Dennis

Loved this first race. It was exciting until the finish. Great debut for Tsunoda as well, scoring points in his first race. 

Figure skating is the only sport for which the Dutch NOC has not published their internal selection criteria yet.
 
There's a very realistic chance they won't accept the quota yet though, as the philosophy is that every athlete that will go to Beijing has to prove that they have a realistic chance of finishing top 8 in Beijing. I don't think a top 16 here is sufficient. 

Figure skating is the only sport for which the Dutch NOC has not published their internal selection criteria yet.
 
There's a very realistic chance they won't accept the quota yet though, as the philosophy is that every athlete that will go to Beijing has to prove that they have a realistic chance of finishing top 8 in Beijing. I don't think a top 16 here is sufficient. 

And our only competitive fencer Bas Verwijlen qualified for his 4th Olympics in men’s epee 

Britt Eerland won her group and therefore meets the international qualification criteria. However, she hasn’t met the Dutch criteria yet, so she’s not sure of Tokyo yet. She has to be in the top 16 of the world ranking counting max 2 athletes per country. She’s currently 18th on that ranking.
 
She’s the best Dutch player by far and placed 28th on the world rankings at the moment. At times I really don’t understand the Dutch NOC’s criteria. 

Third gold medal of the day for  

The three semi finals of the men's 400m have just been won by three Dutch athletes.
 
Now watch them finish 4th, 5th and 6th in the final. 

Schilder a new PB in shotput (18.69) and is now qualified for Tokyo 

The three semi finals of the men's 400m have just been won by three Dutch athletes.
 
Now watch them finish 4th, 5th and 6th in the final. 

Meanwhile rumour has it poor old Janne Hänninen is still going out on every 400m track he can find to skate 500m under 35.00 seconds...

Wow, insane 5k by Schouten  

There's a lot of potential in Germany, but the development of skaters has been very poor in recent years. Claudia Pechstein's husband has a lot of power within the German federation and keeps making poor decisions. One example: https://www.sportschau.de/wintersport/eisschnelllauf/eisschnelllauf-vertrag-mit-sprinttrainer-nicht-verlaengert100.html
 
However, despite the poor developments in German speedskating, there are some talents coming through. The top juniors are a bit unlucky that there is no Junior World Championships this year as f.e. Anna Ostlender would have been my favorite for the title on the 500m based on her times skated in recent months. Victoria Stirnemann, Emelie Vogelsang, Isabel Kraus, Maira Jasch and Sophie Warmuth are also solid talents with great potential. Norway doesn't have such talents coming through on the women's side (besides Ragne Wiklund). On the men's side, you have Felix Motschmann and Finn Sonnekalb, but yeah, Norway does have more talent there.
 
I think overall, the number of talents in Germany is more or less equal to the number of talented skaters in Norway, with Germany leading on the women's side and Norway on the men's side.
 
What helps Norway is that Norway has 41 different 400m ice rinks, whereas Germany has 10, including the tracks in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Grefrath, Crimmitschau and München which are barely used anymore. In Norway there are competitions held on a weekly basis on most of the 41 tracks and talents are spotted in an early stage of their development.

3/3 of today’s winners predicted correctly. Let’s go Femke! 

So close to finally getting a gold medal  

Draws are out for tomorrow: https://live.isuresults.eu/events/2021_NED_0005/schedule
 
My predictions for tomorrow, just for fun:
 
Women's 3.000m
 
 3:57,53 - Irene Schouten  3:58,01 - Antoinette de Jong  3:58,57 - Natalia Voronina  3:59,61 - Joy Beune  3:59,97 - Isabelle Weidemann  4:00,33 - Martina Sáblíková  4:01,26 - Ragne Wiklund  4:04,03 - Francesca Lollobrigida  4:04,75 - Evgeniia Lalenkova
 4:05,79 - Valerie Maltais
 4:05,96 - Marina Zueva
 4:06,59 - Magdalena Czyszczoń
 4:08,29 - Sofie Karoline Haugen
 4:09,10 - Nadezhda Morozova
 4:09,55 - Ekaterina Sloeva
 4:10,37 - Abigail McCluskey
 4:10,40 - Nikola Zdráhalová
 4:10,42 - Elena Eranina
 4:11,67 - Mareike Thum
 4:12,84 - Linda Rossi
 
Men's 5.000m:
 
 6:06,11 - Patrick Roest  6:10,41 - Nils van der Poel  6:11,70 - Sven Kramer  6:12,46 - Davide Ghiotto  6:12,73 - Sergey Trofimov  6:13,26 - Jorrit Bergsma  6:13,63 - Hallgeir Engebråten  6:14,93 - Bart Swings  6:15,89 - Danila Semerikov  6:17,60 - Sverre Lunde Pedersen  6:18,88 - Patrick Beckert  6:19,06 - Andrea Giovannini  6:19,18 - Jordan Belchos  6:19,28 - Michele Malfatti 6:21,08 - Daniil Aldoshkin  6:21,61 - Vitaliy Chshigolev  6:21,76 - Peder Kongshaug  6:22,16 - Ethan Cepuran  6:22,71 - Timothy Loubineaud  6:23,94 - Peter Michael

Draws are out for tomorrow: https://live.isuresults.eu/events/2021_NED_0005/schedule
 
My predictions for tomorrow, just for fun:
 
Women's 3.000m
 
 3:57,53 - Irene Schouten  3:58,01 - Antoinette de Jong  3:58,57 - Natalia Voronina  3:59,61 - Joy Beune  3:59,97 - Isabelle Weidemann  4:00,33 - Martina Sáblíková  4:01,26 - Ragne Wiklund  4:04,03 - Francesca Lollobrigida  4:04,75 - Evgeniia Lalenkova
 4:05,79 - Valerie Maltais
 4:05,96 - Marina Zueva
 4:06,59 - Magdalena Czyszczoń
 4:08,29 - Sofie Karoline Haugen
 4:09,10 - Nadezhda Morozova
 4:09,55 - Ekaterina Sloeva
 4:10,37 - Abigail McCluskey
 4:10,40 - Nikola Zdráhalová
 4:10,42 - Elena Eranina
 4:11,67 - Mareike Thum
 4:12,84 - Linda Rossi
 
Men's 5.000m:
 
 6:06,11 - Patrick Roest  6:10,41 - Nils van der Poel  6:11,70 - Sven Kramer  6:12,46 - Davide Ghiotto  6:12,73 - Sergey Trofimov  6:13,26 - Jorrit Bergsma  6:13,63 - Hallgeir Engebråten  6:14,93 - Bart Swings  6:15,89 - Danila Semerikov  6:17,60 - Sverre Lunde Pedersen  6:18,88 - Patrick Beckert  6:19,06 - Andrea Giovannini  6:19,18 - Jordan Belchos  6:19,28 - Michele Malfatti 6:21,08 - Daniil Aldoshkin  6:21,61 - Vitaliy Chshigolev  6:21,76 - Peder Kongshaug  6:22,16 - Ethan Cepuran  6:22,71 - Timothy Loubineaud  6:23,94 - Peter Michael

Nice to read your predictions. For me Antoinette de Jong  and Natalia Voronina  are the clear favourites at the women's side, Nils van der Poel   will win the men's race tomorrow, although I hope for Patrick Roest  that he can finally become world champion on a single distance.

Draws are out for tomorrow: https://live.isuresults.eu/events/2021_NED_0005/schedule
 
My predictions for tomorrow, just for fun:
 
Women's 3.000m
 
 3:57,53 - Irene Schouten  3:58,01 - Antoinette de Jong  3:58,57 - Natalia Voronina  3:59,61 - Joy Beune  3:59,97 - Isabelle Weidemann  4:00,33 - Martina Sáblíková  4:01,26 - Ragne Wiklund  4:04,03 - Francesca Lollobrigida  4:04,75 - Evgeniia Lalenkova
 4:05,79 - Valerie Maltais
 4:05,96 - Marina Zueva
 4:06,59 - Magdalena Czyszczoń
 4:08,29 - Sofie Karoline Haugen
 4:09,10 - Nadezhda Morozova
 4:09,55 - Ekaterina Sloeva
 4:10,37 - Abigail McCluskey
 4:10,40 - Nikola Zdráhalová
 4:10,42 - Elena Eranina
 4:11,67 - Mareike Thum
 4:12,84 - Linda Rossi
 
Men's 5.000m:
 
 6:06,11 - Patrick Roest  6:10,41 - Nils van der Poel  6:11,70 - Sven Kramer  6:12,46 - Davide Ghiotto  6:12,73 - Sergey Trofimov  6:13,26 - Jorrit Bergsma  6:13,63 - Hallgeir Engebråten  6:14,93 - Bart Swings  6:15,89 - Danila Semerikov  6:17,60 - Sverre Lunde Pedersen  6:18,88 - Patrick Beckert  6:19,06 - Andrea Giovannini  6:19,18 - Jordan Belchos  6:19,28 - Michele Malfatti 6:21,08 - Daniil Aldoshkin  6:21,61 - Vitaliy Chshigolev  6:21,76 - Peder Kongshaug  6:22,16 - Ethan Cepuran  6:22,71 - Timothy Loubineaud  6:23,94 - Peter Michael

Dutch media reports that Jelinkova has qualified for the Olympics.
 
Adriana will be the second female Dutch skier at the Olympics in history, with Margriet Prajoux-Bouma being the first one in 1952.

Dutch media reports that Jelinkova has qualified for the Olympics.
 
Adriana will be the second female Dutch skier at the Olympics in history, with Margriet Prajoux-Bouma being the first one in 1952.

Dutch media reports that Jelinkova has qualified for the Olympics.
 
Adriana will be the second female Dutch skier at the Olympics in history, with Margriet Prajoux-Bouma being the first one in 1952.

I wanted to make a prediction for all four tournaments, but I don't have time to look at all the participants.
 
However, this is my prediction for the women's allround tournament:
 
 Antoinette de Jong  Martina Sáblíková  Evgeniia Lalenkova  Natalia Voronina  Irene Schouten  Karolina Bosiek  Elizaveta Golubeva  Francesca Lollobrigida  Joy Beune  Nikola Zdráhalová  Natalia Czerwonka  Ekaterina Sloeva  Magdalena Czyszczoń  Sofie Karoline Haugen  Ida Njåtun  Ragne Wiklund  Mareike Thum  Leia Marie Behlau  Linda Rossi  Kristiine Kalev I'm pretty sure of my top 5. Bosiek will only finish top 8 if she wins the 500m by a good margin, otherwise she'll finish 9th and Joy Beune will take her spot in the top 8. Czerwonka and Zdrahalova can also finish top 8 if Lollobrigida doesn't skate a good 3.000m. It's almost impossible to predict what Lollobrigida can do here as she has only skated two minor outdoor competitions this season.
 
And some predictions for the podium per distance, just for fun. These are even more difficult to predict this season:
 
500m: 
 Karolina Bosiek  Ekaterina Sloeva  Elizaveta Golubeva 1.500m:
 Evgeniia Lalenkova  Elizaveta Golubeva  Antoinette de Jong 3.000m:
 Martina Sáblíková  Antoinette de Jong  Natalia Voronina 5.000m:
 Martina Sáblíková  Natalia Voronina  Antoinette de Jong

Entry list
 
https://live.isuresults.eu/events/2021_NED_0001/schedule

Several national championships were held this weekend. These are the medalists with their age in brackets.
 
 held in Hamar
 
Women 500m 1.000m 1.500m 3.000m 5.000m 01. Julie Nistad Samsonsen [20] Ida Njåtun [29]  Ida Njåtun [29] Ragne Wiklund [20] Ragne Wiklund [20] 02. Martine Ripsrud [25] Ragne Wiklund [20] Ragne Wiklund [20] Ida Njåtun [29] Sofie Karoline Haugen [25] 03. Carina Jagtøyen [22] Martine Ripsrud [25] Sofie Karoline Haugen [25] Sofie Karoline Haugen [25] Marit Fjellanger Bøhm [32] Men 500m 1.000m 1.500m 5.000m 10.000m 01. Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen [28] Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen [28] Allan Dahl Johansson [22] Hallgeir Engebråten [20] Hallgeir Engebråten [20] 02. Bjørn Magnussen [22] Odin By Farstad [22] Peder Kongshaug [19] Sindre Henriksen [28] Allan Dahl Johansson [22] 03. Odin By Farstad [22] Allan Dahl Johansson [22] Sindre Henriksen [28] Allan Dahl Johansson [22] Sander Tveter [21] None of the winning times on the women's side were impressive. On the men's side, the times were slightly better, though not world level.  Let's hope Ragne Wiklund can make some progress this year after her progress stalled last season, because she is the one who needs to carry women's speed skating in Norway over the next years as there are no signs of solid junior skatings coming through over the next years. Sverre Lunde Pedersen (World Champion 5.000m in 2019, Olympic Champion Team Pursuit in Pyeongchang) withdrew, not sure if this is related to COVID-19. Peder Kongshaug, the Junior World Champion on the 1.000m, just missed out on the podium on multiple distances, but is still a junior and skated times that would be good enough to add at least one more world title this season if the championships are to be held. With three neo-seniors, this must be one of the youngest podiums ever on the 10.000 meter, a distance usually not skated at junior tournaments, though Tveter skated a time above 14 minutes and Engebråten was the only skater with a somewhat competitive time of. 13.28,73. Øystein Grødum [43] who finished 4th at the World Championships in 2008, finished in 5th place.  
 held in Minsk
 
Women 500m 1.000m 1.500m 3.000m 01. Hanna Nifantava [21] Ekaterina Sloeva [21] Marina Zueva [28] Marina Zueva [28] 02. Ekaterina Sloeva [21] Hanna Nifantava [21] Ekaterina Sloeva [21] Ekaterina Sloeva [21] 03. Yauheniya Varabyeva [22] Marina Zueva [28] Tatsiana Mikhailava [33] Anna Kovaleva [21] Men 500m 1.000m 1.500m 5.000m 01. Ignat Golovatsiuk [23]
Ignat Golovatsiuk [23] Ignat Golovatsiuk [23] Yahor Damaratski [20] 02. Victor Rudenko [22] Uladzislau Zapoikin [21] Yahor Damaratski [20] Yauheni Bolhau [22] 03. Artsiom Chaban [26] Victor Rudenko [22] Yauheni Bolhau [22] Aliaksei Kirpichnik [23] Ekaterina Sloeva used to represent Russia, but only took part in competitions in Belarus, so it makes sense she switched her nationality. She is by far the most surprising skater here. Again, no competitive times, even Zueva who can be world class on a good day, didn't show any impressive form. Zueva, Nifantava and perhaps Sloeva are the three that I keep my eye on for qualification for Beijing 2022. Ignat Golovatsiuk remains the only male skater from Belarus to post times good enough to qualify for the Olympics. No women's 5.000m or men's 10.000m were held.  
 held in Kolomna
 
Women 500m 1.000m 1.500m 3.000m 5.000m 01. Olga Fatkulina [30] Olga Fatkulina [30] Evgeniia Lalenkova [30] Natalia Voronina [26] Natalia Voronina [26] 02. Angelina Golikova [29] Daria Kachanova [23] Elizaveta Golubeva [24] Evgeniia Lalenkova [30] Evgeniia Lalenkova [30] 03. Daria Kachanova [23] Elizaveta Golubeva [24] Natalia Voronina [26] Elizaveta Golubeva [24] Elena Sokhryakova [29] Men 500m 1.000m 1.500m 5.000m 10.000m 01. Ruslan Murashov [27] Viktor Mushtakov [23] Sergey Trofimov [25]
Sergey Trofimov [25] Ruslan Zakharov [33] 02. Viktor Mushtakov [23] Ruslan Murashov [27]
Daniil Aldoshkin [19] Ruslan Zakharov [33] Alexander Rumyantsev [33] 03. Artem Arefyev [20] Aleksandr Podolskii [21] Aleksandr Podolskii [21] Alexander Rumyantsev [33] Danila Semerikov [26]   
Voronina (WR holder 5.000m and reigning World Champion) skated a 6.56 on the 5.000m which is impressive for this time of year.  Elizaveta Golubeva is the new name of Elizaveta Kazelina. That means all of the women's podiums are more or less the names you would expect there based on previous season(s).  Aldoshkin coming close to winning the title in the men's 1.500m is the biggest surprise for me. However, Yuskov did not take part in these championships. Neither did Kulizhnikov (WR holder 500m and 1.000m), which resulted in only 1 impressive time on the sprint distances: 34,80 by Murashov on the 500m in Kolomna, which is not considered to be a very fast track. Rumyantsev won the 10k in a 13.09, which is very solid for this time of year.  
 held in Tomaszów-Mazowiecki
 
Women 500m 1.000m 1.500m 3.000m 5.000m 01. Karolina Bosiek [20] Karolina Bosiek [20] Natalia Czerwonka [32] Magdalena Czyszczon [25] Magdalena Czyszczon [25] 02. Kaja Ziomek [23] Natalia Czerwonka [32] Karolina Bosiek [20]
Karolina Bosiek [20]
Magdalena Borek [28] 03. Andzelika Wójcik [23] Andzelika Wójcik [23] Magdalena Czyszczon [25]
Natalia Czerwonka [32] Natalia Jabrzyk [19] Men 500m 1.000m 1.500m 5.000m 10.000m 01. Artur Nogal [30] Artur Nogal [30] Marcin Bachanek [24] Szymon Palka [23] Szymon Palka [23] 02. Damian Zurek [21] Damian Zurek [21] Damian Zurek [21] Mateusz Owczarek [23] Patryk Wójcik [30] 03. Piotr Michalski [26] Marcin Bachanek [24] Szymon Palka [23] Patryk Wójcik [30] Marcin Bachanek [24] On the women's side, all medals were won by only 7 different skaters, none of them in impressive times. This shows the lack of depth in Polish speed skating at the moment, though you see in the junior categories that they are on the rise. Bosiek will have to carry Polish speedskating over the next years though waiting for the juniors to come through. Jabrzyk looks impressive with a bronze as a 19-year old, but her time is more than 1 minute slower than the time Antoinette de Jong skated today at the Dutch national championships which earned her a 7th place. The Polish men also weren't that impressive and are missing a clear star skater that could carry the Polish team. However, Szymon Wojtakowski finished top 10 in multiple distances. He's a 15 year old and therefore junior for 4 more seasons, and is probably the best skater worldwide in his age category. He won the Vikingrace (unofficial European Championships for juniors per age category) in his category last season by obliterating all the other skaters in every single distance. The Vikingrace has been won by many Can't wait to see what he'll be capable of in a couple of years.   
 held in Heerenveen
 
Women 500m 1.000m 1.500m 3.000m 5.000m 01. Femke Kok [20] Jutta Leerdam [21] Jorien ter Mors [30] Irene Schouten [28] Irene Schouten [28] 02. Jutta Leerdam [21] Femke Kok [20] Antoinette de Jong [25] Reina Anema [27] Reina Anema [27] 03. Marrit Fledderus [19] Ireen Wüst [34] Melissa Wijfje [25] Antoinette de Jong [25] Carlijn Achtereekte [30] Men 500m 1.000m 1.500m 5.000m 10.000m 01. Dai Dai N'tab [26] Thomas Krol [28] Thomas Krol [28] Patrick Roest [24] Marwin Talsma [22] 02. Hein Otterspeer [31] Kai Verbij [26] Patrick Roest [24] Sven Kramer [34] Patrick Roest [24] 03. Kai Verbij [26] Kjeld Nuis [30] Wesly Dijs [25] Marcel Bosker [23] Marcel Bosker [23] These are the first national titles for Irene Schouten on more traditional distances (7x national champion on the mass start) + a world leading time on the 5.000m. Olympic Champion Esmee Visser just missed out on the podium on the 5.000m. Ireen Wust has now won 41 medals at the national championships per distance. She has won at least one medal at each national championship since 2006. Femke Kok won her first of many national titles, standing on top of what must be the youngest podium ever at a Dutch national championship. The fact that Kjeld Nuis made the podium on the men's 1.000m is quite impressive after just getting out of a two-week quarantine. Jorrit Bergsma skated the fastest time on the 10.000m (0,3 seconds ahead of Talsma), but got disqualified for hindering Talsma on the change-over. The winning times on the men's 1.000m, 1.500m, 5.000m and 10.000m are currently the world leading times this season.