“Yes,” says Femke Kok, “I am faster for the first time.” She casts a quick, mischievous glance to the side. There is Jutta Leerdam, the skater who has always been faster than Kok in the 1,000 meters in recent years. But now, on the last day of the National Distance Championships, Kok has defeated her rival for the first time – and won her second gold medal of the weekend. “That does give confidence, yes.” She looks to the side again. “Maybe the 1,000 meters will also become my domain.”
The National Distance Championships, the opening of the new skating season, turned out to be a triumph for Femke Kok this weekend in the short distances. On Saturday she was supreme in the 500 meters – it was three hundredths of a second before she had broken the track record in Thialf in addition to the national title. On Sunday she added her first national title in the 1,000 meters. A clean sweep.
For years, Kok (25) – born and raised in Nij Beets, near Heerenveen – skated on the sprint tracks in the shadow of Leerdam. Quiet, modest, not as flamboyant as her rival. But while Leerdam performed inconsistently over the past two years due to physical problems and embarked on an uncertain adventure without a team, Kok started to book one victory after another.
Crucial
At the World Distance Championships in Hamar last season, Kok became world champion for the third time in a row in the 500 meters, her favorite distance. And to the surprise of many, including herself, she also managed to win a silver medal in the 1,000 meters – a distance at which she had never excelled before. That victory, this said on Sunday, was crucial. “I’ve wanted to show for a long time that I could drive a good 1,000 meters. And this gave confidence.”
At the beginning of October, before the new season had even started, Kok provided yet another resounding surprise. During a training competition in Heerenveen, she out of nowhere skated a track record for the 1,500 meters – a distance that she rarely rides, but for which she is now immediately considered one of the favorites. This National Championship, Kok did not compete in the 1,500 meters – too close to the 500 in the program, she thought – but she does want to try to qualify for the distance for the Olympic Games in Milan in February.
The Dutch skaters suddenly have a second potential ‘queen of the Games’, in addition to Joy Beune for the long distances. At her first and so far only Games in Beijing, Kok did not get further than sixth place in the 500 meters. Winning a medal in Milan at all three distances is “a dream”, she said on Saturday evening, but she also immediately tempered expectations regarding the 1,500 meters: “I have only ridden that distance once, so it remains to be seen how things will go in the rest of the season.” Her focus for the Olympic Games, she said, is “for now” on the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters. “In that order.”
Luxury problem
Yet Kok’s dominance at this National Championship was also somewhat distorting. If you look at the riders behind her, you will see that the Netherlands has a luxury problem among women: never before have there been so many good Dutch skaters in the sprint events. In addition to Kok, 18-year-old talent Angel Daleman also rode a good National Championship. And on Saturday there was suddenly another surprise: Anna Boersma, a 24-year-old sprinter from Friesland who rides for the new, modest Staan team. She came second in the 500 meters and can start in two weeks at the first World Cup competition in Salt Lake City.
Femke Kok after winning the second 500 meters.
Photo Vincent Jannink / ANP
Jutta Leerdam had an unfortunate opening of the season: due to an injury to her groin and a slip, she rode a disappointing 500 meters, losing her title to Kok in the 1,000 meters. Former short track star Suzanne Schulting also disappointed: she failed to qualify for the World Cup competitions at both distances. But both Leerdam and Schulting are still emphatic medal candidates for the Winter Olympics – with a bit of luck, Leerdam still managed to qualify for the World Cup competitions.
In the 1,500 meters, the Dutch women will soon be in desperate need of Olympic starting tickets, now that Kok has emerged as a potential specialist. The skating mile is traditionally the distance at which sprinters and stayers meet: in addition to fast riders such as Kok and Daleman, long-distance specialists such as Joy Beune, Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong and Marijke Groenewoud also want to try to win a medal in the 1,500 meters in Milan. The latter became Dutch champion over the distance on Friday.
After the National Distance Championships, the riders say that it is indeed urgent for an Olympic starting permit for the short distances. “The level is really terribly high,” says Daleman. They think that, in the words of Rijpma-de Jong, it is especially “super nice”: this mutual competition only makes them perform better. But they must also recognize that the Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the end of December could turn into a battlefield. Daleman: “People will certainly be disappointed.”
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