Pictures from Ice Speedskating

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

At the very last moment, I decided to make the journey to the north and to go to the ISU Junior World Cup in Groningen. And mind you, I live in a very small country, but nevertheless, the trip to Groningen took me 260 kilometers and due to some serieus speedy gonzales actions of my red voiture, I arrived after two hours at Sportcenter Kardinge in Groningen.

This was my first Juniors event and I must admit, I did not know many of the skaters. I knew some dutch speedskaters and I knew some names vaguely but as the World Cup in Hamar was not broadcasted live, I thought: it's speedskating, so why not.

I was warned up front about the cold in Kardinge, so with an extra layer of cloths, I entered the icerink. And wow, I was surprised by the nasty wet cold inside. Luckily, the hot tea make me warm again. The icerink was nearly empty and I decided to take my position in the corner. The 500 meter Ladies and Men was not so nice for me. It was a drama to find the right settings on my camera and eventhought, they are Juniors, the boys and girls skated pretty fast!

I was also very surprised to find out, there were icebreaks every 15 minutes. Resulting in 500 meter ladies for 8 pairs (15 minutes) and then an icebreak of 15 minutes. Luckily, the 1.000 meter ladies was a lot nicer and went a lot faster. I managed to take a few more good shots and it was nice to watch the flower ceremony.

The sun came out, giving some interesting shots and some pleasent light at some moments.

After day 1 I went home and worked on the pictures. It was pretty difficult to find out which picture belonged to which skater as most of the names (especially the ones from Russia and Kazakhstan and Belarus) are pretty difficult for me to remember. But I think I managed. In case I did make some mistakes, please let me know so I can correct it.

All in all, it was a fun weekend and a nice experience. The Youth has the future!

The second meet of the season was again in Thialf Heerenveen. The speedskating mekka of the world. I can't even count the times I've been to Thialf, so I was not as excited as last weekend. But nevertheless, I looked forward to a new speedskating event.

Rain was gushing down on the Netherlands, causing massive traffic jams, making me arrive 2 hours late to Thialf. The people of the security gave me a hard time, by instecting my bag, having me unfold my flag to check for sicsors and inspecting my camera. Apperently, there is a new rule in Thialf, that no 'proffesional' camera's can be brought inside. As if I can compete with the real photographers...

Nevertheless, I finally managed to get inside and installed myself at the 1.500m startline. The men's B-division 1.500m was about to start. The light was terrible in Thialf and I was a little bit annoyed with everything that already happend that morning, so my pictures from day 1 are crap. Also the fall from Marianne Timmer and the Chinese Jing Yu left everybody in shock. Day 1 was a very weird skating day. I have never seen it so quiet in Thialf.

Luckily, day 2 brought me some more sunshine and I decided to hit to the southside of Thialf, at the end of the crossover. The stands at the Southside were packed, but on the other side, at the North corner, there were empty places everywhere. The athmosphere was differant from normal. Not so busy, not so much enthousiasm. I don't know what it was. But we did see some amazing races. Ireen Wust finally managed to win again in the 1.500 meters and Bob de Jong set a fast time, giving Havard Bokko and Sven Kramer a though job to beat it. We finally saw an amazing exciting race between the two of them.

After the A-division I sayed for the 5.000meter B division, which was a weird experience in an almost emply Thialf. At 8 o'clock I left again.

On sunday, I installed myself again on the Northside for the 3rd and final day of skating for this year. Today, there were even less people and the athmosphere was dull. I really don't know how this can happen but the races were intens. Shani Davis beat everybody in the 1.000 meter, again and the Team Pursuit was exciting as always!

The Canadian Ladies, Schussler, Groves and Nesbitt set a new trackrecord which was amazing to see! Who can beat this team during the Olympics?? The Men's Pursuit was also very exciting, with a tye for team USA and team Netherlands.

With mixed feelings I left the Thialf. These two weeks have been very intense with the two competitions so close together. When will all the international atheletes be back? I guess some will come to the world cup finals in march or the World Allrounds, in March 2010 aswell.We'll see what the rest of the season will bring...

After the Dutch Nationals, I was very much looking forward to the next event. The first international meet of the new season, the Olympic season.

On Thursday we left by car to Berlin. It was early morning and rain was pooring down. Off course, on Holland's busy roads, we got stuck in traffic immediatly. We also had to stop near the border at a photoshop for my new lens. I now have a 55-300 mm lens, F 4,0- 5,8

By 6 pm we entered East Berlin and drove along the dark and empty streets of Berlin. We checked into our hotel and went to the nearest subway to enter the city center. We went to the Alexanderplatz and went up the Tower.

We had a great view across the city and could see all the city lights and even the U2 Concert at the Brandenburger Tor. We spent a good hour in the nice comfortable enviroment of the tower. After that, we continued by U-bahn to the Potzdammerplatz to look at some West-Berlin architecture. We spent our time waiting for the Ritz- to check the celebreties, look around the Sony Center where the European Premiere of '2012' would take place and walked around the Christmas market.

At 10 o'clock we found our way back to East Berlin, where we found all shops and foodplaces had closed. We ended up in a great Argentinian restaurant (Rio Negro) where we had some delicious steaks for an absurd low price. We soon decided this would be our restaurant for the upcoming days.

On friday we woke up early for the breakfast and some sightseeing in Berlin. We went again to the Potsdammerplatz to walk from there to the Brandenburger Tor. But this was not as easy as it seemed. Eventough it was only 700 meters, we managed to take 1.5 hours to get to the Brandenburger Gate. We walked at the sidewalk at the West-Berlin side, along the crowd control barrier, for the 20 year Wall festivities. They were busy placing giant Domino's at the place where the Wall used to be, replicating the Wall. As we were walking on the west side, the road was blocked and we thought to take a de-tour and walk around. Unfortunatly, the road ended and also the shortcut throught the park was blocked. At the backside of the Brandenburger Tor, people were building up or breacking down stages, lightmasts and electronic equipement.

Finally we decided to walk back to the Potsdammerplatz, as the people at the other side of the barrier, in East Berlin, were walking freely and managed to get to the Gate. Off course, 20 years ago, it was probably the other way around, people in East- Berlin wanted to go to West-Berlin, seeing them walk freely and doing what they want. But for us, this was such a frustrating and confrontating experience. At this place, 20 years ago, this was the reality and now we experienced the same. For the same reasons, the Wall, we could't go to the other side the way we wanted to.

Off course, we managed and walked freely past the Holocaust memorial and onwards to the Brandenburger Gate. There we spent some time in a coffee place with "Kaffee und Kuchen". We also went to the Reichtag to view the building and enjoy the city view. At this point we went underground and onwards with the S-bahn to the Kurfürstendamm where we also enjoyed the city, the sights and the shops.

In the evening we returned to East- Berlin, because off course, we wanted to see something from the speedskating. It was not very busy at the icerink and we enjoyed a nice evening of skating. It was great to see all the skaters again and try out my new lens! Wow, what a differance with the one I used to have before. And then they say size doesn't matter....

It was great to see Sablikova win again. What a race and what a great athlete. On the stands behind us, the Czech Martina Sablikova fangroup was cheering for her and she and her coach, Petr Novak, thanked them extensively. I always enjoy this kind of open and real joy very much. In the 1.000 meter, Shani Davis won seemingly easy and before I knew it, the first day of the new season had already finished.

We paid a visit to our Argentinian restaurant, where I had Italian wine with Australian Kangaroe steak and went to bed. I was knackered. On Saturday morning, the sun was welcoming us to go outside and at 9 am I was at the icerink. I went to the accreditation office to get my press pass and after some burocratic nonsens, I walked outside again with an official press card which gave the opportunity to go everywhere around the icerink and enter the press tribune.

For me, this was a huge thing. Being a speed skating fan, I can never get close enough and after all those times, paying for the entrane tickets, waiting outside the ice rink to get in and standing in the crowd, it was really nice to be able to walk around freely. And don't get me wrong, I know who I am and I guess this was a once in a life time opportunity and next week, in Heerenveen, I will just be part of the common people again, but for now, this was just extraordinary!

The ladies 500 meter was not won by Jenny Wolf, but Sven Kramer won the 5.000m. It didn't look as easy as other times, but still, he got the job done and won the distance. Surprise of the day was probable te 3rd place for Marianne Timmer in the 1.000 meter. Once the flower ceremony was over, we stayed a little longer to watch the training, which is always fun as there is so much going on at the same time. After a visit at the Argentinian, we went to bed early.

Sunday, the Berlin weather showed herself. Grey, misty and cloudy, bringing a sad tone to our mood. We each went our seperate ways. My dad, into the city center for some more (window) shopping and looking around the trainstation and expensive car dealers and I went to the icerink for the B division. We met up again at 2 pm for the A group, me walking around the icerink, my dad in a seat, in front of the television at the corner. It was fun to watch the races. The emotions of Jenny Wolf once she crossed the finish in her 500 meter race, breaking her own track record and winning again.

Highlight of the weekend and day, was diffenatly the 1.500 meter race of Shani Davis. Sensational and amazing to witness. The power and accelaration is just astonishing!! And what a great winnar he is. Really wonderfull to withness such a great sports moment. After the races, we jumped in the car and stepped on the gas to make it home. At 1 am sunday night we arrived home, tiered but absolutly satisfied with the first weekend of the new skating season. This weekend will be one to remember.

After two weeks of travelling and watching several speedskating events, it was nice to be back home again. On one hand I was excited about the World Cup in Heerenveen on the other hand, I had a little bit enough about it. But, as usuall, on Saturday morning, my alarm went of and within no time, I was geared up for another speedskating weekend.

The 1.500 meters Ladies and Men would be skated this weekend and the 5.000m for Ladies and the 10.000m for Men were also sceduled. Aswell as a new event; the Mass-start. For a while now, we'd been contemplating which skaters would be participating in this mass-start.

Usually, I'm not a big fan of the longest distances for ladies, as they normally take very long to skate 5.000 meters. But this weekend, thanks to the quartet pairing in the B-group and the limited participents in the A-group, the day progressed rapidly. The 1.500 meters men is one of my favorite distances and with allmost all the skaters there, it promissed to be an excited event. For the Dutch guys there was also a skate-off in this event where tickets for the World Single Distance Championship in March could be earned.

Nevertheless, Shani Davis won the distance and the Dutch guys were no way near the podium. After the 1.500m A division, the B-group was sceduled and it was nice to see how much people stayed to watch this distance. Jay Morrison got second and after the competition he gave his flowers to me. This gesture was off course highy appreciated by me and my whole house is still smelling of them.

After a nice dinner and some drinks, we returned home. We set the alarm for the next morning at 6.30 am as the 10k B-group would start at 9 o' clock. I must admit, I wasn't fully awake during the first quartet, but after that, things moved quite rapidly and because of all the action going on on the ice, this long disctance was highly entertainingly for us. At a distance like this, the guys start in 2 pairs and due to the differance in speed or personal best, it happens a lot that a skater is passed by a skater that started either before or after him. It's costs energy and strenght to overtake somebody on the ice and skaters often lose their rythm. But for the audiance it's exciting and you have to pay attention who's skating what time.

By the time the B-division was finished it was only 11 o' clock. The normall A-division wouldn't start untill 13.30 and it felt like we had been at the icerink for 24 hours straight. Luckily for us, there was plenty to see and talk about. It wasn't really a surprise that Sven Kramer won the A-group 10.000 meters, so the 1.500 meter ladies was more exciting. Anni Friesinger skated her second international 1.500m and she won it, again! Really amazing how well she came back after her injury.

The B-group 1.500meters was also after the A-division but contained only off 6 pairs or something. I must admit that by that time, my feet were killing me, but I wouldn't want to miss the mass-start off course!! It was only for guys and was a competition over 10k. Longtrack skaters and Marathon skaters aswell as a shorttrack skater were present. The speaker introduced all the men and they started off with a slow lap. When they took off it was hard to keep track who was were but it was extremely exciting. For somebody who loves the woosh woosh of speeding men racing by, and the clap clap of the skates in the corner, I had a field day! It even motivated me to check out the calendar to see if I would be able to watch some marathon competitions live!

In my opinion it was over too soon and when I drove home, I felt a little bit sad. This was the last big international event I would watch for this season and it would take a long time before I would be able to go to the next event. Next season....

After the Dutch Allrounds Championship after Christmas, I was contemplating about some events to go to. I was considering the Dutch Sprint Championship in Groningen, but finally I choose to go to the World Cup in Erfurt- Germany. I have been wanting to go to this oval for a long time now, but it never happend.

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And with the already planned trip to Stockholm and Hamar for the World Allrounds and the World Cup in Heerenveen right after that, going to Erfurt before all this seemed a bit much. But I already had the time of from work and I was feeling okey, so I decided to book the traintrip and arrange a place to stay.

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On thursday 29 January I took the train to Germany. It would be a long journey and I was very excited about it. After 4 differant trains, I arrived right on scedule in Erfurt. I found my way to the hostel in the centrum and went straight back to the city center to go to the draw. I've never been to something like that, but another skating fan told me it would be fun, so I found myself sitting in the Erfurt City Hall. There wasn't much to it and I don't think I will go to such a thing again.

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I was there for the speedskating and not for the bla-bla-bla around it. So I was very excited when it was Friday morning and I found my way to the Gunda Niemann- Stirnemann Halle in Erfurt.

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The B group had already started and I was moving around a bit to say hello to all the people I know and knew would be there, so I missed the first distances?a bit. On friday it was free seating, but I decided to go find a nice little corner and I stood there the whole weekend. (start 500m). Luckily I was installed already for the 5k men, B group in which one of my favorite Canadian climbed on the podium. Jay Morrison got 3rd, which made some nice waving pictures at the podium.

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By that time I also found a place to hang my Canadian flag and during the weekend I was able to collect all the signatures of the Canadian skaters. Even the authograph of Jeremy Wotherspoon who was in Erfurt aswell.

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The 1.500m Ladies was won by Anni Friesinger, which was really cool as this was her first international 1.500m this season. The 5k for men was spectacular as Bob de Jong ensured himself off a ticket to the World Single Distance Championships in Vancouver in march 2009.

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It was fairly late and I went back to the hostel and fell asleep almost immidiatly and when I woke up, it was time to run to the oval again. Because the tram was only 5 stops away from the oval and I seemed to miss it everytime I wanted to take the tram, I walked most of the time. On Saturday it started to snow a little bit, so by the time I was at the icerink, I needed to de-frost a little.

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This time I was in time for the B-group and saw some nice skating of some familiar faces who are not so known to the big horde of speedskating-watchers in Holland. This was one of the first times I saw some people race, which gave a little extra to the anynomous B-division.

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By the time the A group started, I barely had enough room to stand at the ice-rink. The place was packed with Germans, wanting to see the skating. They all had annoying clap-things which made an awefull sound banged on the boarding and most of them kept pushing me aside. Nevertheless, I saw some great racing. A new trackrecord in the 500 meters by Tucker Fredriks and always waving Martina Sablikova with a wonderfull 3.000m. After that I got nervous because it was time for the 1.500m men. One of my favorite distances and canadian favorite Denny Morrison would race it. The last 2 races he raced, he won both of them. Those were 1.000meters, but it showed he was in good shape.

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Anxiously I watched the skaters glide by and when it was time for him to race, I saw he set a good time. Best time so far. There were 3 pairs left after him and at that time I was bitting my nails. I had never seen him win a competition before and his time was good enough in my opinion. When Shani Davis passed the finish I saw my favorite won the 1.500m and I was more than happy. I got some weird looks from all the Germans around me, but that didn't bother me at all.

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This and other things made me have a great day in Erfurt and that night I fell asleep with a huge smile on my face. When I woke up on sunday whole Erfurt was covered in snow. The historic city looked even more amazing than it did before.?The smile was still there and I walked to the oval again.?The races started a little bit later than the other days, as today only the 1.000m and the Team Pursuit?were sceduled.

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The 1.000 meters was exciting, with a 3rd place for my all time favorite Jan Bos, which made him the best Dutch guy and gave him a ticket to the World Cup Final in Salt Lake City and the World Championship in Vancouver. Denny Morrison got second, right behind Shani Davis.

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A lot of the German people already left by the time the Team Pursuit started. This is really a shame, as this race is so excited and always something unexpected happens. This weekend, the unexpected things would be the dutch Ladies falling and the dutch guys ranking not even in the top 5. However, I still had something to cheer for, as my favorite 3 Canadians were up on the podium together as Team Canada won the Team Pursuit, ensuring them the overall Team Pursuit World Cup and providing the whole oval with smiles all over the place. Including mine!

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It's not hard to imagine it was a great weekend. Although I did like Erfurt, I was in a rush to get home as my plane for Scandinavia would leave the other day.

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Written for "Spot News"  www.speedskating-online.com

Three days of speed skating have passed by in the blink of an eye. Actually, the whole season has passed by incredibly fast. I left for Heerenveen feeling a little melancholic, knowing it would be the last live event I was going to see and I knew that after it, it would be over. I will now have to do without the clapping of the klapskate, the chirping of brakes on ice for such a long time. The scent in the air when you enter the Thialf and the excitement of a nice pair, duking it out in the last meters of my favourite distance.

But I also was excited to go, because this time things would be a bit different. We had good company. Kirsti, a new Norwegian friend who loves speed skating just as much as we do, would also come to Heerenveen. I had helped her to find a place to sleep and gave her a ride to Heerenveen and before we knew it, we stood outside the Thialf, in the pouring rain, chatting like we had known each other for years. I guess the love for speed skating bonds more than anything! It also was very helpful for our Norwegian lessons and we had the best of fun trying to pronounce some phrases in Norwegian. Of course, you had to be there to appreciate it, so I will not bore you with any of our hilarious phrases and hours and hours of laughter after it.

Once we were inside and secured our spot, the real job started. Normally we are trying to behave as normal as possible and don't shout hysterically to the skaters on the ice, but since this was the last time we were there, we unanimously decided to do things differently this time. So whenever a skater passed, we shouted his name in a weird voice and that was rewarded with some pretty nice responses: 9 out of 10 skaters actually waved back at us! And it almost was as if they had a little competition of their own amongst each other to wave as originally as possible. Standing on one leg, pointing a finger at us or making fists of pure joy. It all was hilarious!

I actually think the best moment of the weekend was when Enrico Fabris managed to skate to a bronze medal in the 1500m and thereby proved to be back in shape. We were surprised and happy and so was Fabris himself. Of course Caat brought her huge "Forza Enrico" banner with her, and Mr. Fabris seemed to appreciate that a lot and celebrated his third place with us. Thanks to the enormous banner!!

This time we had booked a hotel near the Thialf and this saved us a 1.5 hour trip back home and gave us the opportunity to kick back and relax in our fancy hotel rather than driving back through the most boring part of Holland. On Saturday we could even sleep in a little bit and enjoy our luxurious breakfast with the best view ever! But of course we couldn't enjoy the view for too long, because we had to arrive at the stadium in time again. On Saturday I had a little bit of an off-day, for various reasons, but fortunately the wave during the 5k for men kept me awake! It was a really nice view to see 11,000 people perform a wave at the exact same moment the skaters passed by and this lap after lap after lap! Even the VIP people participated a little bit.

Saturday passed into Sunday and before we knew it, we were being kicked out of the stadium because the security people wanted us to leave. We had just witnessed an amazing victory ceremony with all the World Cup winners passing by on motorcycles and in cabriolets. It was really nice to hear all the noise and see the huge smiles of all the winners when passing us by. And then it was over. Outside it was dark, silent and cold. I was tired and happy to go to the hotel, but also sad to leave the stadium. On the way to the hotel, we all were silent and a little depressed, exhausted and each lost in our own thoughts. We had a nice dinner with a lot of drinks to commemorate the end of the our season.

In the morning the hotel was almost empty and while packing my bag and gathering my stuff, I felt happy I was going home. The season has been so intense and has taken up so much of my time, I was almost relieved it was over and I was looking forward to the summer. Of course, once I got home and watched all my photos and uploaded all my videos, the feeling of relief passed instantly and I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming WSDC in Nagano. It will be four days of watching speed skating on TV. That will be nice for a change! One more competition to go. It's the icing on the cake. One more weekend: looking forward to it, of course.

Naomi Schläger

Written for "Spot News" www.speedskating-online.com

When your two passions are speed skating and traveling, it's not hard to imagine I\m in favour of many World Cups abroad.

Some people think all World Cup competitions should be skated in Heerenveen, because that seems to be the only ice rink that can hold a crowd of 11,000 at just a World Cup. I, on the other hand, think there's something romantic about traveling far to see speed skating. In a slightly different setting than usual, but not per se better or worse.

Last Thursday, Caat and I set off to Italy for some serious speed skating, but also for a taste of la dolce vita in Trento and surroundings. Because our trip lasted five whole days, I will not bore you with all the stuff we did or didn't do. I will just highlight some surprising different things in comparison to the competitions I saw in Heerenveen.

For example: Ice rink Pine is an outdoor track and this means the weather can play a significant role in the outcome of the competition. I think enough has been said already about this, but I would like to point out some surprising bad points due to the weather. Did you know that after standing in the snow for several hours, you are not able to take a picture anymore without having trembling hands?? And did you know that when the sun is shining, there's such a strong reflection on the ice, it's impossible to take good pictures and we even managed to get a sunburn?

Another thing that took us by surprise was the fact that we actually stood at the ice rink. Of course, talking about it on the airplane and during the car ride to Baselga, we knew you could stand at the boarding without any hassle like in Heerenveen, but we didn't actually understand what this implied. It implies you can almost hand over the skate protectors to the skaters when they are leaving the ice. It also implies you can literally hear every word that is being uttered on the ice rink. We were surprised about the way some coaches and trainers talked to their skaters and how much fun the skaters had with each other. It's just one big happy clan with some soap potential I think. But being able to hear everything, doesn't automatically imply you can understand everything that is spoken out loud.

Some quotes:

Attack the corner

Go do your job!!

Hips, Hips, Hips, Hips, Hips

Skate, skate? come on skate

And some other technical phrases uttered by the coaches and fellow teammates. Maybe I'm just not enough into speed skating to understand all these encouragements, but some phrases just sounded very weird in my ears.

The fact that there were close to no fans at the ice rink and that you could almost hear every single whisper all the way down in the town of Baselga, was also a new experience for me. I am used to shouting my lungs out, clapping, banging on the boarding and just cheering for my favourite speed skaters in every possible way as long as it's a loud way. But because I didn't want the people all the way down in Rome to hear me, I had to bite off my tongue a few times in order to keep silent.

Although we had some bad weather while we were there, I also see several advantages of an outdoor ice rink. For instance, 9 out of 10 pictures I've taken were not blurry; I almost didn't use my zoom, which gave me the opportunity to make better and faster pictures and the biggest plus of all things: we were able to stand wherever we wanted. We stood at the start of the 5k for men, at the end of the corner in the 1500m and at the podium for the price winning ceremony for the Team Pursuit. We also had an unspoiled view over the complete ice rink, we didn't have to wait in line for several hours and we really got an idea of what it is like to be a professional speed skater. And for someone like me, who always wants to get the inside story, it was a really nice and fun experience.

And this upcoming weekend is even better for the inside story. This weekend the World All-round Championships will take place in Berlin. And with an all-round competition, it's always nice to get the inside story. With all the points and who has to skate which time in order to end up on the overall podium and other stuff like that. But unfortunately I'm not able to watch any of it on television this weekend. I will just have to make do with 'what you see is what you get'. And in this case, it's not a bad thing. I have managed to get a last minute opportunity to go to Berlin and be present at the World All-round Championships. It's probably not a surprise that it didn't take me long to decide!!

Naomi Schläger