Pictures from Ice Speedskating

On Sunday, 27 December 2009, the Christmas days were over and I headed up north for the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Thialf Heerenveen. This was it. The Netherlands have so many great skaters, each and every one of them, belongs to the top of Speed Skating world, but only having 3 or 4 spots per distance and 10 spots for the whole team, it would be a massacre.

And it was. Entering the Thialf stadium 1 hour before the competition, the stands were empty. I secured a spot at the start of the 500meters and within the hour, the whole stadium was filled with people wearing blue Aegon hats. The tension was in the air. The first 500m pair lined up at the startline and made a false start. A sigh humbed around the stadium. You could feel the anxiety in the air. Luckily the second start was okey and off the skaters went.

I withnessed some great 500 meter races. The ladies 1.500 meter was also fun to watch. The 5.000m would be the icing on the cake. With 7 or 8 people, besides Sven Kramer who already pre-qualified, it promissed to be top notch racing. There were only two spots remaining and with the withdrawel due to illness of two skaters, todays number 2, would have to re-skate the 5k again, end January. Bob de Jong did what he had to do and with an amazing race against Carl Verheijen, they finished 1 and 2. Arjen van der Kieft finished 3rd, leaving him with nothing.

Once home, I had to watch all the video's and read all the discussions on internet. I did this at home for the remaining 3 days of the Olympic Qualification Tournament. I saw hero Erben Wennemars come 0.01 of a second short to secure a spot on the team in the 1.500m and I screamed at my tv because I wanted Arjen van der Kieft to qualify in the 10k. All in all, it was more than an exciting week... let the Olympics come!

Qualified for the Olympics for the Netherlands:

Men:

500m: Jan Smeekens, Simon Kuipers, Jan Bos

1.000m: Stefan Groothuis, Simon Kuipers, Mark Tuitert, Jan Bos

1.500m: Stefan Groothuis, Simon Kuipers, Mark Tuitert, Sven Kramer

5.000m: Sven Kramer, Bob de Jong, nr 3 to be decided ( Carl Verheijen, Koen Verweij, Bob de Vries, Wouter Olde Heuvel or Jan Blokhuijsen)

10.000m: Sven kramer, Bob de Jong, Arjen van der Kieft

Ladies:

500m: Margot Boer, Annette Gerritsen, Laurine van Riessen, nr4: either Thijsje Oenema or Marianne Timmer

1.000m: Margot Boer, Annette Gerritsen, Laurine van Riessen, nr4: either, Natasja Bruintjes, Ireen Wust or Marianne Timmer

1.500m: Margot Boer, Annette Gerritsen, Laurine van Riessen, Ireen Wust

3.000m: Ireen Wust, Diane Valkenburg, possibly Renate Groenewold

5.000m: Elma de Vries,