Dennis

Impressive win by Bowe! Great podium overall with Herzog and Kodaira

Verbij!

Sabilkova! 10th world title in a row on the 5.000m. Great time for Visser too.

I missed that. Draw has just been adjusted. Will update my post.

Draws for today: Women's 5.000m: Magdalena Czyszczon - Elena Sokhryakova Carien Kleibeuker - Lemi Williamson Nene Sakai - Claudia Pechstein Isabelle Weidemann - Esmee Visser Maryna Zuyeva - Natalia Voronina Martina Sáblíková - Ivanie Blondin Kleibeuker can always surprise, Pechstein didn't compete in the 3.000m and I'm not sure why that was, Weidemann has been doing great all season, Visser just skated a PB and Sáblíková and Voronina did great on the 3.000m. Could be the first individual gold for the Dutch with Visser winning. Men's 1.000m: Yuto Fujino - Jin-Su Kim Marten Liiv - Piotr Michalski Laurent Dubreuil - Kimani Griffin Denis Yuskov - Mathias Vosté Allan Dahl Johansson - Zhongyan Ning Masaya Yamada - Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu Joey Mantia - Tatsuya Shinhama Tae-Yun Kim - Nico Ihle Joel Dufter - Ignat Golovatsiuk Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen - Thomas Krol Kai Verbij - Viktor Mushtakov Kjeld Nuis - Pavel Kulizhnikov Yuskov in pair 4 already, which is definitely an outsider and could put the pressure on the rest, but the favorites are in the last three pairs. The 500m has shown that everyone can win as the level was insane. Women's 1.000m: Yu-Ting Huang - Sanneke de Neeling Anne Gulbrandsen - Noemi Bonazza Hyun-Yung Kim - Gabriele Hirschbichler Kimi Goetz - Heather Mclean Xin Zhao - Jingzhu Jin Hege Bøkko - Antoinette de Jong Natalia Czerwonka - Maki Tsuji Yekaterina Aydova - Qishi Li Jutta Leerdam - Yekaterina Shikhova Miho Takagi - Olga Fatkulina Brittany Bowe - Nao Kodaira Daria Kachanova - Vanessa Herzog Bowe, Takagi and Leerdam are the only three with a sub 1:14 time this year, but Kodaira is the WR holder. Shikhova and Li are outsiders for me. Herzog is usually better at the 500m, but the world title might have given her wings. Excited to see how this pans out. Men's 10.000m: Takahiro Ito - Ryosuke Tsuchiya Michele Malfatti - Graeme Fish Ole Bjørnsmoen Næss - Peter Michael Jorrit Bergsma - Alexander Rumyantsev Patrick Beckert - Davide Ghiotto Danila Semerikov - Patrick Roest The top 11 skaters on the 10.000m this year are all Dutch with Bergsma leading the world ranking, but his 5.000m was poor. First non-Dutch skater is Fish, but he skated his time on the fast track of Calgary. Beckert, Rumyantsev and Tsuchiya are next and could all challenge for a medal.

Insane men’s 500m: 19 men under 35 seconds. And another surprising winner! Loving these championships so far. No Dutch winner on an individual distance so far.

Nice surprises so far this tournament with Pedersen winning and Herzog beating Kodaira. Although I really like Kodaira, it’s good to see someone breaking her dominance.

Herzog! Kodaira losing her first 500m since March 2016.

Draw 500m ladies: Letitia de Jong - Qishi Li Yekaterina Aydova - Gabriele Hirschbichler Kaja Ziomek - Ruining Tian Heather Mclean - Kaylin Irvine Hege Bøkko - Erin Jackson Marsha Hudey - Janine Smit Jingzhu Jin - Jutta Leerdam Maki Tsuji - Konami Soga Hyun-Yung Kim - Min Sun Kim Brittany Bowe - Vanessa Herzog Angelina Golikova - Daria Kachanova Olga Fatkulina - Nao Kodaira Draw not as stacked with all the medal favorites in the last three pairs and some outsiders in pair 7, 8 and 9. Draw 500m men: Piotr Michalski - Ronald Mulder Christopher Fiola - Henrik Fagerli Rukke David Bosa - Tingyu Gao Artur Nogal - Artur Was Gilmore Junio - Tae-Yun Kim Jan Smeekens - Bjørn Magnussen Dai Dai Ntab - Min Kyu Cha Ruslan Murashov - Jun-Ho Kim Laurent Dubreuil - Nico Ihle Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen - Viktor Mushtakov Yuma Murakami - Tatsuya Shinhama Pavel Kulizhnikov - Tsubasa Hasegawa Much more exciting to me with a number of outsiders in the early pairs and the favorites in the last pairs. With the team pursuits also being skated today, I expect a lot of medals for

It’s a sponsor. It’s an organization that focuses on developing Dutch talent in different sports. Pedersen!

Today the team sprints and the 5.000m for men and 3.000m for women. Quite exciting draws: 5.000m men: Graeme Fish - Takahiro Ito Ted-Jan Bloemen - Peter Michael Jorrit Bergsma - Vitaly Mikhailov Michele Malfatti - Ryosuke Tsuchiya Håvard Bøkko - Jordan Belchos Sergey Trofimov - Andrea Giovannini Davide Ghiotto - Sven Kramer Alexander Rumyantsev - Bart Swings Sverre Lunde Pedersen - Danila Semerikov Patrick Roest - Patrick Beckert The favorites and outsiders spread out throughout the draw with Bloemen, (WR holder) in pair 2, Bergsma in pair 3, Kramer (3x Olympic champion) in pair 7, Pedersen and Semerikov (both won a World Cup this season) in pair 9 and Roest in pair 10. 3.000m women: Carlijn Achtereekte - Sofie Karoline Haugen Ida Njåtun - Ireen Wüst Nana Takagi - Roxanne Dufter Saskia Alusalu - Valerie Maltais Claudia Pechstein - Elena Sokhryakova Evgeniia Lalenkova - Miho Takagi Antoinette de Jong - Ayano Sato Francesca Lollobrigida - Natalia Voronina Isabelle Weidemann - Ivanie Blondin Martina Sáblíková - Maryna Zuyeva The entire top 13 of the Olympic 3.000m in Pyeongchang are starting here, with the Olympic Champion Achtereekte already starting in pair 1. Pretty stacked draw I would say.

Update on national records skated this season. Larissa Paes improves every competition she enters, so curious to see her progress. 500m women Vanessa Herzog 37,23 - 15-dec-18 - Heerenveen (NED) Victoria Rodriguez 39,60 - 27-okt-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Ainoa Carreno 42,70 - 25-nov-18 - Tomaszów-Mazowiecki (POL) Tara Donoghue 43,10 - 5-jan-19 - Heerenveen (NED) Larissa Paes 44,92 - 19-jan-19 - Salt Lake City (USA) Andrea Cabrera 1.12,28 - 17-nov-18 - Groningen (NED) 1.000m women Tara Donoghue 1.25,18 - 19-jan-19 - Heerenveen (NED) Larissa Paes 1.30,08 - 1-dec-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) 1.500m women Ellia Smeding 2.04,38 - 5-nov-18 - Heerenveen (NED) Valentina Espinosa 2.06,94 - 24-nov-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Larissa Paes 2.20,74 - 24-nov-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) 3.000m women Valentina Espinosa 4.25,94 - 15-dec-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Larissa Paes 4.49,53 - 19-jan-19 - Salt Lake City (USA) 500m men Marten Liiv 35,71 - 17-nov-18 - Obihiro (JPN) 3.000m men Viktor Hald Thorup 3:44,36 - 19-jan-19 - Salt Lake City (USA) Vladislav Bykanov 3.54,94 - 5-jan-19 - Heerenveen (NED)

and qualified through the 2019 World Qualification Event. So the qualified teams are: (host)

Update on national records skated this season. Tara Donoghue justed turned 17, so she could make some progress. Bykanov is an established short-track speed skater who often trains with the Dutch team. 500m women Vanessa Herzog 37,23 - 15-dec-18 - Heerenveen (NED) Victoria Rodriguez 39,60 - 27-okt-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Ainoa Carreno 42,70 - 25-nov-18 - Tomaszów-Mazowiecki (POL) Tara Donoghue 43,10 - 5-jan-19 - Heerenveen (NED) Larissa Paes 45,15 - 15-dec-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Andrea Cabrera 1.12,28 - 17-nov-18 - Groningen (NED) 1.000m women Tara Donoghue 1.25,57 - 5-jan-19 - Heerenveen (NED) Larissa Paes 1.30,08 - 1-dec-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) 1.500m women Ellia Smeding 2.04,38 - 5-nov-18 - Heerenveen (NED) Valentina Espinosa 2.06,94 - 24-nov-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Larissa Paes 2.20,74 - 24-nov-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) 3.000m women Valentina Espinosa 4.25,94 - 15-dec-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Larissa Paes 4.56,57 - 15-dec-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) 500m men Marten Liiv 35,71 - 17-nov-18 - Obihiro (JPN) 3.000m men Vladislav Bykanov 3.54,94 - 5-jan-19 - Heerenveen (NED)

I don't think anyone is surprised as Sand has always looked quite masculine. Good for them that they are open about it.

I adjusted the list above with new national records highlighted in grey now that we're two weeks further into the season.

No, she might be back tomorrow. She had no concussion, but a migraine attack.

Maybe good to mention that she is 33 at the moment and still improving herself.

Today, Larissa Paes skated a new national record on the 1.000m women. As I love stats, I looked up which national records have been improved this season so far as summarized below. With the world allround championships in Calgary and the world cup final in Salt Lake City this year, I expect a lot more national records to be improved during the later stages of the season. 500m women Victoria Rodriguez 39,60 - 27-okt-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Ainoa Carreno 42,70 - 25-nov-18 - Tomaszów-Mazowiecki (POL) Larissa Paes 45,28 - 24-nov-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Andrea Cabrera 1.12,28 - 17-nov-18 - Groningen (NED) 1.000m women Larissa Paes 1.30,08 - 1-dec-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) 1.500m women Ellia Smeding 2.04,38 - 5-nov-18 - Heerenveen (NED) Valentina Espinosa 2.06,94 - 24-nov-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) Larissa Paes 2.20,74 - 24-nov-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) 3.000m women Valentina Espinosa 4.29,83 - 15-sep-18 - Salt Lake City (USA) 500m men Marten Liiv 35,71 - 17-nov-18 - Obihiro (JPN)

I wasn't aware that it's an outdoor rink. I expect the Norwegians doing very well here. They usually do well outdoors.

Although I don't take it that seriously, I actually enjoy the Nations League. Instead of poor match-ups for the international friendlies, we now see teams of a similar level play against each other.

Medal table after the first World Cup weekend in Obihiro: 01. 05 - 03 - 03 = 11 02. 04 - 04 - 03 = 11 03. 03 - 06 - 04 = 13 04. 01 - 02 - 00 = 03 05. 01 - 01 - 02 = 04 06. 01 - 00 - 00 = 01 06. 01 - 00 - 00 = 01 08. 00 - 00 - 02 = 02 09. 00 - 00 - 01 = 01 10. 00 - 00 - 01 = 01 missed out on a bronze medal on the men's 5.000m by 0,02 seconds.

Funny that the last nine syllables are also a word in Dutch. But yeah, the video wasn't that clear to me either. Is it pronounced Ulhova?

To be complete: final medal table after the first World Cup weekend: 3 - 2 - 1 3 - 1 - 1 2 - 1 - 1 1 - 1 - 1 1 - 0 - 0 1 - 0 - 0 0 - 4 - 2 0 - 1 - 3 0 - 1 - 0 0 - 0 - 1 0 - 0 - 1 11 events with 11 different countries winning medals. Much more diversity than many other winter sports. 7 golden medals won by European countries, whereas no golden medals for and home country . The first golden medal for and an unexpected golden medal for . Also surprised to see on top of the medal table. Can't remember when/if that happened before.

A lot of new names in the US team, especially on the men’s side. I would be surprised if anyone other than Bowe or Mantia would win a medal this season, apart maybe from the mass start lottery.