Merijn Scheperkamp (22) could just become world champion in the 500 meters in Heerenveen tonight. He is among the favourites. At the beginning of this year, the Hilversum already became European sprint champion in Hamar, Norway. The chairman of his skating club SIV Zeist, Stefan Rüdiger, is once again hoping for a podium finish. “That would be fantastic.”
“Merijn is the calling card of our association. He is the first member in our more than fifty-year history to win a European title in long track skating,” says Stefan Rüdiger.
“He is the perfect example for our youth, a role model. As a boy he learned to skate through his father Marcel, who is a technique trainer with us and who set up the youth academy. The motto of our clubs is not for nothing: ‘Everything on technique’. “
“We now have 300 members. We are still growing as an association and can welcome more members every year. For many of them, the challenge is to create high speed partly through good technology. Merijn succeeded and receives many compliments from the skating world, precisely because of his beautiful technique and turns. We think so skating club a great compliment.”
“A podium finish would be nice”
The born German dare not predict whether the Hilversummer will become world champion in the 500 meters tonight. Rüdiger: “A podium finish would be very nice. There is so much international competition at this distance. For us he is already a whopper and after the season he will be honored with us in Zeist. We don’t know how yet. Only after the season we will discuss that together.”
Stefan Rüdiger himself is not there in Heerenveen. The born German is on winter sports in Austria with his family, but tonight he will do everything he can to follow Merijn Scheperkamp’s race. “That won’t be easy, because online via the NOS we can’t follow it abroad because of the rights. Hopefully there is another foreign channel that broadcasts the World Cup distances directly.” Rüdiger is chairman of the Skating and Inline skate Association Zeist. In daily life he is a professor at the University of Utrecht. He studies Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease. He is an avid skater himself and was active at the Weißensee in Austria at the beginning of this year.
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