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