Pictures from Ice Speedskating

Wednesday 16th March 2011, the speedskating season 2010-2011 is now over.

About a year ago, I made reservations for a holiday house in Inzell, I purchased tickets and was wondering what the post-olympic season would bring me. Now, a year later, my eyes are wondering of to the calendar for next season, but I'm still recovering from this season.

I managed to visit 15 differant events, and in total visited 31 days of competitions, 6 national competions, 9 international of which 4 abroad. I have travelled to Berlin, Poland, Finland and South-Germany.

I posted over 3.500 photos online on this site, and probably shot more than ten times the amount of images, bringing the total to 333 giga bytes on my harddrive.

And now...? All that is left is to tell you something about the last & final competition of this season and then it's really done.. over... the end. I'm always a little melancholic about this moment. When you live and breath nothing else but speed skating for 5 intens month, there is a huge big black hole waiting for you when spring arrived. And spring has arrived, in all it's glory.

After the minus 24 degrees in Finland, it was already strange to see the daffodills peaking their head out of fresh green grass in front of my house, but in Inzell there was still some snow left. The hills were green but the top of the mountains was still covered in snow. After an 8 hour drive to the south of germany, we immediatly visited the new icerink and I was very excited to see the new oval. So bright and so much glass. I did worry a little bit about the strange reflections of light on the ice, but it was great to be there.

Walking/climbing around Inzell (Germany)

The next day, we went for a nice walk in the sun with the dogs, only we took a wrong turn and managed to climb over icy roads on to a steep hill. When we were climbing for 2 hours straight, we decided to head back as we realized we were not on the easy even path and it would take another two hours to get back. I wanted to visit the training in the afternoon, but unfortunatly, the rink was closed for spectators. Workmen were still carrying around metal constructions and dirt was flying around everywhere. We found an open door and managed to take a few sneak peaks of the oval.

From the commentators booth

We went back to the village were we enjoyed some coffee with the traditional 'kuche' thats german for cake or pie or whatever delicious name you want to give it. As we still had some time to spear, as we couldn't watch the icetraining, we decided to head to Bad Reichenhall, another village, not far from Inzell where we ended up in some Carnaval festivities. When the sun started to set, we headed back to our holiday home because the next morning we would have a long day, as we decided to go to Salzburg, which is only 30 kilometers away from Inzell.

View on the Dom of Salzburg from the hill

Salzburg, in Austria, was a pleasant surprise. I was in control of the doggies, two cocker spaniels, and had all the time in the world, to just look around and soak up the athmosphere in the city. At the central square in front of the Dome, I had a nice chat with two students psychology at the University and enjoyed the warm and sunny weather. The dogs were not allowed into the castle at the top of the city, so we decided to stay together and walk in the park at the hill. From here we had some lovely views over the city and I think this was even nicer than the museum and the castle.

View on Salzburg and the castle from the hills

Me and the dogs, left: Taffie, right: Billie (both English cocker spaniels)

I really had a good time in Salzburg and I can definatly see it's attraction to, for example, Anni Friesinger who was brought up in Inzell but now also lives in Salzburg. It's a bigger city but feels really down to earth and is not over touristic but still has some nice features which makes it worth visiting. Off course, it was not the tourist season but there were enough Americans and Irish to buy souveniers!

That night, I was a little anxious. Okey, all the walking in the sun and the kaffee mit kuche, is really nice and the Salzburg trip was wonderfull, but now it was really time for some speedskating! I mean, that was the reason we were there, wasn't it?! We first went to visit the Kia Speed Skating academy which was now officially opened. I'm really curious who will train and live there the next couple of month and I think it's such a simple but groundbreaking concept. For more info, visit the site: www.speedskatingacademy.com

Me with World Record Holder in the 500 meter: Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon

Where waiting outside, Jeremy Wotherspoon, sprint coach at the academy walked by, and as he is one of my biggest heroes in Speed Skating, I had to have a little photo together. As a photographer, at the icerink, I continously run into all the athletes, but every now and then, the little 'fan' inside me, comes out and results in these pictures. I really hope to run into Jer a couple more times as he will continue to be active in the speed skating world.

After this, is was finally time to go to the icerink where the opening ceremony had already begun. It turned out, we didn't miss much, as it was a whole bunch of speeches and gratitudes from German officials and ISU representatives. The traditional dances by Bayern locals was fun though.

The World Single Distance Championships 2011 in Inzell at the new Max Aicher Arena started with the 3.000meter for Ladies, which I explained to my mother, would probably be won by Martina Sablikova, and although Ireen Wust, raced a good race, this wouldn't be her day as this wasn't her best distance. Boy, was I wrong! And boy, I was happy to be wrong. Dutch girl Ireen Wust won the race and the whole dutch crowd (7.500 people) went nuts.

Ireen Wust, racing a phenomenal 3k

After this race, the 1.500m event for Men was set. One of my favorite distances and I was very happy with the good race of Canadian Lucas Makowsky. A little bit disappointed that Denny Morrison didn't do so well, but this fact was made up by the great bronze medal for Lucas. When the last race between Shani Davis and Norwegian Havard Bokko was down to the last lap, the whole arena almost exploded. The whole south corner was filled with 3.500 Norwegian fans, the rest of the seats and stands were filled with Dutch skating enthousiastics. When Havard Bokko crossed the finish line first, I think everybody was releaved: finally! He has his grand prize. So happy for Havard.

Havard Bokko on his victory lap after just winning the world title in the 1.500m event

Day 2 of the World Single Distance Championships didn't go so well for me. Stomach ache and naucious waves made me run outside more than photograph the event. Especially when the nice lady next to me, decided it was time to drink a nice cup of warm milk, I was sick to my stomach. The smell! Urgh. However, a deserved gold medal for Shani Davis, another gold for Ireen Wust and the great exciting race of Bob de Jong in the 5.000 meter, made it worth while to stick around.

Bob de Jong listens to the Dutch National Anthem, while Russian Ivan Skobrev is shocked by the fact they put up the French flag for him.

Day 3 would be a long day. The 1.000 meter event for ladies was something to look forward to, but the 10k for men and the 5k for ladies was something to dread. Both longest distances in one day... we were doing some serious time calcullations and my parents went back to the village to walk with the dogs and come back in time for the last races, while I stayed at the icerink and actually saw some nice races. I had good compagny at the icerink and before we knew it, the final pairs of the 10k were already there and Bob de Jong put up a great show and an exciting race. Faster and faster, resulting in the fastest 10k skated in Europe, beating Sven Kramer's old Thialf time.

Christine Nesbitt (CAN) earns her well deserved gold medal in the 1.000m ladies event

Bob de Jong (NED) estatic with his race and another gold in the 10k

After all these races, the day wasn't over yet and the ladies put up quite a show, which made me watch even the 5.000 meter for ladies. Normally the event I like the least, but when you see Martina Sablikova from Czech, skate the way she does, it's worth to stick around. After the silver in the 3k, which was surprisingly won by Ireen Wust, she now claimed the gold, followed by Germans Stefanie Beckert and even Claudia Pechstein got back on the podium again.

Martina Sablikova carries around the Czech flag after winning the 5k

A little bit dazzeled by such a long day and so much skating and great moments, we returned to our little appartment. The next day, I woke up with a knob in my stomach. The last and final day of the World Single Distance Championships and also the last and final day of a great season. More than a year, I had been looking forward to the "WK Afstanden in Inzell" and now it was already almost over.

We went to the icerink for the 500 meter Ladies and Men and the Team Pursuit. After the long distances yesterday, it was a little bit surprising to see the skaters pass by in such high speeds as they did in the 500 meter events. Especially the men had some troubles with the last corners, maybe the radius is tighter or the ice was not good in the last outher corner, but we saw a few skaters fall unfortunatly. When this happens, everybody is in shock, but when it happens pair after pair, you are starting the dread the last corner and almost expect somebody to fall.

Yuya Oikawa (JPN) completly dissapears under the cushions

Luckily, many skaters did manage to keep skating and we withnessed some great races. Dutch boy Jan Smeekens was in the lead with 1 hundreth of a second after the first 500m and German lady of sprint, Jenny Wolf claimed her gold after two solid races in Inzell. The second 500m for men was phenomenal, with a great race by good old Italian Ermanno Ioriatti, sensational racing by Russian Dmitry Lobkov and a spectaculair race and time of 34,32 by Korean Kyou-Hyuk Lee. Four times World Sprint Champion Lee and now also the king in the 500 meter.

Dmitry Lobkov (RUS)

Kyou-Hyuk Lee from Korea won, followed by Japanese Skater Joji Kato, who was the world champion the last time in 2005 in Inzell and the bronze was claimed by dutch boy Jan Smeekens, which is quite a surprise, but well deserves as I might say, being dutch and all.

Koreans Kyou-Hyuk Lee celebrating his victory and great time

After these exciting races, it was time for the team pursuit. The change between the differant events, took some time and I was a little bit disappointed (to read later) that this time was not used to have an official good bye for Inzell's home girl Anni Friesinger, who retired after the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

But soon, the Team Pursuit ladies started with top favorites Canada to start first. Cindy Klassen, Brittany Schussler and Christine Nesbitt showed they could also do it without team-member Kristina Groves and set the fastest time of the day. It's such a nice view to watch those woman skate in sync and completly rely on each other after years and years of training together and team building. One by one, the Germans, the Russians, the Japanese and also the Dutch, couldn't crack the time set by the Canadians, which resulted in the gold medal for team Canada!!

Brittany Schussler, Christine Nesbitt and Cindy Klassen racing as Team Canada

In the men's event, the Dutch team was first out and had to set a time for the other teams to crack. This wasn't succesfull as the American Dream Team with Shani Davis, Trevor Marsicano and Jonathan Kuck showed how it was done best. I had my hopes up for team Canada, and was wishing for a double sweep in both the ladies and the men's team pursuit, but this wish didn't come true, as the Canadian team by Lucas Makowsky, Mathieu Giroux and Denny Morrison failed in the last lap, after being ahead of the Americans time the whole race. I think a small curse escaped from my lips after they crossed the finish, but even I couldn't ignore the great racing by Team USA.

Team USA: Jonathan Kuck, Trevor Marsicano and Shani Davis racing for gold.

After the last two victory ceremonies for the Team Pursuit, we went outside. People were lingering around the oval, finishing their last beer, taking down banners and flags and just not wanting to go home. For me, this was the same. Just chatting with some people, hanging around the main entrance, just not wanting this season to be over. Waiting for one more moment. I was hoping to see my all time hero in speed skating, Jan Bos, one more time to say good bye, as he retired after the World Cup Final in Heerenveen, but I didn't see him unfortunatly.

Luckily for me, the Canadian Team made up for this, as they just came out together. The winnars of the Olympic gold medal in the men's Team Pursuit, Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky and Denny Morrison, raced for the first time together after their golden race in Vancouver 2010. This was the perfect opportunaty for me, for a nice photo with the golden team.

Denny Morrison, me, Lucas Makowsky and Mathieu Giroux

And that was that... went home, back to the Netherlands and back to normall every day life. No more speedskating to look forward to, for the next 7 months. No more competitions to watch or photograph, no more events to travel to, news items to check, websites to update or anything like that. Season 2010-2011 is a wrap. For me, it's my most succesfull season ever, as I made a few perfect pictures, sold a few good images and overall was more consistant in photo quality and professionality. Now it's time to focus on my study and work again. Bye bye for now, hope to see you again next season.. Can't wait!!

Naomi Schläger 

When going on a trip or holiday, we always wonder what the weather would be like. It’s always difficult to imagine a place where you have never been before, with weather conditions so different from the place where you live yourself. This summer, fighting 48 degrees Celsius in Morocco was not easy for me and made me vow never to do that again. I never thought at that moment I would find myself on the other end of the Celsius scale.

A week before my departure to Finland, the temperatures in Seinäjoki, were averaging around-25 to -30 degrees Celsius. Images and reports came to me about multiple layers of clothes and heaps and heaps of snow. How was I going to survive such harsh conditions? Standing at the edge of the ice-rink, for hours and hours with temperatures of -30? I couldn’t imagine and I had some doubt whether this was such a good idea after all.

But there I was, on a plane to Finland! I first spent the whole day in the train to Bremen,where I arrived too late to go sightseeing, and just had enough time for a couple of hours of sleep. The first tram to the airport was packed with early birds like me and before most people would even have had their breakfast, I already was in Finland. Blue skies, bright sunlight and everything covered in snow. I flew to Tampere and took the train to Seinäjoki. The train was a little delayed and while standing on the platform waiting for it, I could feel the cold biting through my jeans, making my legs feel numb but tingly.

Tampere trainstation, waiting for the train in -24 degrees

The train was a pleasant surprise, nice seats, electricity and big windows to look out from and see the landscape pass by at an impeccable speed. Pine trees, covered in snow; houses, covered in snow and plain nothingness, covered in snow. 36 hours after I left my home, I finally arrived in Seinäjoki. I left my luggage at the hotel and walked to the hotel where the organization comity would be based. I was able to pick up my media accreditation and was warmly welcomed by the ladies of OC.

View from the train

My media accreditation

The first two days in Seinäjoki I didn’t do too much. Just have some coffee and meet up with a local friend, who drove me around Seinäjoki. I went to the morning practice at the ice-rink on Thursday and by then, temperatures rose to only -16 degrees. It was bright and sunny and you could feel the excitement of the young competitors. It was difficult to see that excitement as most skaters were covered in facemasks, ski glasses and multiple layers of hats, gloves, coats and jackets.

Seinäjoki townhall and bell tower

After an hour the rink was already empty and I continued my day, drinking coffee and just relaxing. But on Friday it was finally time for the competition! The opening ceremony was scheduled at noon, so I went to the ice-rink a little bit earlier to meet the people at the media office and shoot some images of the rink and surrounding. I was surprised about the turn-up for the event. Young children were giving time of from school before their ski-holiday to witness the event and it was promising to see such warm support from the local community.

Face mask to protect nose and cheeks

After the introduction and official opening, the event started at 12.30 pm with the first races. By then, temperatures were only -9 degrees, but because of snowfall last night, the rink was covered with snow and the wind blew fresh snow on the track. This caused for some harsh conditions and some bad corners by some of the skaters, as they found their skate stuck in a pile of snow.

Opening ceremony

Kazakhstan girl Yekaterina Aidova won the 500m event and with the boys, it was Korean Sung-KyuKim who took the gold in a time of 36,81. With 140 competitors from 21 countries, the 500m especially took a while and by the time the ladies 1.500m started, the day was already half way over.

Pien Keulstra racing in the 1.500m, breaking the trackrecord

But Czech girl Karolina Erbanova managed to set a new track record in the 1.500m and found herself at the top of the ranking for the Allround classification after day 1. It was also nice to have Dutch girl Pien Keulstra on the podium who was the first to break the old track record, set by Ireen Wust during the last World Juniors in Seinäjoki, back in 2005.

1.500m Podium Ladies: 1. Karolina Erbanova (CZE), 2. Pien Keulstra (NED), 3. Hege Bokko (NOR)

By the time the first day for the girls was over, the boys still had to race the 3.000m and it was already dark outside. Competition ended around 8 pm and by that time, I was tired and almost relived the day was over. The Norwegians made a sweep in the 3.000m and the whole podium was colored bright red by Sverre Lunde Pedersen, Kristian Fredriksen and Simen Spieler Nilsen. This would not be the last time they were on the podium, as the build a solid base for the overall classification.

I went back to the hotel for some dinner and work on the pictures. A little bit too late I went to bed, but competition didn’t start until 11 am on Saturday so I had enough time to sleep. When I woke up on Saturday, I was a little bit disappointed to see such grey skies over Seinäjoki. The last couple of days, there was sunshine all over the place, but now, the clouds moved in. But this also implicated, that temperatures were rising. It was only -2 degrees Celsius when I went to the ice rink and it turned out, these were perfect conditions for shooting pictures. The ice was now clean and looked fresh and the light turned out to be very even and I’m very happy with the way my pictures turned out that day.

Tommi Pulli (FIN) racing 500m men

We had another 500m for boys, which was also won by Koreans Sung-Kyu Kim and we continued the allround tournament with the 1.000m for girls. Erbanova showed she was the strongest and managed to grab the gold in this distance as well, giving her a solid 13 second head start for the final distance. The boys skated a 1.500m were Sverre Lunde Pedersen from Norway demonstrated his diversity and took another gold medal. With still 1 distance to go for both boys and girls, it was very clear who would become the next Junior World Champion, but there was still an interesting battle for the silver and bronze.

3.000m Ladies, Dutch Lotte van Beek & Pien Keulstra celebrate their good races

The girls had an exciting finale, were Dutch girls Lotte van Beek and Pien Keulstra managed to step up on the allround podium with an aggressive 3.000m. The distance was won by Korean’s Do-Yeong Park, followed by fellow Korean Bo-Reum Kim and Dutch girl Pien Keulstra. It’s encouraging for the future to see that two Korean girls were on the podium at the 3.000m. The men’s final took place in the dark again, not the best conditions to skate or to take pictures. The Norwegians repeated their performance and took the medals home, writing history while doing so, as they are the first Norwegians to make a full sweep in the allround classification.

Final allround classification: 1. Karolina Erbanova (CZE), 2. Pien Keulstra (NED), 3. Lotte van Beek (NED)

With these distances finished, it was time for the allround price giving ceremony, which was nice to shoot pictures of, as the kids involved were overwhelmed with excitement and pride. Although the circumstances for taking pictures were not perfect, I think I managed well enough to capture these special moments for these young skaters. I congratulate Karolina Erbanova and Sverre Lunde Pedersen with their junior world title!

The Norwegian Sweep: 1. Sverre Lunde Pedersen, 2. Simen Spieler Nilsen, 3. Kristian Reistad Fredriksen

After the race day was over, I still had some work to do, as the deadline for newspapers was approaching. I worked hard on getting the pictures ready in time, and I’m very pleased that Norwegian newspaper “Bergens Tidende” has covered the story of the Junior World Championships and used a few of my pictures.

500m Ladies: Alexandra Ianculescu (CAN) at the starting line

The next day, I was very excited as it was getting a little bit sunnier and it was only -1 when I left the hotel. Perfect day to watch some ice speed skating and make some pictures! The 500m ladies was scheduled and I managed to try some new things and shoot some nice images. Golden girl Karolina Erbanova showed she was on a winning streak and grabbed the overall gold, before Yekaterina Aidova from Kazachstan and Hyun-Yung Kim from Korea. The 1.000m for boys was very exciting with good racing by the young skaters. Korean Sung-Kyu Lee showed he is a sprinting force to reckon with for the future and took the gold. Local Seinäjoki boy, Tommi Pulli was fired on by the home crowd and managed to claim the silver. First medal for the Dutch boys was secured by Maurice Vriend, who took the bronze.

Podium 1.000m Men: 1. Sung-Kyu Lee (KOR), 2. Tommi Pulli (FIN), 3. Maurice Vriend (NED)

After these distances, groups of young skaters took the ice and everywhere, small trains of skaters were cruising through tight corners and relaxing on the straight. The Team Pursuit was about to begin with 11 lady teams and 12 men teams for qualification. First and second time ranking would be racing the final, for gold and silver later that day, third and fourth would be racing for bronze.

Team Korea racing the qualification team pursuit

Some teams were struggling to keep it together and benefit from each other, other teams looked like they have been doing this for years and looked like a solid machine, making things run smooth as clockwork. At the end of qualification, there were 4 teams left with the ladies. Korea and Japan would fight for silver and gold, while Canada and USA would decide who would get the bronze. The Dutch team (third time) was disqualified for crossing the line to the warm-up lane and was deleted from the results.

Team Canada wins bronze with Kali Christ, Kate Hanly and Brianne Tutt

Frank Hermans, Thomas Krol and Maurice Vriend racing the final

The boys from Russia would race against Japan, to see who would get the bronze, while the Norwegians would take on the Dutch team for silver and gold. The Norwegians were clearly the favorites as the team members finished 1, 2 and 3 in the allround classification and showed their strength in the qualification which they won convincingly. However, in the final it would demonstrate that this is not enough and you have to keep it together until the finish line. Halfway during the final race between Norway and Netherlands, the Norwegian team had a 1.5 second lead and was skating closely together when the Dutch team started to fall back and was struggling to keep up the pace. Right at this moment, one of the Norwegians fell and their hopes for gold were gone. The Dutch team was able to easily cruise to the gold and the disappointment in the Norwegian camp was enormous. The contrast between these emotions couldn’t have been bigger. On one side, there was the orange brigade, smiling and relieved they managed to claim a world title after all, on the other side was the disappointment and disbelief of the red squat. It’s no wonder, there are not only happy faces on the podium…

Deception after the race

Gold for the dutch boys, Maurice Vriend, Thomas Krol and Frank Hermans

After the price giving ceremony, the rink soon turned empty, as everybody was heading back to the hotel and get ready for the return journey home. I travelled back on Monday and was glad to be back home, where I fell asleep with a huge grin on my face, because I have had a wonderful trip. I have met so many nice and interesting people. The people of Seinäjoki and the organization comity have been more than nice to me, making me feel very welcome and at home. The competition was very exciting and showed passion for skating at a young age. I would like to invite you to go through the different pages with pictures, as well as the slideshow with all the pictures from the event..

General page

Pictures day 1

Pictures day 2

Pictures day 3

Slideshow with more pictures

All results and classifications

In case any of the skaters, teammembers or family would like to receive any of the pictures, please contact me via naomi@passion-for-skating.com

Naomi Schläger

Yes, I love all speedskating events. As long as there are emotions, fast times and good competition, I love it. However, even I have some sort of extra love for a special event or special skater. From all World Championships, I think Sprint is my favorite, because there are 2 thousand meters involved and some of my favorite skaters are involved aswell.

Without a doubt, Jan Bos is my most favorite skater of all time. As a matter of fact, he is actually the main seed that grew my special interest in speedskating into a real passion. Some might even call it obsession. It was his performance in 1998, becoming the first Dutch World Sprint Champion in history of speedskating, that got me interested in a way, I could have never imagined.

Because he won gold in 1998 in Berlin, I wanted to read everything there was to read about speedskating. And there was a whole lot, as in 1998 there were also the Nagano Winter Olympics. These Olympics put extra oil on the fire of my passion and before I knew it, I was completly hooked. After the great successes of Marianne Timmer and Gianne Romme in Nagano, and the silver medal with the golden lining of Jan Bos, I expanded my horizon and also got interested in other skaters and distances and events.

Jan Bos, earlier this season in Berlin

I'm very fortunate to live in Holland, the country with the biggest and widest media attention for such a small sport. From October till deep into March, there's always something to read or watch about speedskating. It took me a few years to discover, I could also travel to differant events and after my first trip to Thialf, many more followed, resulting in a long list of ice rinks and places in Europe I've visited for the sole purpose of speedskating.

Therefor, my direct environment was baffled to discover I was not going to the World Sprint in Heerenveen. "Why not?" was the most common response, but my mind was made up. The reason is very simple: the ticket prices are sky high and I just find a ticket to Thialf getting too expensive. There is the standard ticketfee, travelling cost (I live 200 km from Heerenveen), parking fee, overnight hotel etc.etc. It's just getting too much for a normal weekend and it's also getting a matter of principle. Euro 37.50 for a place in the crowd doesn't come with a seat, or a secure spot at the icerink. Numerous times I had to fight for my place in the crowd and my health is not good enough at the moment to endure all of that.

So, last friday I was finished with another exam, after having a dreadfull week of applying for jobs and felt a little emotional drained from it all. I was looking forward to a nice quiet weekend on the couch, watching the skating on tv, chatting via twitter or forum about the events and just kick back and relax. I saw some messages about people getting ready to go to Heerenveen or were already there, which made me a little bit jealous, but I had made my decision and I had to stick with it. On my way home from the exam (which I passed, yea!) I was a little bit bored and send out a tweet to the world.

It was in dutch, but it said something like this:

"passed the exam, the weekend can start. Watching the world sprints, not live but at home #ticketstooexpensive"

That was all I tweeted into the world, and when I checked back a little bit later, I had a message from somebody I didn't even know, saying I could have his ticket for sunday. At first I was a little bit suspicious, as I'd think he wanted to sell me a ticket for two times the ticket price, as has been seen on the internet a lot. But after tweeting a little bit and some direct messages, I had a ticket for sunday! How amazing is that!?

For the remainder of the friday I was just baffled by such selfishness and genuine kindness from a stranger, but during the saturday I was getting more and more excited. Especially after seeing a jampacked Thialf stadium on tv and watching some amazing races by especially Christine Nesbitt. I think my jaw dropped seeing her skate in the 1.000m and just demolishing all of her competition with a new trackrecord. It also helped that the men event was also very excited and differances after two distances were close.

I switched from tv to internet after the races were finished, because they broadcasted online the farewell to Marianne Timmer in Thialf. 3 times Olympic Gold medalist and first and untill now only Dutch woman to become World Champion Sprint, 2 times World Champion in the 1.000m and a dozen National titles, trackrecords and world cup medals, she had her official good bye in Thialf. After the Dutch Sprint competition, she decided it was time for her to stop her career as a top athlete. A very sad moment, but it was bound to happen some day. Sitting behind my laptop, I cryed my eyes out. I can't help myself but all those amazing images of her career just make the tears drop from the corners of my eyes.

I was drawn back to the real world quickly, as I still had to make some preparations for sunday, run to the grocery store and try to find my flag, which I wanted to take with me to Thialf. Luckily I managed everything in time and was able to hang my Canadian flag on the boarding in Thialf.

Most of the Canadian skaters have signed it and as you might be able to see, the signature of Christine Nesbitt has a prominent place. She was the first to sign it, so she had plenty of space to choose as it was empty back then.

A little bit releaved, we managed to get first row, it was finally time to kick back and relax and enjoy the skating. And I did. Maybe it was because I didn't count on going anymore and it was such a surprise that I was able to go after all. Or it was just the fact that it was a really nice tournament with great results and high and lows, I don't know, but it was special again.

We saw the 500m events where surprisingly Nesbitt managed to grab a spot on the podium, getting an even firmer grip on the world title or the Japanese skater Ota, who skated to 35.04 and celebrated with the whole of Thialf as if he was a dutch skater who just won Olympic gold in his home town. And of course, there was the new trackrecord for Kyou-Hyuk Lee. The airpressure in Thialf was really high, so nobody expected anything special, but Lee set the trackrecord to 34.77 which also gave him a nice lead for the overall classification. During the icebreak, there was a weird message, that Stefan Groothuis got disqualified putting everybody into a mood of disbelief, as we in the crowd did not know why or what was going on.

Somewhere later that day, the DQ was reversed, making me even more eager to watch some videos at home to see what was going on, but at that moment, the only thing which mattered was, we had the 1.000m still to come and everybody would still be there. The ladies event was very excited if you're in an arena with 15.000 people dressed in orange and shouting for the dutch skaters. Dutch girl Annette Gerritsen defended a 0.02 second lead against her teammate Margot Boer, as they raced against each other. It wasn't pretty, but it was excited! Especially because they ranked the exact same time. In normall world cup situation enough to split the spot on the podium, but as this is a tournament and Gerritsen had 2 hundreths of a second lead, she was cheering.

The next race was still excited. There was nobody doubting Nesbitt would claim her first World Sprint title, but would she do it in again a fabulous time ranking? Or would Dutch girl Ireen Wust take the gold in at least this distance? But, I guess the biggest question on everybodies mind was: Will Jenny Wolf keep it together and stay ahead of Gerritsen? Resulting in a bronze for Gerritsen and a 4th place for Boer?? The speaker announced what time Jenny Wolf had to skate in order for Gerritsen and Boer to be on the podium and you could just hear the clock go "tick-tack" after Nesbitt crossed the finish line. Tick-tack... no Wolf yet, tick-tack still no Wolf. Once the clock stopped a roar rolled through the Thialf, as it was clear Margot Boer was also on the podium. I thought this was a little bit mean of the crowd, as Nesbitt deserved to get the biggest cheer and it's never positive to cheer for somebodies losing time, but I guess there is still loads of Nationalism left in the orange crowd if it comes to skating.

Christine Nesbitt is celebrating, in the background Jenny Wolf

Once the times were added, and not only Nesbitt, but also Gerritsen and Boer had their victory lap, it was time for the grand finale. Would Kyou-Hyuk Lee win his 4th Sprint Title? Or would Shani Davis swoop the gold away with a magical 1.000m? Or could Stefan Groothuis still make a move, after the withdrawal of the DQ? Or would runner up Mo do something surprising? Who could tell, there was only one thing we could do: just sit back and relax...

The past seasons, we have had quit a few good-byes in Thialf of some great Dutch skaters. Rintje Ritsma, Gerard van Velde, Jochem Uytehage, recently Erben Wennemars, Carl Verheijen and Renate Groenewold and the day before the farewell of Marianne Timmer. These have all been anticipated and arranged by the KNSB during an event in Thialf. Nevertheless, they cannot manage what the crowd does, so after Jan Bos was finished skating his 1.000m the whole crowd just started to cheer and everybody just kept on going and going ... and going.. "Heia Jan Bos, Heia Jan Bos...Heia Heia Heia Jan Bos."

It had a ring to it and it's easy on the ears, but everybody just kept on going and going. Needless to say, I ran out of tissues...

Video clip of Thialf singing "Heia Jan Bos"

Even after everybody got silent for the start of the next pair in the 1.000m, the whole Thialf just started over again during the race. And this wasn't even his last race! He will still race in Moscow and World cup Final in Thialf and I sure hope to see him race in Inzell for the World Championships, but I guess there is nothing more touching and moving, as a sincere spontanious tribute. I made a small video of the noise in the stadium.

Ater all this, races continued of course, so before we knew it, it was time for the grand finale.Stefan Groothuis managed to skate a very decent 1.000m, giving him the lead in the 1.000m at that moment, but Tae-Bum Mo managed to stay ahead of him in the overall classification. But then it was time for the final pair, Shani Davis vs Kyou-Hyuk Lee. Davis won the 1.000m and Lee skated well enough to maintain the lead in the overall ranking, but it took some time and procession before everything was 100% clear. To see the expression on the skaters faces, when they realize they did or did not manage their position is priceless for me. That's passion!

Kyou-Hyuk Lee, 4 times World Champion Sprint

So, after all the skaters had skated their races, the horses came on the ice. Two sleighs were drawn by two gorgeous Friesian horses which gives a championship title a little something extra. They were pacing up and down the straight during the medal ceremony and it was really nice to hear the national anthems of Canada for Nesbitt and Korea for Lee. But of course, the moment everybody was waiting for, was when the athletes got in the sleigh and were drawn around the oval. I think pictures say more than words in this matter.

The two sleighs with the horses

Kyou-Hyuk Lee

Firing on the crowd

Christine Nesbitt

Nesbitt her flowers

And then.. it was really over. Being chased away by security, we were the last ones to leave the oval, leaving the rink empty and for the first time that day I was cold. Driving back home, we ended up in a traffic jam, but for me it didn't really matter, as I had an unexspected wonderfull day. With special thanks to the person from Twitter, who offered me his ticket. Peter Thank you!!

Naomi Schläger

After spending time in Germany and Poland, it was nice to be back home again. Nothing better than your own bed and your own stuff around you. However, although the ISU caravan carried onwards to Changchun in China, this didn't mean there was no speedskating going on for me. Owh no! I think this was one of the busiest weekends ever! On friday and saturday evening the Eindhoven Trofee in Eindhoven, on sunday morning the Junior Country match in Breda and sunday night travelling to Haarlem for the Kraantje Lek Tournament.

This all must sound very easy, for people who are used to major distances within their country, but let me tell you this, snow, ice and minus 8 degrees and then travelling for a few kilomters is not easy!

On friday I faced fridayevening traffic for a job interview and the Eindhoven Trofee. I had never been to the icerink in Eindhoven, but I was plesantly surprised by the icerink. It was very cold but there was hardly any wind. Quickly I changed from my highheels into my snowjacket and I was ready for the new event.

The Icerink in Eindhoven

The Eindhoven Trofee used the be a regional competition, organized by the southern skating unions of the Netherlands, but these days, it had become more and more a selection for the dutch allround championship right after christmas. So besides the Eindhoven Trophy, there was something at stake! After day one, it was very clear that TVM skater Jan Blokhuijsen would go home with this Trophy, as he won both the 500 meter event and the 5.000 meter event.

Ralph de Haan skating the 500 meter

Tossa Heesen from the Overijssel district skating in the 1.500 meter event

Koen Verweij from Team Hofmeijer won the 1.500 meter

Jan Blokhuijsen from TVM skating the last meters in the 5.000 meter

I had fun at the event and went home to work on the pictures and wait for the livestream on internet for the World Cup in Changchun, however, as this would only start at 5 am and I had already finished with all the photos of day 1, I didn't stay up and went to bed. And here I made a small mistake. After 3 hours of sleep, I had to wake up again, because of another appointment to photograph at the Windmills of Kinderdijk in the snow. We got their right in time and managed to get some nice shots, before a new snowblizzard hit the country. By the time I got home, I could barely keep my eyes open.

Windmills in the snow at Kinderdijk- the Netherlands

After a very short nap, it was time again to go to Eindhoven for the second day of the Eindhoven Trofee. Weather conditions didn't improve much at all and I was already dreading the travel back home, but first the 1.500 meter and the 3.000 meter. I think Koen Verweij didn't want Jan Blokhuijsen to go home with the Trophy and 4 wins, so he did his outmost best to win the 1.500m, which he managed. This was pretty exciting, but the 3k was also won by Jan Blokhuijsen, making the podium pictures a little bit boring as the same people on the steps almost every time.

Jan Blokhuijsen with his Eindhoven Trophy

Driving home in the snowblizzard was not much fun, but we managed to get home safe and sound. I promised myself not to stay up too long and managed to have the pictures of the 1.500 meter up before midnight. The last pictures just had to wait. I slept a couple of hours, before it was time again to travel to Breda for the Junior Country match between Netherlands and Norway. Germany was supposed to come aswell, but they were not able to make it, because of the bad weather conditions. The regional selection stepped in so the event had enough competitors. I must honoustly admit, I did not know a lot of the skaters participating in the event, maybe a few by name, but this didn't make it less fun to be there.

Henrik Fagerli Rukke from Norway, 1.000m Boys Junior C

Anne Gulbrandsen, Norway, skating 1.000m Girls Junior B

Kai Verbij from the Netherlands, 3.000 meter Boys Junior B

The young C and B juniors of Netherlands and Norway really did their outmost best and although the dutch team was stronger than the norwegians, they never gave up and kept fighting for a good race. The flower ceremony was also fun to watch, as all the kids seemed very shy to get on the podium, but I guess some of them better get used to it!

The whole Dutch Team

I had the afternoon of, before I wanted to travel to Haarlem and had some much needed time to recharge the batteries. Both of the camera as my own! I was by now already so tired, but I managed to stay awake, finish the pictures from Eindhoven and be ready in time to travel to Haarlem. By now, the roads were clear again and driving up north went smootly. Arriving in Haarlem gave me the shock of my life. What a messy terrible orange light! And so little of it. I managed to take some pretty good photographs in Eindhoven and Breda, but this would be utterly terrible! All pictures turned out bright orange and most of them unsharp. Quit the drama if you come to photograph.

Bo van der Werff skating the 3.000 meter

I went home before the flower ceremony as I could barely keep my eyes open and was glad to be back home. I hit my bed and on monday morning it turned out why I was so tired: the flu has hit me ! Archh... the last few days have been very uncomfortable with sneezing, coughing and mostly sleeping. I did manage to have all the pictures up from all three events by monday night, but didn't feel like writting a blog. Now that I'm feeling slightly better again, I thought to make one after all.

I sure hope this feeling ill will vanish before tomorrow evening, as I was planning on going to the Utrecht City Bokaal. Also an event which I'm looking forward to, but I'm still not sure if I will manage to go there. Sneezing at the start is not a good thing... We'll see!

Naomi Schläger

Have you ever been to Zakopane?? No... and why would you? I have never been to Poland before and wasn't planning to do so either. However, my friends from Ryanair keep sending me these newsletter, in which they tell me, that they now have flights starting from 5 to 8 euros. Every now and then, they pursuade me to take a look at their site and the last time I did this, I was checking the calendar for the speed skating events.

I just noticed the Junior World Cup was moved one week back, compared to the first scedule when it would be at the same time as the World Cup in Berlin. I just noticed this when I got a pop up on my computer, telling me Ryanair had some discount rates for flights. I checked it out and noticed the flight to Krakow would only cost me 5 euro.. o boy o boy.... Five minutes later I had booked the flight and was searching the web for busconnections and cheap hostels to stay in.

After coming back from Berlin last sunday night, I was very tired and the rest of the week very busy with study, sleep, job hunting and working on the Berlin pictures, when on wednesday 11 o'clock I realized I still had to pack for my flight to Krakow the next morning. After 3 hours of sleep, I found myself trying to get warm under the shower at 5 in the morning and I was hoping there wouldn't be any snow as this means chaos on the roads to the airport. Luckily for me, we had no delays at all and soon I was boarding and flying of to Krakow. I was very ill prepared, as I realized I did not have any foreign currency on me and had no idea what to think of Poland.

I guess this left me with nothing but nice surprises! I got out of the plane, walking to a trainstation and within a few moment, caught a train to Krakow centrum where I walked for 10 minutes and found my hostel without any problems! It was a bright and sunny day and trams and people where passing by. After changing and freshing up, I hit the old center of Krakow. I strolled to the Wawel castle and did some sightseeing. I was surprised with how modern this part of Krakow looked and how rich all the people in the streets looked. I was only caught of guard by the fact that dusk hits already at 4 pm and this means the temperature drops a few degrees instantly.

Mariacki Church (St Mary's Church) by night.

I had a nice sleep in my hostel and the next morning, I took it easy as I planned to be in Zakopane at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. When I got to the busstation, the platform was crowded and I was lucky to have bought my ticket in advance as people were being refused on the bus. I settled next to a student going home for the weekend and looked out the window for the two hours of the busride. I expected some snowtopped mountains as we would approach the Tatras mountains, but it was warm and sunny for the time of the year, and I even pulled out my sunglasses when I arrived in Zakopane.

When arriving in Zakopane, it showed how ill prepared I was, as I expected a lovely cosy small mountain village, but instead I found a large bursting city with neon advertisement and large shopping malls. I walked to the town center as my hostel would be there and once again, I was welcome with Polish kindness and was very happy to stay at that place. I dropped my luggage at my room and stormed outside, as the sun was shining and I couldn't wait to go to the icerink.

Main street in Zakopane

I walked around the town, stopping here and there to take some pictures and I was again surprised, this time by the posters for the junior world cup! How nice. They were plastered onto an old wooden fence, but still, they were there. When I came to the sportpark, it was a little bit unclear where the icerink was, but I just decided to go with my gut feeling and walk around the athletic track. I found a huge screen playing videos of some of the world records raced in Salt Lake City and I entered the cafe.

I was greated by a person of the orginazing commitee who made sure I got a cup of hot tea and some cake. I was invited to come to 'the hotel' and get my press accreditation and be present at the draw of that evening. As the rink was empty and nothing was going on there, I decided to go and try to find that hotel. I knew it was close, but I had no idea what the name of the hotel was or how close it would be... When walking, I found some russian trainers, and just decided to follow them.. haha, and they brought me directly to the hotel Imperial, head quaters of this skating event. What an old dump!! I was glad I stayed in my warm, comfortable, luxe hostel! oeps... sorry, no offence but it didn't look to appealing to me. I was given a warm welcome again and got my press card for the event.

The posters in the village for the event.

It took a long time to finish the draw and when I finally got the draw for the next day, I could go back to town and have some food. I took the bus back as it was freezing cold and went into the first restaurant that I found when I got out of the bus. They had all sorts of Polish dishes and it was difficult to choose from the menu. But, as it turned out, Polish food is very rich, because I couldn't even finish my plate with sausage and potatoes! I went to bed straight after dinner and had a good sleep.

When I woke up on saturday morning, I immediatly noticed something was differant. The light coming from the blinds was differant and there was no sounds what so ever... I jumped out of bed and peaked under the blinds and say what I was dreading: SNOW! Lots and lots of snow! Normally, I get really excited when seeing snow, as we do not have this very often in Holland (although last year and this year we had more than the last 10 years all together) But now it was terrible! Snow means problems at the icerink and problems with taking pictures! How am I supposed to use my camera in a blizzard??

The COS icerink in Zakopane

Nevertheless I decided to go to the icerink and when I got there, I soon found out, there wouldn't be any races going on any time soon. The track was still covered with snow and there was no way there would be races within half an hour. When I got inside, I was told the races were delayed untill 12 o'clock, which really was a good thing as I noticed I forgot my batteries! I left them in the charger at the hostel. I ran back to the busstop, jumped out of the bus, ran upstairs to my dorm room, grabbed the batteries, stuffed them in my camera and ran back to the busstop and back to the icerink.

When I got there the second time, it was awefully quiet. At first, there were skaters and coaches walking around, lots of people at the little cafe, but now, at 11.30 nothing was going on. I soon discovered that the races where postponed again, untill 2 pm this time. I didn't really get why, as the ice seemed ready but apparently it wasn't. But, it was all fine with my, as I was setting up my laptop in the cafe, having a nice tea with a sandwich and trying to get some information about the races in Hamar, I didn't mind waiting.

By the time it was almost 2 pm, the place was vibrant again with people. Skaters, coaches and trainers, some anxious waiting mommies and daddies, and when the first skaters were called to the starting line, I guess everybody was releaved the event would be about to begin! I had some troubles, adjusting my camera to the grey and snowy weather, but by the time it was getting dark and they turned on the light at the icerink, I was doing much better.

After every distance, I was able to sprint back inside for some warmth as the snow and the wind made me very cold at the icerink. I felt sorry for the skaters who were out there in a racing suit and trying to do their best, while a blizzard of snow hit their faces. I was just very glad I had my wintercoat and snowboots on, and eventhough, I was still cold! I think the outcome of the races was not very surprising. Yekaterina Aidova from Kazachstan won the 500 meter girls and Russian Kulizhnikov won the boys event. Lotte van Beek showed she has still got it, by winning bronze in the 500 meter and gold in the 1.000 meter event.

The 1.500 meter boys was a long event, with 40 skaters to the starting line, but Sverre Lunde Pedersen won in the end, flanked by the two dutchies Thomas Krol and Maurice Vriend. I remember my first Junior event. Untill then, I had only gone to major international senior events and I knew all the skaters from television. And last year, I went to Groningen and had no idea who was who and I need to check the drawing list all the time to check the names. Now I was even looking forward to see some kids racing and I know if the skater did good or not.

By the time the 3.000 meter girls took place, it was pitch black outside and it seemed like there were less snowflakes in the sky. It didn't stop snowing untill all the races were done, but at least the girls didn't have to skate 3k in a blizzard. Maybe I make too much a deal out of this snow stuff, as I know most countries don't even have an indoor oval and most of the kids don't know any better than skating outside, in rain and storm, but for me these were really bad conditions to be at an skating event. The last outdoor events in Collalbo and Baselga were nothing but sunny and nice weather for a day of competition. Anyways, Pien Keulstra won the 3k and was flanked by 2 Russian ladies on the podium.

I guess everybody was happy the day was over and left the oval, as within a few moments after the flower ceremony, the whole compound was empty. I packed my stuff together and went back to town where I had dinner plans with an Ozzy from the hostel. We had a joyfull evening with good Polish grilled food and lots of wine. Absolutly nackered and with a slight buzz, I fell in a deep sleep.

The next morning, I had some difficulties waking up, but when I realized it might not be snowing, I jumped out of bed and took a peak from under the blinds. I even saw blue sky! Marvellous! I was ready within a few moments and checked three times if I had everything before I went to the icerink again. I didn't want to come back again because I've forgotten something! When I arrived at the icerink, music was bursting from the speakers and I could feel, everybody was excited. There were even some spectators and they cheered for the polish skaters.

The 500 meters where won by the same skaters as yesterday, so when we had the flower ceremony of today and yesterday, almost the same people where on the podium. The first few pictures were made in bright sunlight, but soon, the mountains and some clouds absorbed the sunlight and left the ice greyish and dark. The 1.000 meter boys was won by Maurice Vriend and the 1.500 meter girls gave an all dutch podium, aswell as places 4 and 5. Pien Keulstra beat Lotte van Beek and Letitia de Jong completed the orange podium. It was all giggles and laughter on the highest step of the podium.

The 3.000 meter boys was the final event of the Junior World Cup in Zakopane and had a really close finish. Frank Hermans, raced against Sverre Lunde Pedersen in his pair. Hermans took the lead quit early in the race, but in the final lap, Pedersen was getting awefully close. With a last inner corner, it seemed Pedersen would win from Hermans and win the event, but Hermans managed to stay ahead by 0.01 seconds and won the 3k for boys. Pedersen finished second and dutch boy Maurice Vriend collected another medal by finishing 3rd.

You can find all the results from the races on the site of the Polish Speed Skating Association: click here to go to the page

One the event was over, everybody went their seperate ways and I went back to town, for the last night in Zakopane. I can surely recommend to visit the town, I have heared there are loads of walking tracks, skiing and langlauf routes. It has everything you could wish for in a wintersport area and the city is really alive and good entertainment.

Below you will find some of the best pictures of this weekend. Conditions to shoot pictures were really difficult but I did the best I could.

Verneri Kinnunen from Finland skating through a blizzard

Frank Hermans from the Netherlands

Lotte van Beek, Netherlands, on her way to the fastest time of the day

One of my photos was used on the populair dutch website: schaatsen.nl

Simen Spieler Nilsen from Norway at the start of the 1.500 meter

Maurice Vriend from the Netherlands racing to 3rd place

New day, sun is shining and Tommi Pulli from Finland races the 500 meter

Piotr Michalski representing Poland

Podium 500 meter girls: 1. Yekaterina Aidova, 2. Britt van der Star and 3. Lotte van Beek

Ursula Wlodarczyk racing for Poland in the 1.500 meter event

Yvonne Daldossi from Italy

Letitia de Jong from Netherlands racing to 3rd place

Tatyana Sokirko from Kazachstan

All Dutch podium with 1. Pien Keulstra, 2. Lotte van Beek, 3. Letitia de Jong

Artyom Tsygankov from Belarus skating the 3.000 meter

Pawel Torun from Poland

Thomas Krol from the Netherlands

When I got up this morning, it was snowing again and minus 4 degrees outside. Tomorrow it will be somewhere between -15 and -8, so I am happy to be leaving and going home, although the temperatures are not much higher over there. I took a bus back to Krakow and spent some more time in the city and enjoying Polish cuisine. I did hear some disturbing news from some of the young skaters, stuck at airports or with serious delays, so I do hope, I am able to fly home tomorrow without any difficulties, because so far, this trip has been a dream get-a-way! Everything has been very cheap and comfortable, nice and friendly and exciting and new, I do not wish to close of with a bad experience, but we'll see about that. This blog more or less covers my experiences with Poland and this small speed skating trip- I hope you liked to read this and the pictures. Next event will be on friday, the Eindhoven Trofee, an allround tournament for Men to select for the dutch Allrounds in december.

Naomi Schläger

What a weekend it has been! I went to Berlin for the 4th time in 2.5 years and being in Berlin is always nice and strange at the same time. I still have the feeling I have not seen the 'normal' Berlin, as I only spent my time at the icerink in east Berlin. Last year, during the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, I have spent a considerable time in the city center and this gave me some historical perspective. However, the Berlin center is still not as familiair to me as the area around the Weissensee in Berlin.

This part of Berlin is just where every day normal life goes on, the tram stops, people shop for groceries, and owh yes, there is also a sportevent. For this event I was lucky enought to get myself a pressaccreditation, so instead of buying the tickets at the ticket office, I could go straight to the press center where my press card was waiting for me. For me, as an amature photographer and sportslover, this is quite a big deal for me, although I must say, it's easy getting used to.

So on thursday we drove to Berlin, and along the way, we experienced some heavy downpoor and this combined with evening traffic, made the drive into Berlin a two hour long test of our endurance. Finally, completly nackered, we arrived at the hotel near the icerink. Last year, we have found an amazing Argentinian restaurant, and after craving the argentinian steaks for over a year, this was our first stop for the evening. The food and wine was excellent and slowly I was feeling more and more like I was in Berlin.

Friday morning I could sleep in a little bit, as the B-group wouldn't start untill 11 am. Which is wonderfull after an hectic week. Arriving at the icerink, my presscard was already waiting for me, giving me all access around the rink. And I must say, it's wonderfull to be able to walk around, set your laptop up and upload some pictures in between the icebreaks.

For this occassion, I had rented a brand new, differant camera and it was a little bit tricky to set it up correctly. In the end, I'm very pleased with the pictures of last weekend and it was amazing what a differant camera can do for me. The only problem is, I have already had to give it back to the owner and now I'm stuck with my own poor little camera again. But I can't complain too much about that, because I knew this up front.

Anyways, I have the feeling the 3 days at the icerink went by in the blink of an eye. What happend to 3 full days in Berlin?? Where did they go? I was so busy with taking the pictures, and checking them afterwards, that I have to admit I have not really noted all the times and rankings. I was surprised though, as everybody else, that Shani Davis didn't win the 1.500 meter event. The time and ranking display was a litttle bit tricky, which left the icerink puzzeled for a while.

I was very pleased with the great results of the young Norwegian girls and of course, the first World Cup win for Jilleanne Rookard. Her realizing she had won the event, brought a small tear to my eye, as I'm a sucker for the underdog and love all sorts of emotion.

The hightlight of the weekend, was the teampursuit! I love this event and love to take pictures of the three skaters close together. It was a little bit difficult to shoot as I normally do, so a lot of pictures failed and came out too blurry, but after a few pairs, I think I got the hang of it, which resulted in some nice shots.

Below you can find some pictures, which in my personal opinion are the best ones. Either because of a emotional feeling with the picture or for technical reasons. I hope everybody enjoys the photos.

For Roemenia: Marian Cristian Ion skating the 5.000m

Heather Richardson from USA skating the first 500 meter

Bob de Jong, Netherlands, skating the last pair of the 5.000 meter

Marrit Leenstra, Netherlands, racing the 3.000 meter in B-division

Denny Morrison from Canada, had the race the 1.500m in B-group, because he fell last week.

Rhian Ket, Netherlands, racing the 1.500 meter

Tatyjana Mikhailova from Belarus, skating the 1.000 meter

Natasja Bruintjes, Netherlands, inner corner 1.000 meter

Philippe Riopel from Canada, racing the 1.000 meter

Jan Bos from the Netherlands, my all time favorite skater

Team France, Alexis Contin, Benjamin Mace and Pascal Briand

Milan Sablik, Zdeněk Haselberger and Pavel Kulma racing for Team Czech Republic

Team Germany: Marco Weber, Patrick Beckert and Robert Lehmann

Jonathan Kuck, Trevor Marsicano and Shani Davis as Team USA

Team Canada with Philippe Riopel, Justin Warsylewicz and Denny Morrison

All in all, I had a wonderfull weekend at the icerink, saw some great racing and took a huge amount of pictures. It took me a while to sort them all out and upload them.This blog is the last thing I 'had to do' concerning the World Cup in Berlin and this is right in time, because on thursday I will leave for Poland again. I'm not going to Hamar, but going for a short european trip to Krakow and the Junior World Cup in Zakopane. I have never been to Poland before and with my great friends of Ryanair, offering me a 5 euro plane ticket, I couldn't resist the opportunity to check this place out. So, keep an eye on this website after the next weekend for some outdoor junior skating pictures.

Naomi Schläger

What a weekend it has been! Wow! First on friday I had to go for a second jobinterview and once this was finished, I changed from heels and jacket into sweater and jeans and went on my way to the north of Holland. There was a storm going on and it was very scary to drive 200 kilometers in my small and tiny little car. The wind was sweeping me across the asphalt and I was very relieved when I arrived in Heerenveen. I arrived with some sweety hands, but I arrived, and on time for the B-group to start.

The Thialf stadion was locked down because of the wind or understaffing in security, so we had to go in via the main entrance. And by we, I mean the 10 other people who arrived to watch the B-group. Thialf was empty besides loads of officials, some skaters and 10 spectators. The visitors gained in numbers, but not as much as is normal in Thialf. It was a very quiet day, but watching the speedskating is always fun!

On saturday it was a little bit more busy, but the high prices of tickets, the problems of getting to the rink via public transportation and maybe the Sinterklaas festivities, left people at home. The 1.500 meter men was thrilling, but Shani Davis raced impecable and won the event. I would almost say: of course or as usuall.

Sunday however, was busy as usuall. Lots of people came to watch the world cup and this always gives this extra feeling of skating in the Netherlands. Especially during the 5k, which Bob de Jong won, the crowd went mad and it reminded me, why skating in Thialf is so special.

I think I made some pretty decent pictures. With my camera, it's always compromising and trying my best with the material I have. The best shots of this weekend are below:

Kaitlyn McGregor from Switzerland

Yekaterina Lobysheva from Russia

Natasja Bruintjes, the Netherlands

Jan Bos, also from the Netherlands

Jorg Dallmann from Germany

Ireen Wust, the Netherlands

Kristina Groves from Canada

Maren Haugli from Norway

Ayaka Kikuchi from Japan

Marian Christian Ion from Romania

Roger Schneider from Switzerland

And winnar of the 5k B-group, Byung-Wook Ko from Korea

Yuliya Skokova from Russia

Ireen Wust after her 1.500 meter

Shani Davis from USA

As you can see, most of the better pictures are from the longer distances. I have tried some new things and I am still developing as a photograper. It's still challeging and fun to do.

Furthermore, I'm very happy nobody got disqualified for crossing the line, I think the new interpretation of the rule is better, but I'm still not sure where it will bring us in the future.

I do know, that the future will bring Berlin! Next thursday I'm leaving for Germanies capital and will be going to the second ISU World Cup speedskating in Berlin which will also give us the teampursuit, which slowly seems to change into my favorite part of the programme. So I would like to say: Auf Wiedersehen in Berlin!

Naomi Schläger

Hi everybody,

The new speedskating season has arrived! Although all the skaters have been busy with training, time trials and selection competitions, I have not seen any ice or skating since march. It has been a nice a quiet summer and I was very busy with my other career and a new study. This also means, I will take it a little bit easier this next skating season, but of course I went to the Dutch Nationals, last weekend in Thialf Heerenveen.

This was the first event with the new dutch sponsor, KPN and it was a little bit weird to see all the green in Thialf. For a moment, I thought they would have changed the whole of Thialf, like a green warm up lane and green cushions, but luckily they stayed blue.

I haven't touched my camera for a while either, so it was a little bit warming up to the speed skating again. Below you can find some pictures which I think are really nice. You can find more on the pages Day 1 Day 2 and Day 3 and all the pictures together in the slideshow.

Koen Verweij racing the 5.000 meter

Allard Neijmeijer racing the a new personal best in the 1.000 meter

Lisette van der Geest racing in the 3.000 meter event

Marrit Leenstra got a very succesfull weekend, with bronze in the 500m,
gold in the 1.000m and silver in the 3.000m & 1.500m

Ireen Wust, racing to gold in the 3.000 meter

Carlijn Achtereekte, Hollands hope for the future in the long distances

Marije Joling, from the Region Drenthe skated to two world cup tickets.

Jorien Voorhuis skating in the 1.500 meter

Frank Hermans, last year a junior, now skating for Region West,
skated to a new personal best in the 1.500 meter

Pim Cazemier skating for Hofmeijer Team

Simon Kuipers, racing for TVM, racing the 1.500 meters in 1.44,89 and gold

After the 1.500m on sunday, I went home as I wasn't feeling too well. I'm also looking very much forward to next weekend, when the whole international skating community will race in Heerenveen for the first world cup of the new season 2010-2011. Unfortunatly, there is a lot of commotion regarding the new ISU rule, where you are no longer allowed to cross the line on the finish straight with your whole skate. There have been numerous DQ's because of this rule and it's unevitably that there will be more. The rules has been dubbed "Dr. Bibber-rule" by Dutch Olympic Champion Mark Tuitert and all skaters and fans have been asked to protest against this new rule. You can find more information online on:

http://www.drbibber.tk/

Here you can sign an online petition that will be sent to the ISU aswell as the mailadress for sending a letter to the ISU yourself. Furthermore, there are more actions expected, so visit this site!! Thank you all, and till next weekend.

Naomi Schläger