CCB

Thank God. Hopefully my Canadian friend is not angry now @Josh

Well, no PEN, but 5th place for Jens in his quarterfinal. Like last week a 20th place overall. Well done!

It's completely crazy what happens with him these two weeks. He really has great potential, but everytime there is 'something'. My prediction for the 1.000 meter is a PEN. And for the men's relay a yellow card. Then he has a full bingo card!

Roussel knocks down Van 't Wout and Sighel, my two favorite skaters . A nightmare of a night for Van 't Wout: a false start in the 500 and a 6th place in the 1.500. Hopefully no inury for him, it would make his terrible week complete.

Unfortunately Jens van 't Wout is still 'a little sick'. I predict he will withdraw today. His 1.500 metres in particular was very bad. Also on the 500 metres he crossed the finish line as if he just sprinted a whole marathon. It's a shame he's missing out on so many points in these first two World Cups, as that will give him a poor starting position in the 500 metres at the Games.

That's so right. For a normal person, the rules are sometimes truly incomprehensible. Therefore I think it's a stupid sport. And yet, I still enjoy watching it .

Not used to seeing a Dutch swimmer Caspar Corbeau come in 1st in the 200 breast!

Sighel is one of my favorites. He skates beautifully! And this was a lovely pass.

How good Sauralt has become in the sprint!! Boutin always was, but I didn't quite see Sarault coming. Big competition for the Velzeboer sisters towards Milano-Cortina!

Like Jens van 't Wout. All of a sudden this 17-year old White Tiger that's gonna win most of the 1.000 and 1.500 meters this season and a very unpleasant illness. At least Dandjinou has a gold medal (and after the men's relay probably two).

Impressive win for the White Tiger Rim. And he is only 17 years old

We have another sick Lion: after Jens van 't Wout his girlfriend Zoë Deltrap is sick as well. Hopefully they won't infect the rest of the team. What a mess.

About the results system: even the Dutch television commentator doesn't know which riders make up the teams in the relay. He said "Normally I could easily look it up, but that's no longer possible. I don't know who is skating. But luckily we have the nicknames."

I hate, really hate, hate, hate this results system. How on earth can you come up with something like this. It's a shame.

Jens is sick. He won't start anymore this weekend (and probably not next weekend). So this will be a very disappointing tournament for the Dutch Lions. No chance for the finals for the men's relay without Jens. And we miss important qualification points for the Olympics. Well, that's the risk when you only have one top skater in your team.

Why? I would be suprised if your Ice Maple Women's team doesn't win all medals at Milano-Cortina . Boutin 500m, Sarault 1000 & 1500, mixed relay for sure and women's relay very big chance.

Again some very impressive results from several preparation meets. In Stavanger (Norway) Ragne Wiklund skated the best 3.000 meter since 2016, almost beating the trackrecord from Martina Sablikova: 4.00,15, a really strong time, especially given the circumstances (ice like sandpaper and very high air pressure). After that, 5.000 meter World Champion Sander Eitrem skated a new track record in 6.10,28 (beating the former track record from the legendary Sven Kramer by more than 5 seconds!!). I'm quite sure there will be an insane battle between Jilek , Eitrem and (hopefully) Ghiotto on the 5k in Milano. Meanwhile, Patrick Roest skated a 6.29 and confirmed again he is still not recovered from all the illness. Honestly I fear he even won't make the Olympic team, while 2 years ago everybody in The Netherlands thought Roest would be our biggest chance on gold in Milano. From the Dutch meet in Heerenveen today no results worth mentioning. Femke Kok, who skated insane last week, withdrew today.

I understand her choice. McLaughlin will definitely be running the 400m flat and 400m hurdles in LA, so why wouldn't Bol try something different? I'm afraid the Dutch relay teams have seen their best days, though.

What a horrible results system on the ISU-website. Please bring back the old results system ........ Good first day for the Dutch Lions. Except for our men on the 500 meter. Melle van 't Wout (who finished close after his brother Jens on all Dutch qualifiers) had to start from position 5 in the only strong heat (in prelims), found somehow his way to the Repechage Quarterfinals, but has to start again from position 5. So he probably will be out the top 32 for Olympic qualification after this World Cup. Kay Huisman is in the Repechage Quarter Finals as well. No surprises in the women's relay and mixed relay. Impressive racing from Pietro Sighel (especially in mixed relay). He seems to be in good shape already!

Very promising times from Jordan Stolz in Milwaukee: 34.51 on the 500 meter and 1.42,20 on the 1.500 meter Meanwhile Femke Kok skates a very unexpected track record on the 1.500 meter in Heerenveen: 1.52,69. Normally she only skates only 500 and 1.000 meters. In Inzell Davide Ghiotto posted two very good times. He skated the 3k and 5k within 40 minutes . 3.38,06 and 6.12,97 - WOW!

Instead of I predict . They really impressed me this tournament (especially Ferre Reggers, one of the best opposites in the world right now).

Italy has several very, very good skaters: Ghiotto, Giovannini (mass start), three good men in the team pursuit, Fontana in short track (500/1000), good relayteams and one of my favorite shorttrack speedskaters of all time: Pietro Sighel!! Only on ice I see your country winning already 2 or 3 gold medals. You have to keep hoping for a good outcome, because it's really possible for Italy!

World Record for Metodej Jilek on the 3.000 meter: 3.34,09 in Heerenveen. What a start of the season for him. If he continues this progress, I fear for the golden ambitions of Eitrem , Ghiotto , Semerunny and Roest on the 5 and 10 km.

Like that as well, although it is a jurysport, ... I will visit two sessions of shorttrack in Milano

Aquatics Swimming - last WCh only 13 swimmers, I think in LA some more - 16 Open water swimming - Van Rouwendaal has stopped swimming, so no Dutchies here - 0 Diving - 1 woman, Else Praasterink from 10m - 1 Water Polo - women's team - 13 Artistic swimming - depends on the Brouwer-sister (who won bronze in Paris) - 2 Archery - men's and women's team should qualify - 6 Athletics - depending on relays, but very optimistic about Dutch athletics - 50 Badminton - no more money goes to this sport, sadly - 0 Basketball 3x3 - with 12 teams per gender i'm optimistic here, both teams will qualify - 8 Basketball - no way, despite we have the tallest people in the world - 0 Boxing - we have one strong woman (van der Toorn) - 1 Canoe Sprint - Konijn and Vorsselman, like in Paris - 2 Canoe Slalom - 1 or 2 maybe - 2 Cycling BMX Freestyle - thank God no Dutch competitors - 0 BMX Racing - will Niek Kimmann return after his heart disease? - 3 women and 1 or 2 men - 5 Mountain Bike - 1 man, 2 women - 3 Road - 3 men and a full women's team - 7 Track - two teamsprints, and 4 endurance riders in total (2 men, 2 woman) - 10 Equestrian Eventing - a team - 3 Dressage - no team perhaps, would be the first time in history I think - 1 Jumping - a lot of talented combinations, hopefully the owners don't sell the horses again just before LA - 3 Fencing - 1 individual fencer: Tristan Tulen - 1 Football - unfortunately I don't see that happen - 0 Golf - very strict Dutch criteria - 0 Gymnastics Artistic - hopefully a men's team again, no women's team anymore - 6 Rhythmic - we don't do that in Netherlands - 0 Trampoline - 0 Handball - maybe the Dutch women again, men are talented, but too much strong European teams - 14 Hockey - both teams should easily qualify, so they can defend their titles - 32 Judo - both genders three - 6 Modern Pentathlon - sadly enough, because I like this sport so much - 0 Rowing - although Dutch rowing assocation is a mess after the Paris success, I predict 8 boats or something - 30 Rowing Coastal Beach Sprints - hopefully two singles and one mix double - 4 Rugby Sevens - 0 Sailing - when we are lucky - 10 Shooting - 0 Skateboarding - still a sport at the games, don't like it at all - 0 Sport Climbing - I like this very much, but I myself am too heavy, otherwise we could have one athlete here - 0 Surfing - 0 Table Tennis - no more money for this sport in Netherlands - 0 Taekwondo - no more money for this sport in Netherlands - 0 Tennis - hopefully we finally do well in men's doubles in LA - 6 Triathlon - 1 man, 1 woman - 2 Beach Volleyball - two pairs at the men's side, one women's pair - 6 Volleyball - no men's team; women's team will be very difficult (even they are in the quarterfinals of the WCh this week, but that's because of an easy draw and Boskovic' injury), I think France, Belgium, Germany, Canada, maybe Bulgaria have better chances this cycle - 0 Weightlifting - like Paris - 0 Wrestling - 0 Cricket - 0 Flag Football - 0 Baseball - maybe a men's team, but I don't know much about the qualification - 0 Softball - maybe the women's team, but it will come down to an Italy-Netherlands match to decide - 0 Lacrosse - 0 Squash - 0 In total: 250 slightly less than in Paris, but still a pretty big team!