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

[NearPup 4,188]

Just now, copravolley said:

But that won't happen in case of Italy. Look at our recent results in swimming, athletics etc.: tons of silver and bronze medals, but minimal number of gold. This is happens becouse the fact,  that we don't have phenomenal athletes like: McIntosh, Duplantis, etc., but a wide group of good athletes who rarely win. This will be even more evident in winter, as most winter sports are highly measurable, perhaps with the exception of short track.

Hey remember when Italy was cleaning up everything in athletics at the 2020 Olympics? Surprises happen kind of randomly :P

[copravolley 657]

Just now, NearPup said:

Hey remember when Italy was cleaning up everything in athletics at the 2020 Olympics? Surprises happen kind of randomly :P

In that time we won 40 medals and 10 gold of them, so nothing special. Athletics simply filled the gap left by other sports.

[copravolley 657]

10 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Jochem Uytdehaage's biggest win was a Dutch allround title and a Dutch 10k title (which very much counted, especially back then, but still, that was basically all). Then came Salt Lake City and hello double gold and double world record  (12:58.92 is still firmly in my mind, 11-year old me could not believe someone had actually gone sub-13)

 

Derek Parra had barely won anything as well before it. Got gold and silver. Gerard van Velde always missed everything, then got gold. There simply is no "certain winner", every single person who spent more than 5 hours watching sports surely knows that?

Or Zbignew Brodka in Sochi 2014: 1500. But not in case of Italy and our always bad luck

Edited September 16, 2025 by copravolley

[CCB 628]

Very promising times from Jordan Stolz in Milwaukee: 34.51 on the 500 meter and 1.42,20 on the 1.500 meter 

 

Meanwhile Femke Kok skates a very unexpected track record on the 1.500 meter in Heerenveen: 1.52,69. Normally she only skates only 500 and 1.000 meters.

 

In Inzell Davide Ghiotto  posted two very good times. He skated the 3k and 5k within 40 minutes . 3.38,06 and 6.12,97 - WOW!

[heywoodu 16,475]

20 minutes ago, CCB said:

Very promising times from Jordan Stolz in Milwaukee: 34.51 on the 500 meter and 1.42,20 on the 1.500 meter 

 

Meanwhile Femke Kok skates a very unexpected track record on the 1.500 meter in Heerenveen: 1.52,69. Normally she only skates only 500 and 1.000 meters.

 

In Inzell Davide Ghiotto  posted two very good times. He skated the 3k and 5k within 40 minutes . 3.38,06 and 6.12,97 - WOW!

That time of Kok is definitely the highlight of the pre-season so far, that is just insane. Over 5 seconds faster than her previous PB.

[copravolley 657]

Ghiotto beat Semurunyi by 3 seconds over 3 km-it`s a good sign, but that's still 4 seconds slower than Jilek- it`s a bad sign. I'm only interested in Ghiotto's gold in Cortina and I won't be satisfied with, for example, two medals: silver and bronze individually. I prefer 1 gold than 2 other medals.

[NearPup 4,188]

59 minutes ago, copravolley said:

Ghiotto beat Semurunyi by 3 seconds over 3 km-it`s a good sign, but that's still 4 seconds slower than Jilek- it`s a bad sign. I'm only interested in Ghiotto's gold in Cortina and I won't be satisfied with, for example, two medals: silver and bronze individually. I prefer 1 gold than 2 other medals.

You’ll be really disappointed because I can 100% guarantee that Ghiotto will not win a gold medal in Cortina (unless I massively f-ed up my travel plans :P )

[CCB 628]

Again some very impressive results from several preparation meets. In Stavanger (Norway) Ragne Wiklund skated the best 3.000 meter since 2016, almost beating the trackrecord from Martina Sablikova: 4.00,15, a really strong time, especially given the circumstances (ice like sandpaper and very high air pressure). After that, 5.000 meter World Champion Sander Eitrem skated a new track record in 6.10,28 (beating the former track record from the legendary Sven Kramer   by more than 5 seconds!!). 

 

I'm quite sure there will be an insane battle between Jilek  , Eitrem  and (hopefully) Ghiotto  on the 5k in Milano. Meanwhile, Patrick Roest skated a 6.29 and confirmed again he is still not recovered from all the illness. Honestly I fear he even won't make the Olympic team, while 2 years ago everybody in The Netherlands thought Roest would be our biggest chance on gold in Milano.

 

From the Dutch meet in Heerenveen today no results worth mentioning. Femke Kok, who skated insane last week, withdrew today. 

[phelps 8,767]

Italian selection races for the World Cup (AKA International Races in  Inzell)

 

men's 5k:  Davide Ghiotto 6.04.52 (new TR, 2 seconds faster than last year in this same race), 2nd was  Tim Loubineaud in 6.14.61

 

men's 10k:  Davide Ghiotto, 12.30.44 (3.5 secs slower than last year in this same race); 2nd was once again  Tim Loubineaud in 12.42.38; 3rd through 6th were Riccardo Lorello, Michele Malfatti, Manuel Ghiotto and Andrea Giovannini (all ) with times between 12.51 and 13.00

 

women's 500m:  Serena Pergher, 38.29, well ahead of  Vanessa Herzog, 38.67

 

women's 3k:  Martina Sablikova just edged out  Francesca Lollobrigida, 4.04.05 to 4.04.59

 

women's 5k:  Francesca Lollobrigida, 7.00.08; 2nd was  Linda Rossi in 7.03.77 (huge PB);  Sablikova didn't take part in this race

[Josh 13,630]

Does anyone know where I can find a list of the fastest in each event? Wondering in terms of the Olympic Time Qualifiers. I know the season barely just started. 

Edited October 24, 2025 by Josh