CCB

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!

I love speedskating! But hey, I'm Dutch, so I have to

Dutch speedskating in the 5 and 10 km is in the worst shape ever. Last year we saw that Eitrem, Semerunny, Jilek, Ghiotto and others are better than the best Dutch skaters in these distances. Only Patrick Roest, when he doesn't get sick again, can compete with these guys in the 5 km. The 10 km will be a fantastic event in Milano: however, the ISU wants to remove this distance from the program. Not a good idea, because this distance in particular is very, very competitive.

I. Haak was incredibly good today, but the level of The Netherlands was awful. Main problem for us: we are missing a good opposite (maybe Haak can change nationality, her name already sounds Dutch).

A good tournament for Dutch athletes. After years of female talent, we finally have some male talent. All the Dutch medals were won by men. I find Jonas Phijffers's victory in the 400 meters in 44.82 the most remarkable. Today in the relay, he ran like a Femke Bol to the finish in a split of 43.79 (4th place). It's great to finally have another Dutch talent in the 400 meters. Niels Laros also had a great tournament, winning the 800 and 5000 meters. Now let's hope he also makes a breakthrough at the international level. The same goes for Stefan Nillessen (gold in the 1500 meters, silver in the 3000 meters steeplechase).

Quite a good start for the Dutch team , considering all the new players in the team (only Van Aalen, Dambrink and Reesink from the Olympic squad did play this week). They had no chance against Japan, but played good matches against Canada and Bulgaria. It still was a pity they lost against Dominican Republic (2-3). That was unnecessary, but that match was only 20 hours after the match against Canada. Stupid schedule! I'm curious which players will step in next round. For me the German and French team were the (talented) surprises of this first week.

No Plak, Timmerman, Lohuis, Bongaerts and Marring in the VNL, while Dijkema and Buijs retired . I think the Dutch team better skips the VNL this year.

Am I complaining? I just wish she comes back to shorttrack, because in speedskating she won't medal (or even qualify) in speedskating.

That's so true. Suzanne Schulting, please come back to shorttrack!

Men: Harrie Lavreysen (track cycling) Women: Sifan Hassan (marathon) Team: 3x3 Basketball (basketball) Coach: Eelco Meenhorst (rowing) Talent: Angel Daleman (speedskating)

Totally forgot him, what a shame. I'm still not used to the fact he is Dutch now. And I forgot Kimberley Bos in skeleton too. She can be a real medal contender.

Dutch Winter Olympics is all about speedskating and shorttrack. In shorttrack we have a problem since Suzanne Schulting (3 times Olympic Champion) broke her ankle this year. After since it looks like she concentrates on speedskating on the long track. But in that sport she is not really that good. For shorttrack we have medal chances for Xandra Velzeboer on the 500 meters and Jens van 't Wout on the men's distances, although Danjinou from Canada is in a league of his own. In speedskating we have several medal chances, but I'm expecting not that much gold, considering Jordan Stolz (500/1000/1500) and Davide Ghiotto (5000/10000) winning the gold medals on the classic distances almost for sure. There will be some silver and bronze on the men's side however (Patrick Roest (5000), Kjeld Nuis (1500), Tim Prins (1000) and maybe Jenning de Boo (500)). On the women's side there is Miho Takagi (1000/1500) and Ragne Wiklund (3000/5000) and the Canadian women. But also chances for Dutch gold with Jutta Leerdam (1000), Joy Beune (1500/3000), Marijke Groenewoud (mass/3000) and Merel Conijn (5000). Unless Leerdam will continue travelling with Jake Paul and focus on her boyfriend's stupid influence-career more than on her own career. 2 medals in short track, 10 medals in speedskating, but not many golden!

Ik heb 16 dagen aan de buis gekluisterd gezeten. Veel vrienden, familie, collega's en kennissen verklaarden me voor gek, maar ik kan tenminste zeggen dat ik ergens passie voor heb. Wat een heerlijke twee weken ... in het begin nog stroef qua Nederlandse successen, maar uiteindelijk méér dan op mijn wenken bediend. 15x Olympisch goud hield ik écht niet voor mogelijk, maar dankzij een paar fraaie verrassingen is het TeamNL toch gelukt. Gelukkig kan ik ook heel erg genieten van buitenlandse sporters en hun successen. Maar gaandeweg zo'n toernooi viert chauvinisme toch weer hoogtij. Mijn persoonlijke NL-top 5 van deze Spelen: 1. De fenomenale eindsprint van Femke Bol op de 4x400 mixed. Toen ik las dat Bonevacia niet mee kon doen, gaf ik ze eigenlijk niet eens meer kans op een medaille, maar Klein Ikkink en/of Omalla vervingen hem ongekend knap. En Lieke Klaver levert in de estafette áltijd. Wát een sportvrouw. Ik heb mijn keel schor geschreeuwd tijdens de race en na afloop zelf een traantje gelaten. 2. Sharon van Rouwendaal. De meest onderschatte en ondergewaardeerde atleet van Team NL en dat is ze al jaren. Vreemde eend in de bijt, maar een ongekende sportvrouw. Haar verhaal greep me aan. 3. De huldiging van Sifan Hassan in het stade de France tijdens de sluiting. De trots en de blijdschap waren van haar gezicht af te lezen. 4. Harrie's Hattrick en dan met name de keirinfinale van gisteren. Ik heb buikpijn van de spanning gehad. Zo fantastisch dat hij zijn grote droom heeft waargemaakt. 5. Vrouwen vier-zonder bij het roeien. En dan vooral omdat de dubbelvier het een dag ervoor nog nipt moest afleggen tegen GB. Geweldige spanning en 4 leuke meiden!

Wow @Jinzha, wat een geweldig 'reisverslag' om te lezen. Het maakt me zelfs een beetje jaloers :-). Ik weet precies wat je hebt meegemaakt, want ben zelf ook bij meerdere Spelen aanwezig geweest. Er gebeuren altijd leuke, onverwachte dingen die je je leven nooit meer vergeet. Helaas koos ik ervoor om Parijs dit jaar links te laten liggen en vol in te zetten op Los Angeles, maar als ik jouw post lees en op televisie de geweldige sfeer zag, kan ik niet anders dan concluderen dat ik er graag ook in Parijs bij was geweest. Super leuk dat je je ervaringen deelt. En ook grappig om je mening over het TeamNL-huis te lezen. Ten opzichte van Londen en Rio is er dus niet veel veranderd. Alleen in Pyeongchang vond ik het (destijds nog) Holland House écht de moeite waard (want klein, gezellig en sfeervol).