Speed Skating Discussion | Qualification to Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026

[heywoodu 16,334]

10 minutes ago, copravolley said:

I also have a question for the Dutch who live there: are your winters as cold now as they were 20-30 years ago, allowing for outdoor skating: on ice rinks, frozen canals, lakes, etc.? Or is everything now indoors? Could this mean fewer people will participate in this sport in the future?

Yes, like in most places, winters are on average getting less cold, and skating on lakes and such is becoming rare. But no, that won't really affect the number of athletes, indoor skating is too common for that  

[heywoodu 16,334]

16 minutes ago, copravolley said:

The Netherlands invests millions in this sport and they have a large pool of athletes. They always need to be at the top and win medals, even if they don't have a phenomenon like Stolz or, once upon a time, Kramer. It's similar with Austria or Switzerland in alpine skiing: thanks to their know-how and significant financial resources, they can turn an average skier like Rast, Holdener, Gisin, etc., into an Olympic/World Championship medalist. 

 

Italy, on the other hand, doesn't have that kind of money, and it hurts even more that we're losing talents like Colturi. It hurts much more than Nor loss of Braathen, because there are another 4 or 5 at his level or slightly under.

Braathen's move hurts more than just Norway (it's nice for the Brazilian fans I guess, not necesarily so much for the athletes)  But that's another topic, let's mostly keep it to speed skating here  

Edited December 29, 2025 by heywoodu

[copravolley 574]

2 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Braathen's move hurts more than just Norway (it's nice for the Brazilian fans I guess, not necesarily so much for the athletes)  But that's another topic, let's mostly keep it to speed skating here  

You also had escapes: Bloemen, Veldkamp? But probably because they were too weak for you? Kramer wouldn't have chosen Belgium in his prime time?

[Noorderling29 203]

24 minutes ago, copravolley said:

Remember Vorviej's face when he lost to Brodka from Poland in the 1500 in 2014 by 0.003 hundredths? Overall, Vorviej looked like some kind of cyborg, not a normal guy, even an athletic one...

You mean: Koen Verweij?

[copravolley 574]

2 minutes ago, Noorderling29 said:

You mean: Koen Verweij?

Yeah, bon't be angry if I sometimes mistakes some foreign names.

[Noorderling29 203]

17 minutes ago, copravolley said:

Yeah, bon't be angry if I sometimes mistakes some foreign names.

Why would I be angry about something somebody posts on some internet forum?

[copravolley 574]

1 minute ago, Noorderling29 said:

Why would I be angry about something somebody posts on some internet forum?

People are different. I don't do this out of disrespect, but I don't always do to search different names. We're intelligent people, and I think everyone knows who we're talking about  

[heywoodu 16,334]

44 minutes ago, copravolley said:

You also had escapes: Bloemen, Veldkamp? But probably because they were too weak for you? Kramer wouldn't have chosen Belgium in his prime time?

I wouldn't say Veldkamp was too weak, he certainly proved he wasn't, but he did want to avoid the extreme Dutch selection races, yes. Bloemen had multiple reasons, including his dad being Canadian, him wanting to join a certain coach and simply wanted to go to a more 'relaxed' environment.

[copravolley 574]

1 minute ago, heywoodu said:

I wouldn't say Veldkamp was too weak, he certainly proved he wasn't, but he did want to avoid the extreme Dutch selection races, yes. Bloemen had multiple reasons, including his dad being Canadian, him wanting to join a certain coach and simply wanted to go to a more 'relaxed' environment.

And is the current Ned men's team coached by an athlete who competed in the 2002 OG and won a medal in the 1000 meters, I think? A blond guy with long hair.

[NearPup 3,700]

1 hour ago, copravolley said:

You also had escapes: Bloemen, Veldkamp? But probably because they were too weak for you? Kramer wouldn't have chosen Belgium in his prime time?

Bloemen is an interesting case because he was genuinely not going to get anywhere in the Netherlands. It seems like he needed to be a big fish in a small(et) pound. He’s been pretty open about how moving to Canada basically saved his career.

Edited December 29, 2025 by NearPup