Dennis

Insane to see NL so close to the top 3

I mostly agree, though I dispute your last point. Apart from Velzeboer’s 500m, the Dutch weren't favorites in their winning events; they simply had everything break in their favor. And in long track the women’s 1,500m was won by 0.06 seconds, and the men’s mass start succeeded only because the field, except for Thorup, failed to counter the most predictable Dutch strategy possible. Furthermore, top 8 data from Milan proves speed skating is highly global, certainly no less than i.e. XC skiing or biathlon that also have 23 events combined. The competition is there, the Dutch skaters just seized the margins. Short track (14 countries in 9 events, of which 8 countries winning at least 1 medal): Europe: North-America: Asia: Long track (18 countries in 14 events, of which 10 countries winning at least 1 medal): Europe: Asia: North-America: Compared to other sports with many events: Cross-country skiing (13 countries in 11 events (so far), of which 8 countries winning at least 1 medal): Europe: Asia: no top 8 spots North-America: Biathlon (12 countries in 11 events, of which 8 countries winning at least 1 medal [all European]): Europe: Asia: no top 8 spots North-America:

Let’s go! 10th (and final) gold medal for us these games, outperforming all expectations

Nobody wanted to risk bringing Stolz in perfect position to the last sprint, and then this happens.

What a dream finish to Bergsma’s Olympic career at age 40! And Thorup!

Pergher just missing out on a medal as well, but what an amazing result for her

Kok! Winning gold by 0.66 seconds on a 500m is insane!

With that opening, I expected more

Yes, while Lamarche shows high consistency, a performance gap appears to exist between the top five skaters and the rest of the field. Lamarche finished 9th in the overall World Cup standings with an average placement of 11th, notably without any top 7 finishes during the season. Several factors contribute to my prediction for her: She finished only one point ahead of Silaeva and two points ahead of Wójcik, both of whom trended upward in the final World Cup weekend. Leerdam competed in six of the nine races, outperforming Lamarche in every instance where they both competed. Takagi almost never competes in the World Cup circuit, but delivers during big championships (e.g., her silver in Beijing 2022 out of nowhere). Kim Min-Sun is an experienced skater with many wins on the 500m. We can see that other experienced athletes such as Lollobrigida, Bergsma, Maltais, and Dubreuil have all exceeded expectations in the past week. Lee Na-Hyun and Boersma held higher average placements (4/7 in the top 6 and 3/7 in the top 7, respectively) but skipped the final two World Cup races, impacting their final standing relative to Lamarche. I think today's field can be categorized into three distinct levels based on this season's results: Leader: Femke Kok is in a league of her own Podium Contenders: A group of four (Ziomek-Nogal, Jackson, Yoshida, and Leerdam) will most likely compete for the remaining podium spots. The Mid-Field: The skaters ranked between 6th (Warmuth) and 19th (Hiller-Donnelly) consistently finish behind the top five but could finish in any order, as they have constantly traded positions throughout the season. Any of them could finish on the podium on an exceptional day and when the podium contenders fail.

Prediction for today´s women´s 500m: Femke Kok Kaja Ziomek-Nogal Erin Jackson Yukino Yoshida Jutta Leerdam Sophie Warmuth Miho Takagi Martyna Baran Anna Boersma Serena Pergher Lee Na-Hyun Kim Min-Sun Andżelika Wójcik Kristina Silaeva Béatrice Lamarche Tian Ruining Chen Ying-Chu Rio Yamada Carolina Hiller-Donnelly Brooklyn McDougall Wang Jingziqian Julie Nistad Samsonsen Sarah Warren Ellia Smeding Anna Ostlender Fran Vanhoutte Maybritt Vigl Nikola Zdráhalová Arina Ilyachshenko

The judge laughed because the screens in the stadium showed that Van ‘t Wout got a penalty

3 individual medals this tournament so far, 3 gold medals for

Prediction for tomorrow's 500m: Jordan Stolz Damian Żurek Jenning de Boo Kim Jun-Ho Wataru Morishige Marek Kania Yevgeniy Koshkin Bjørn Magnussen Cooper McLeod Marten Liiv Laurent Dubreuil Xue Zhiwen Sebas Diniz Tatsuya Shinhama Gao Tingyu Katsuhiro Kuratsubo Lian Ziwen Anders Johnson Koo Kyung-Min Joep Wennemars Piotr Michalski Cédrick Brunet Nil Llop Izquierdo Zach Stoppelmoor Jeffrey Rosanelli Henrik Fagerli Rukke Moritz Klein Ignaz Gschwentner Hendrik Dombek

Jilek! Amazing podium, with a beautiful medal for Poland and an unexpected medal for 40-year-old Bergsma!