Corona rules keep track team away from Portugal

The Dutch track sprinters are preparing for the upcoming season in the Netherlands for the time being. A training internship in Portugal was canceled because the corona rules are strict there. “If there would be a positive case within the selection, all ‘close contacts’ would also have to be quarantined for seven days,” said national coach René Wolff, who returned to his old position last week after five years.

Wolff resigned in 2017, worked for a year at sports umbrella organization NOC*NSF and then managed the New Zealand sprint team for three years. He succeeds Hugo Haak in the Netherlands, who decided to stop a few months after the successful Games. “I understand that choice. Hugo rolled in as a rider and did a great job. He is now taking the time to develop in other areas, but I think there is an even better coach in him,” said Wolff, who In his earlier period, he had already worked with top performers such as Harrie Lavreysen, Jeffrey Hoogland and Shanne Braspennincx.

Wolff hopes to organize a training camp in Southern Europe with the sprinters in the second half of March. At the end of April, the season starts with matches in the Nations Cup. The first is in Glasgow. Wolff is especially looking forward to the European Championships in Munich, “On a 200 meter track, very special”, and the World Cup, near Paris in the autumn.