Dennis

In het handbal is er inderdaad het probleem dat er één continent heel dominant is, namelijk Europa, en dat er buiten het continent maar sporadisch een land is wat af en toe kan pieken op een groot toernooi. Het Europese kampioenschap is daarom zwaarder dan het wereldkampioenschap. Zuid-Korea was wereldtop, maar is afgegleden naar de sub-top. Japan haalt af en toe een mooi resultaat, maar een top 10 plek op een WK is eigenlijk een uitzondering. Angola is eigenlijk het enige land in Afrika wat op een goede dag mee kan met de Europese sub-top. Brazilië werd wereldkampioen in 2011, maar heeft daarna ook niet veel meer successen meer gekend. En met maar 12 teams die mee mogen doen aan de Olympische Spelen. Daarvan gaat één plek naar het gastland en je kan eigenlijk al invullen dat Brazilië, Angola en Zuid-Korea zich ook plaatsen. Dan hou je 8 plekken over: 1 voor de Europees kampioen, 1 voor de wereldkampioen (bijna altijd Europees) en dan 6 plekken die te vergeven zijn via de kwalificatietoernooien waar maximaal 8 Europese landen zich voor plaatsen. Europese landen die realistisch gezien voor deze 8 plekken in aanmerking komen zijn Noorwegen, Zweden, Denemarken, Nederland, Frankrijk, Spanje, Duitsland, Servië, Montenegro, Hongarije, Roemenië, Rusland en Slovenië. Deze landen zitten zo dicht bij elkaar qua niveau dat ze elkaar allemaal kunnen verslaan. Bovendien zijn dit allemaal landen die normaal gesproken beter zijn dan alle niet-Europese landen, met uitzondering dus van Zuid-Korea, Angola en Brazilië (+ Japan). De competitie binnen Europa is dus enorm. Het feit dat Nederland nu voor het zesde toernooi op rij in de halve finale staat is echt uitzonderlijk, maar ondanks dit goede resultaat is er nog steeds een realistische kans dat ze de Olympische Spelen niet halen. Door hier de halve finale te halen hebben ze wel een goede uitgangspositie, omdat Nederland hierdoor naar alle waarschijnlijkheid het kwalificatietoernooi mag organiseren.

The Dutch semi-final streak continues: 2015 World Championships - Silver medal 2016 Olympic Games - 4th place 2016 European Championships - Silver medal 2017 World Championships - Bronze medal 2018 European Championships - Bronze medal 2019 World Championships - at least the semi-finals Prior to 2015 we never even made it to the semi-finals. 2016 was also the very first Olympics we qualified for.

I'm at work and I started watching the - match, but when I saw they were 5 goals down, I turned it off because my computer was very slow and I was working with some big data. When I looked at the results at the end of the match I was so shocked. Going through to the Main Round with 4 points after losing the first match against by quite a margin

Didn't expect this victory over Serbia. is now safe and will go through to the main round. For the Dutch a lot depends on the match between and tomorrow. If wins, then will go through to the next round with 2 points, otherwise with zero, because it's not realistic to think that the Dutch will win against tomorrow. They've never won against the Norwegians.

There is a realistic chance will go through to the next round: still has to play against and . With the way the Dutch have been playing so far, I expect two losses, resulting in a total of 4 points for the Dutch team. still has to play and . will win against , but should be too strong. In that case Slovenia will also end up with a total of 4 points. plays against and In case they win against and lose against Angola will also finish the group stage with 4 points. has the best head to head against and and will finish in 3rd in that case.

At the first Junior World Cup weekend of this year, some highlights for me: Diego Amaya and Nil Llop were the two best male skaters in their age category (B2 = born in 2003) in the men's 1.000m. Amaya finished in 11th place behind 10 juniors all at least one year older, but most of them two years older. So that's a good thing. Llop finished in 11/59 in the 500m Szymon Wojtakowski is also a very exciting prospect, born in 2005 finishing 15/60 on the same 1.000m for boys, in 1.15.21, which is an impressive time for a 14 year old on an outdoor rink. On the womens side, I noted more and more skaters from non-traditional speed skating countries such as and especially . If the Spanish skaters keep progressing, we might see a solid Spanish team pursuit / team sprint team in the future. On the girls' side, is (too) dominant, winning all events, on the men's side had the highest number of podium places and wins, even in the longer distances.

An update of the National Records skated so far this season. Not much has changed compared to the last update two weeks ago: Women 500m Victoria RODRIGUEZ 38,84 Salt Lake City (USA) 16-nov-19 Stien VANHOUTTE 39,83 Inzell (GER) 12-okt-19 Luisa GONZALEZ SALAZAR 41,45 Inzell (GER) 2-nov-19 Katarina JANKOVIC 47,66 Heerenveen (NED) 20-jul-19 Niginabonu JAMOLIDDINOVA 49,19 Minsk (BLR) 1-nov-19 1.000m Victoria RODRIGUEZ 1.19,83 Salt Lake City (USA) 16-nov-19 Larissa PAES 1.26,24 Salt Lake City (USA) 19-sep-19 Katarina JANKOVIC 1.40,79 Heerenveen (NED) 20-jul-19 Niginabonu JAMOLIDDINOVA 1.42,00 Minsk (BLR) 1-nov-19 1.500m Larissa PAES 2.13,77 Milwaukee (USA) 27-okt-19 Niginabonu JAMOLIDDINOVA 2.39,38 Minsk (BLR) 3-nov-19 3.000m Saskia ALUSALU 4.07,43 Inzell (GER) 13-okt-19 Gemma Cooper 4.21,14 Inzell (GER) 8-nov-19 Larissa PAES 4.47,12 Milwaukee (USA) 25-okt-19 5.000m Isabelle WEIDEMANN 6.47,37 Calgary (CAN) 18-okt-19 Valentina ESPINOSA 7.54,94 Salt Lake City (USA) 12-okt-19 Men 500m Nil LLOP 36,42 Heerenveen (NED) 6-okt-19 Miodrag POPOVIC 43,79 Heerenveen (NED) 20-jul-19 Azizmurod SHABAZOV 43,88 Minsk (BLR) 1-nov-19 Rory MCCARTHY 46,31 Breda (NED) 26-okt-19 1.000m NING Zhongyan 1.07,73 Calgary (CAN) 20-sep-19 Stefan DUE SCHMIDT 1.12,21 Salt Lake City (USA) 31-aug-19 Azizmurod SHABAZOV 1.27,66 Minsk (BLR) 1-nov-19 1.500m NING Zhongyan 1.43,35 Calgary (CAN) 21-sep-19 João Victor DA SILVA 1.57,04 Salt Lake City (USA) 21-sep-19 Miodrag POPOVIC 2.12,43 Heerenveen (NED) 20-jul-19 Azizmurod SHABAZOV 2.17,63 Minsk (BLR) 3-nov-19

That's also because there are so many World Championships: World Single Distances Championships, World Allround Championships, World Sprint Championships. And these are all in February / March, so it doesn't make sense to be at your best now for the World Cups.

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.

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.

He's 39 years old, but this is the only time of him on the 1.500 that's even been published.

Here are some national records skated up until 01-11-2019, with one very impressive time on the women's 5.000m by Isabelle Weideman. Women 500m Stien VANHOUTTE 39,83 Inzell (GER) 12-okt-19 Luisa GONZALEZ SALAZAR 42,06 Inzell (GER) 5-okt-19 Katarina JANKOVIC 47,66 Heerenveen (NED) 20-jul-19 Niginabonu JAMOLIDDINOVA 53,57 Minsk (BLR) 26-okt-19 1.000m Larissa PAES 1.26,24 Salt Lake City (USA) 19-sep-19 Katarina JANKOVIC 1.40,79 Heerenveen (NED) 20-jul-19 1.500m Larissa PAES 2.13,77 Milwaukee (USA) 27-okt-19 Niginabonu JAMOLIDDINOVA 2.45,19 Minsk (BLR) 26-okt-19 3.000m Saskia ALUSALU 4.07,43 Inzell (GER) 13-okt-19 Larissa PAES 4.47,12 Milwaukee (USA) 25-okt-19 5.000m Isabelle WEIDEMANN 6.47,37 Calgary (CAN) 18-okt-19 Valentina ESPINOSA 7.54,94 Salt Lake City (USA) 12-okt-19 Men 500m Nil LLOP 36,42 Heerenveen (NED) 6-okt-19 Rory MCCARTHY 46,31 Breda (NED) 26-okt-19 Miodrag POPOVIC 43,79 Heerenveen (NED) 20-jul-19 Azizmurod SHABAZOV 46,55 Minsk (BLR) 26-okt-19 1.000m NING Zhongyan 1.07,73 Calgary (CAN) 20-sep-19 Stefan DUE SCHMIDT 1.12,21 Salt Lake City (USA) 31-aug-19 1.500m NING Zhongyan 1.43,35 Calgary (CAN) 21-sep-19 João Victor DA SILVA 1.57,04 Salt Lake City (USA) 21-sep-19 Miodrag POPOVIC 2.12,43 Heerenveen (NED) 20-jul-19 Azizmurod SHABAZOV 2.26,56 Minsk (BLR) 26-okt-19

Can't wait for the new season.

After playing every week since the US Open and after losing all five previous matches against Barty. Insane.

Does stand any chance to qualify a team here?

22.53 not enough for a medal

The combination of speed (3:51 on the 1.500m) and endurance. She was so much better than her competitors in both distances.

I haven’t trusted Hassan since she moved to Salazar. She has great talent, but this is just extreme.

Why is this event so early in the day. In the US, nobody is awake. This doesn't make sense to me at all.

destroyed (2016 Olympic Champions) with 8-0 in the semi finals, which means that they have scored 22 goals in a row now without conceiving one. Not bad after the sub-par start of the tournament.

It's not legal, but it's tolerated as long as you have less than 5 grams on you for personal use. Coffee shops here aren't allowed to sell more than 5 grams per person per day and cannot have a trade stock of more than 500 grams. Coffee shops can be prosecuted if they do not meet strict standards. People having more than 5 grams on them and/or partaking in illegal trade get a fine and/or a prison sentence. Hard drugs are always illegal. So yeah, this would also be very illegal over here too.

I would say that if Germany would start with their very best team, they would be better than the best team of GB, mainly because of the stronger field events. The same goes for Poland. I once made a ranking based on the best results per country per event in 2018 according to the website of European Athletics, where I converted everything to points. Without the relays, the results would be as follows: The reason France is so low is because they don't have a lot of athletes that scored exceptional results in 2018. However, they have a lot of depth in their national selection, so when their best athlete doesn't take part, they can easily be replaced by a number 2 or 3 who is of a very similar level. The Netherlands on the other hand is dependent on a small number of athletes, such as Sifan Hassan and Dafne Schippers. If they don't take part or if they're not in great shape, we would lose so many points that we would definitely finish dead last in any Super League. Same goes for Turkey and Sweden, and Italy to a lesser extend. Based on that ranking, not including Russia and having each country participate with their best possible team, I would love to see the following leagues. Super League: ESP, FRA, GBR, GER, ITA, NED, POL, SWE First League: BEL, BLR, CZE, FIN, GRE, HUN, NOR, POR, ROU, SUI, TUR, UKR Second League: AUT, BUL, CRO, CYP, DEN, IRL, ISR, LAT, LTU, SLO, SRB, SVK Third League: ALB, AND, ARM, AZE, BIH, EST, GEO, GIB, ISL, LUX, MDA, MKD, MLT, MNE, MON, SMR

I didn't know here story, but as someone who battled with depression and constant suicidal thoughts, this inspires me so much. Thank you for the links!

My predictions were quite off. The large gap between the top 6 and bottom six was correct, but everyone could have predicted that. Biggest positive surprises for me were Italy, Spain and Ukraine. I expected Spain to finish with quite a gap to the number 5 but in the end there were only 8 points separating them from Great Britain Italy did a lot better than I expected mainly in the women's field events. I didn't expect them to come this close to the podium, not even with Great Britain not really taking this seriously, as I thought Poland, Germany and France would be much further ahead. Ukraine turned out to be the number 7 mainly because of higher finishes in the men's track events than I expected, such as the relays and the middle distances. Biggest disappointment for me was Germany. It's not that the whole team underperformed and they also had some bad luck, but even with this team it shouldn't have been this close with France. They had the team to actually win here, I think, despite some of their best athletes not taking part. I enjoyed these Championships a lot. Congratulations to the Polish team! Can't wait for the Super League!

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