Dennis

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 2/6) Mixed 3.000m Relay: 01. China 02. the Netherlands 03. Italy

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 2/6) Women's 500m: 01. Rikki Doak 02. Selma Poutsma 03. Martina Valcepina Men's 500m: 01. Jordan Pierre-Gilles 02. Liu Shaolin 03. Lin Xiaojun

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 2/6) Women's 1.500m [1/2]: 01. Kim Gilli 02. Kristen Santos-Griswold 03. Danae Blais Men's 1.500m [1/2]: 01. William Dandjinou 02. Hwang Daeheon 03. Kim Gun Woo

Based on recent results, it's no surprise that Japan and Bahrain made the final and that Japan won. Congrats to them. They're the best team in Asia now, so their qualification is completely deserved. Qatar's team barely won against Iraq twice last July (24-23 and 24-21) and lost to Argentina (22-26) at the World Championships in January, which is a team they would've beaten easily during their peak years. They're not as good anymore as they used to be a couple years ago.

Less surprises on the women's 1.500m. Groenewoud (5th at World Championships), Kiel (surprising 2nd place, making her World Cup debut at age 27), Rijpma-de Jong (reigning World Champion), Beune (6th last year in the final World Cup standings) and Wijfje (back after a poor season) qualified for the first World Cups. Only one smaller surprise: Irene Schouten finished in 8th place, one spot behind 16-year old 6x junior World Champion (1.000m, 1.500m, mass start, team pursuit, team sprint & allround) Angel Daleman. Last year Schouten also finished in 8th spot at the qualification tournament, but that was after she took it a little easier during the summer, following her 3 Olympic gold medals in Beijing.

The Dutch qualifications for the first four World Cups started about 1.5 hours ago and already some big surprises. The 5.000m for men just finished. Patrick Roest won the 5k, which is no surprise as he's the reigning World Champion. However, the other skaters who qualified for the first four World Cups are Chris Huizinga, Jesse Speijers (21 years old), Marwin Talsma, and Gert Wierda (21 years old). This means the following guys are out: Jorrit Bergsma (4x silver medalist at World Championships over 5.000m), finished in 10th place Beau Snellink (last year's World Cup winner over 5.000m and 10.000m), finished in 9th place Marcel Bosker (5th at the 2023 World Championships on the 5.000m), finished in 6th place

I watched the live stream a couple of times during those 108 hours. It’s bizarre what these athletes are capable of.

Japan is the 10th country to win a medal here! Bold race from them, racing at or near the front for most of the race, despite being the weakest team on paper.

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 1/6) Women's 3.000m Relay: 01. Canada 02. United States of America 03. the Netherlands Men's 5.000m Relay: 01. Canada 02. South Korea 03. Japan

All 8 individual distances have been finished during this first World Cup weekend and we have 8 different winners: Kristen Santos-Griswold, Hanne Desmet, Xandra Velzeboer, Kim Gilli, Park Ji Won, Hwang Daeheon, Liu Shaoang, and Kim Gun Woo. On top of that, 13 more skaters that won at least one medal. So the 24 medals on the individual distances were split between 21 different skaters from 9 different countries. Very exciting and unpredictable first World Cup weekend!

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 1/6) Women's 1.000m [2/2]: 01. Kim Gilli 02. Hanne Desmet 03. Kristen Santos-Griswold Men's 1.000m [2/2]: 01. Kim Gun Woo 02. Luca Spechenhauser 03. William Dandjinou

Nice finish by Kim Gilli in the final of the 2nd women's 1.000m when she sneakily passed Desmet and Santos-Griswold who were fighting for first the entire race up to the last corner.

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 1/6) Women's 500m: 01. Xandra Velzeboer 02. Selma Poutsma 03. Martina Valcepina Men's 500m: 01. Liu Shaoang 02. Felix Roussel 03. Quentin Fercoq

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 1/6) Mixed 2.000m Relay: 01. China 02. South Korea 03. Italy

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 1/6) Women's 1.000m [1/2]: 01. Kristen Santos-Griswold 02. Lee Soyoun 03. Seo Whimin Men's 1.000m [1/2]: 01. Park Ji Won 02. Steven Dubois 03. Pietro Sighel

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 1/6) Women's 1.500m: 01. Hanne Desmet 02. Kim Gilli 03. Corinne Stoddard Men's 1.500m: 01. Hwang Daeheon 02. Stijn Desmet 03. Reinis Berzins

Winners 2023: Bol, Ingebritsen, Topic, and Furlani

Liu Shaolin already out in the quarter finals of the 1.000m. I guess he needs some more time to get back to his original level.

Good luck! How's the course? Is it flat or more hilly? And do you have a time in mind that you want to run? I was thinking about running marathons in different cities and I've never visited Ljubljana before, so perhaps a nice option for the upcoming years. This story won't end anytime soon if their father keeps denying all allegations. I wonder what the impact of this situation will be on the results of the brothers in the upcoming years. They're still young, but I don't see them having a long career if this negativity keeps following them.

Hahaha, nothing wrong with being lazy Ah yeah, then maybe not the best idea to go running. Yeah, the knee is an issue for a lot of runners. Maybe swimming or cycling is a better alternative then. I also lightly injured my knee a week before the marathon and they were also the first body part that starts to hurt. It's so insane that there are so many videos on YouTube of people trying to run a marathon without any training. Even if you have the stamina, your knees will hate you forever.

Thanks! Happy to say I finished the race. Not proud of my time, but my respect for these professional runners has grown even more. Even those shoes couldn't have saved my race. One of my favorite signs I noticed that a supporter was holding said: "Keep smiling, the East Africans have most likely already finished and you only have 25km to go. You can do this." That was me one year ago when I picked up running in October 2022. This was a bucket list thing, but I started to really love running. Want to join me for next year's marathon?

Running the Amsterdam marathon myself tomorrow. You might spot me all the way in the back, live on EuroSport.

Yeah, insane range. However, Hassan isn't one of the finalists for European athlete of the year. The finalists are: Women: Bol, Mahuchikh, Perez Men: Duplantis, Ingebritsen, Tentoglou Women's Rising Star: Adeleke, Caune, Topic Men's Rising Star: Furlani, Ingvaldsen, Laros Previous winners: Year Women Men Women Rising Star Men Rising Star 2022 Bol Ingebritsen & Duplantis Tzengko Alekna 2021 Hassan Warholm Bol Zhoya 2020 not awarded 2019 Lasitskene Warholm Mahuchikh Kaul 2018 Asher-Smith Mayer Herman Ingebritsen & Duplantis 2017 Stefanidi Vetter Levchenko Warholm 2016 Beitia Farah Thiam Heß 2015 Schippers Rutherford Zbären Bukowiecki 2014 Schippers Lavillenie Kuchina Gemili 2013 Hejnová Bondarenko Hinriksdóttir Bekrić The fact that Thiam has never become European athlete of the year is quite surprising to me.

Btw, Hassan won the Chicago marathon in the 2nd time ever: 2:13.38, shaving almost two minutes from Paula Radcliffe’s mark of 2:15:25 which stood untouched as the world record from 2003 and 2019. Hassan is now the current European Record holder on the 1.500m, 1 mile, 3.000m, 5.000m (track and road), 10.000m, half marathon, and the marathon.

I'll invite him to the Amsterdam marathon next week, just so I can say I have run a marathon against him