Dennis

1.500m Men - Top 10: Denis Yuskov - 1:44,53 Thomas Krol - 1:45,20 Koen Verweij - :1:46,40 Marcel Bosker - 1:46,50 Sergey Gryaztsov - 1:46,72 Nicola Tumolero - 1:47,59 Haralds Silovs - 1:47,60 Konrad Niedzwiedzki - 1:47,98 Jan Szymanski - 1:48,07 Zbigniew Bródka - 1:48,44

Van Beek winning by more than a second and Skokova outside of the top 10.

1.500m Ladies - Top 10: Lotte van Beek - 1:55,52 Yekaterina Shikhova - 1:56,57 Marrit Leenstra - 1:56,58 Linda de Vries - 1:57,98 Gabriele Hirschbichler - 1:58,18 Natalia Czerwonka - 1:58,38 Nikola Zdráhalova - 1:59,69 Roxane Dufter - 1:59,75 Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus - 1:59,76 Francesca Lollobrigida - 1:59,80

500m Men - Top 10: Ronald Mulder - 34,80 Mika Poutala - 34,854 Pavel Kulizhnikov - 34,858 Nico Ihle - 35,03 Artyom Kuznetsov - 35,06 Pekka Koskela - 35,19 Michel Mulder - 35,23 Artur Nogal - 35,24 Ruslan Murashov - 35,28 Henrik Fagerli Rukke - 35,38

Yeah, I just noticed. I edited my post.

Yeah, it's a very impressive time for this track. In 2015 the World Championships were held on this track. Back then this time would have been enough for 2nd place, behind Sang-Hwa Lee but before Brittany Bowe. Vanessa's time is the third time ever on this track, as Jenny Wolf was also faster at the World Cup in January 2009. EDIT: 5th time, as Jenny Wolf skated faster twice in the same weekend and Sang-Hwa Lee also finished both heats at the World Championships with a faster time.

Sebastian Klosinski is moved from pair 2 to pair 6. Marten Liiv is moved from pair 1 to pair 2. Artiom Chaban will skate alone.

500m Ladies - Top 10: Vanessa Herzog - 37,69 Angelika Golikova - 38,04 Karolina Erbanova - 38,18 Olga Fatkulina - 38,30 Daria Kachanova - 38,56 Letitia de Jong - 38,70 Sanneke de Neeling - 38,91 Gabriele Hirschbichler - 38,97 Mayon Kuipers - 39,17 Yvonne Daldossi - 39,25

US has no quota on the 10.000m and they're also not on the reserve list. So the fact that they even organized this event is pretty strange to me. In recent years, there has been no American female who performed well on the 5.000m. Schoutens has benefited from the rules change that a country can only obtain a maximum of 2 quotas on the 5.000m for women, instead of 3 as it used to be, as both and had 4 skaters who were higher in the SOCQ (Special Olympic Qualification Classification). Furthermore, there was only one quota up for grabs in the women's 5.000m and as Nate River said, it was pretty clear from the start who would qualify.

Draw Ladies 1.500m: Gloria Malfatti Natálie Kerschbaummayr - Camilla Lund Anne Gulbrandsen - Eliska Drimalova Francesca Bettrone - Saskia Alusalu Tatsiana Mikhailava - Francesca Lollobrigida Michelle Uhrig - Sofie Karoline Haugen Luiza Zlotkowska - Nikola Zdráhalova Natalia Czerwonka - Lotte van Beek Linda de Vries - Elizaveta Kazelina Marrit Leenstra - Yekaterina Shikhova Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus - Yuliya Skokova Gabriele Hirschbichler - Roxane Dufter Favorites are Leenstra, Van Beek, Shikhova and Skokova. Draw Men 1.500m: Danil Sinitsyn - Oliver Grob Magnus Bakken Haugli - Hallgeir Engebråten Runar Njåtun Krøyer - Vitaly Mikhailov Riccardo Bugari - Michele Malfatti Samuli Suomalainen - Joel Dufter Jan Szymanski - Nicola Tumolero David Andersson - Mathias Vosté Zbigniew Bródka - Marcel Bosker Denis Yuskov - Thomas Krol Konrad Niedzwiedzki - Sergey Gryaztsov Koen Verweij - Haralds Silovs Favorites are Yuskov and Verweij.

Draw Ladies 500m: Andzelika Wójcik - Roxane Dufter Nikola Zdráhalova - Martine Ripsrud Kaja Ziomek - Yauheniya Varabyova Rikke Jeppsson - Mayon Kuipers Gabriele Hirschbichler - Sanneke de Neeling Francesca Bettrone - Elina Risku Daria Kachanova - Kseniya Sadovskaya Angelika Golikova - Vanessa Herzog Letitia de Jong - Olga Fatkulina Karolina Erbanova - Yvonne Daldossi Favorites are Golikova, Herzog, Fatkulina, Erbanova Draw Men 500m: Marten Liiv - Artiom Chaban Sebastian Klosinski - Johann Jørgen Sæves Harri Levo - Bjørn Magnussen Joel Dufter - Mathias Vosté Piotr Michalski - Henrik Fagerli Rukke Hein Otterspeer - Michel Mulder Artur Nogal - Pekka Koskela Ruslan Murashov - Ronald Mulder Artyom Kuznetsov - Pavel Kulizhnikov Nico Ihle - Mika Poutala Everyone in the final five pairs could win, with the Russians probably being the biggest favorites in front of their home crowd.

Tomorrow the first ever European Single Distances European Championships will take place in Kolomna The schedule is as follows: Friday: 500 Ladies, 500 Men, 1.500 Ladies, 1.500 Men (starting at 16:30 local time) Saturday: 1.000 Ladies, 1.000 Men, 3.000 Ladies, 5.000 Men (starting at 15:15 local time) Sunday: Team Pursuit, Team Sprint and Mass Start (starting at 16:30 local time)

Whitmore qualifying over Garcia and Hansen on the 1.000m is a surprise to me. The rest, not so much. A 2,7 second gap between Brittany Bowe (2nd) and Mia Manganello (3rd) on the 1.000m. Heather Bergsma's time of 1:14,82 on the 1.000m in Milwaukee is good, way faster than anyone at the Dutch trials, although the ice in Heerenveen was terrible on that first day.

Short Track Speed Skating is my number one as I think it's really exciting and I love a knock-out system. Speed Skating my number 2 as I practiced this sport a lot in my youth and I've followed this sport since I was six or so. Biathlon is my number 3 as it can be quite unpredictable due to the shooting. I've also followed this sport since I was young.

Team for the European Championships this weekend in Kolomna: Men: 500m: Hein Otterspeer, Ronald Mulder, Michel Mulder 1.000m: Koen Verweij, Thomas Krol, Hein Otterspeer 1.500m: Koen Verweij, Marcel Bosker, Thomas Krol 5.000m: Jan Blokhuijsen, Marcel Bosker, Simon Schouten Mass Start: Jan Blokhuijsen, Simon Schouten Team Pursuit: Marcel Bosker, Simon Schouten, Jan Blokhuijsen Team Sprint: Ronald Mulder, Michel Mulder, Koen Verweij, Hein Otterspeer Women: 500m: Letitia de Jong, Mayon Kuipers, Sanneke de Neeling 1.000m: Marrit Leenstra, Letitia de Jong, Lotte van Beek 1.500m: Lotte van Beek, Marrit Leenstra, Linda de Vries 3.000m: Carlijn Achtereekte, Annouk van der Weijden, Esmee Visser Mass Start: Annouk van der Weijden, Carlijn Achtereekte Team Pursuit: Marrit Leenstra, Melissa Wijfje, Lotte van Beek Team Sprint: Mayon Kuipers, Sanne de Neeling, Letitia de Jong No 5.000m for women and 10.000m for men at these Championships.

The Japanese trials were also this week. With the Japanese being the most dominant skaters on the women's side this year, I was curious who are going to represent them. It seems as if this is the selection: http://www.skatingjapan.or.jp/image_data/fck/file/2018_Speed/haken/171230_Haken_OWG.pdf Unfortunately, it's all in Japanese, but if I'm not mistaken, this is what it says: Men: Tsubasa Hasegawa: 500m, 1.000m Daichi Yamanaka: 500m, 1.000m Joji Kato: 500m Takuro Oda: 1.000m, 1.500m Shane Williamson: 1.500m, Mass Start, Team Pursuit Shota Nakamura: 1.500m, Mass Start, Team Pursuit Seitaro Ichinohe: 5.000m, Team Pursuit Ryosuke Tsuchiya: 5.000m, Team Pursuit, Mass Start (Reserve) Masaya Yamada finished 3rd in the 1.000m trials in a PB of 1.09,55, but as Japan can only send 8 different men, they have replaced him with Tsubasa Hasegawa who won the 500m, but only finished 8th on the 1.000m with 1.10,34. Japan is also the first NOC on the reserve list for the 10.000m. Ryosuke Tsuchiya won the 10.000m by quite a margin at the trials, so he will fill in that spot if Japan gets in. Women: Nao Kodaira: 500m, 1.000m, 1.500m Arisa Go: 500m, 1.000m Erina Kamiya: 500m Miho Takagi: 1.000m, 1.500m, 3.000m, Team Pursuit, Mass Start (Reserve) Ayaka Kikuchi: 1.500m, 3.000m, Team Pursuit Ayano Sato: 3.000m, Mass Start, Team Pursuit Misaki Oshigiri: 5.000m Nana Takagi: 5.000m, Mass Start, Team Pursuit Japan was allowed to send 10 different women, but they only needed 8 to fill all available quota. No real surprises here. Perhaps Nao Kodaira skating the 1.500m is a small surprise as it was Nana Takagi who secured Japan that third Olympic quota. Fuyo Matsuoka was the second Japanese women in the 3.000m/5.000m combined World Cup Ranking, but flopped at the trials with a 9th place on the 3.000m and 4th on the 5.000m. Misaki Oshigiri won the 5.000m with a time of 7:10,68. In that would not have been enough for a top 10 spot. Though the circumstances may be slightly different, the times skated on the other distances were pretty much in line with the times skated in Heerenveen this week.

Exactly. It makes no sense to me. Well, I hope Verbij will be fit before Pyeongchang as he performs really well under pressure and deserves that spot based on his results during the past two years.

I’m happy that they went with Kramer for the mass start.

Do you have any idea why that is?

Before the tournament, Jorien said she wouldn't skate the 500m if she would qualify for all distances, as she is also skating the 1.500m (and maybe the team pursuit) on the short track. Maybe now that she has not qualified on the 1.500m on the long track, she might consider skating the 500m anyways. However, the 500m is one day after the 1.500m shorttrack, the day before the qualifications of the team pursuit on the long track and two days before the team pursuit on the short track. If not, Lotte van Beek is the next on the list, I guess (13th on the 500m this week). She also skated the 500m in Sochi, as not enough 500m specialists qualified due to the matrix back then either. However, as said, the 500m is the day before the team pursuit. As Jorien seems to be out of shape, she might be considered to join the team pursuit team as well as she was also part of the team in Sochi. Guess we'll have to wait to find out what will happen.

According to the NOS, Achtereekte is sure. Das still has to wait. However, all big favorites have qualified and with the qualified athletes, we can build a good team for the team pursuit. So I doubt that Das won’t make it. If either Antoinette de Jong, Wüst or Achtereekte finishes top 2 tomorrow on the 5.000m, I think Letitia de Jong (Wüst’s girlfriend) will also qualify as #3 on the 500m.

I think he also thrives on fast ice, such as Calgary and SLC, whereas Sven is usually better on the sea-level rinks. The men's 5.000m can be really exciting, if Sven manages to qualify. One off-day at the end of December and he might not be in.

Yeah, wouldn't say that the men's pursuit team is a lock either.

Ted-Jan Bloemen skating a new WR on the 5.000m! Sven Kramer is no longer a WR holder.

This is an overview of how the quota for the women have been allocated based on my calculations. There could of course be errors in this. Country 500 1.000 1.500 3.000 5.000 Mass Start Team Pursuit Total 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 Yes 10 3 3 3 2 2 Yes 8 1 2 2 2 1 1 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 1 1 Yes 10 2 1 2 5 3 3 3 3 2 2 Yes 10 1 1 1 3 3 3 2 Yes 8 3 3 3 3 2 2 Yes 10 1 2 2 1 6 1 1 3 3 1 Yes 8 3 3 3 2 2 2 Yes 10 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 1 1 2 8 Total 32 32 32 24 12 24 8 120 In case a NOC has been allocated quota in all events, the maximum number of quota is 10. In all other cases, the maximum is 8. 120 quotas have been allocated, but no more than 80 female skaters will be allowed to compete in Pyeongchang. However, if for the men, the respective IOC Quota target number of 100 is not reached according to the qualifying system, the unused number of quota places will be credited and added to the quota of the women. I think there will be only around 80 athletes anyways, for example: I'd expect only to send one athlete who will skate all distances for which they have earned a quota. All 10 quota places have been earned by only 4 different skaters (Dannhauer, Hirschbichler, Dufter and Pechstein); will send no more than 3 skaters normally (Sáblíkova, Erbanova, Zdráhalova); Bergsma and Bowe will skate multiple distances; will be represented by Njåtun and Bøkko only, normally speaking; Both Takagi sisters have earned a quota in 4 different distances.