m), and Patrick Roest (5.000m and 10.000m). Kai Verbij and Patrick Roest (10.000m) won in impressive track records.

 

Sven Kramer failed to qualify for the 10.000m by 0,72 seconds.

[NearPup 3,614]

Sven Kramer not making the team in the 10,000m seems pretty shocking.

[heywoodu 16,142]

22 minutes ago, NearPup said:

Sven Kramer not making the team in the 10,000m seems pretty shocking.

Meh, he's not Sven the Almighty he once was  Plus the 'theme' of the weekend was Kramer saying he'll skate 'sub maximum', as in, less than he could do. He also doesn't really miss anything because of this, World Cups don't mean a lot and his focus surely isn't on those.

[NearPup 3,614]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Meh, he's not Sven the Almighty he once was  Plus the 'theme' of the weekend was Kramer saying he'll skate 'sub maximum', as in, less than he could do. He also doesn't really miss anything because of this, World Cups don't mean a lot and his focus surely isn't on those.

Does Kramer compete in any of the domestic marathon style competitions? Or do you think his main focus for this season are worlds?

[heywoodu 16,142]

5 minutes ago, NearPup said:

Does Kramer compete in any of the domestic marathon style competitions? Or do you think his main focus for this season are worlds?

Not sure if he ever competed in the national marathon cup (14 races this season, generally at least 100 laps, as a mass start event should have), but it definitely hasn't ever been his goal and it won't be this season. 

 

World Cups have never been his focus (or that of any other elite rider), speed skating really is all about titles and medals every winter, much more than other winter sports