Will speed things up.  There's no point in debating whether this fall was better than that fall. 

Little surprise at the opening of the Big Air World Cup, Andre Ragettli did not qualify for the final.   Apparently from this season we will don't know the scores of 2nd jump if there isn't an improvement. Not the best thing...

Not sure about the year, but the last time we could actually do that on a lake was somewhere in the last 6 years, for a few days     Almost every winter there are some outdoor competitions, mostly marathons, but that's on a track where they only need to freeze like 2cm of ice. For that you don't really need a 'strong' winter, unlike what you need for things like lakes to freeze.

Long awaited opening win four games in, as we defeat the Panthers 3-2 in OT!    What a snipe by Millsy in OT!!      Hughes was a fucking monster tonight, Lankinen made some HUGE stops (he’s been good all season long, even preseason, and I feel like has now officially taken the backup position from Silovs)   And a bonus, Petey’s starting to look like himself again even though he didn’t record any points 

I have a feeling that if Wiebes took track more seriously, she could have won 1-2 gold medals in Paris. Especially since Archibald couldn't start. The competition between these two athletes could be very interesting in the Omnium. Kopecky has lost some of her track skills after putting more concentration on her road career.

A weak day for our team. The women's performance in the pursuit race was very telling... In 2022, we clearly beat the UK in the World Championship final. Now we haven't even advanced to the final, and the UK had no rivals here. At the moment, the UK, New Zealand and the USA are clearly beyond our reach and yet our squad has been very stable squad for several years. Others are making progress, and us? Maybe it's because the UK focuses 100% on the track, and our competitors ride the road all the time. On the other hand, some of the girls in the USA also compete on the road, and they won gold in Paris. After 2022, I expected a little more from our girls than 4th place in Paris and bronze at the World Championships in an Olympic year in a weak field.    In my opinion, we miss a great individuality in the women's team, like Ganna in the men's, or Archibald in the UK, Kopecky in Belgium, etc. What great individuality means was shown yesterday by Wiebes in scratch, who outclassed the rest of her opponents, despite never having competed on the track before. Perhaps Balsamo would be such a person for us, but unfortunately constant injuries don`t allow her to spread her wings. We did win gold in Paris in Madison but let's not kid ourselves that neither Paternoster, nor Consonni, Guazzini, or Fidanza will ever be great stars.

Well done  for a proper derny bike for the keirin!

And when was the last time you had a winter where you could skate outside? Is`t more like 10 or 30 years ago?

Speed skating is relatively popular here (but definitely not like cycling and, as almost everywhere in the world, football). Conditions to skate outside are very rare, we almost never have an actual cold winter, sadly, and we as humans have made them even more rare (and hot summers more common, sadly).   Not sure about Thialf/Heerenveen, but I assume they also make money from stuff like people going there to skate and train. The many teams in the Netherlands (we don't have a national team) for sure, but if I want I can also go there and go skate     We have a few more covered tracks, but they're not really a big deal and more of a local thing and part of the national marathon cup. Single distance, sprint and allround championships are basically always in Heerenveen.

Are conditions used for skating in Netherlands in winter time, now? I read that it some time ago to be very popular. How is it now? Secondly, how does the covered track in Heerenveen earn money outside of competition days? Do other teams from other countries train there or can private people just skate there?