This distinguished De Boo from almost all other Dutch men in the first World Cup weekend of this Olympic skating season. After two days, the world top was quite out of sight for most of TeamNL’s guys until the 21-year-old sprinter stood up on Sunday evening. “This was frustration,” said De Boo after the only individual Dutch men’s victory of the three-day event at the Utah Olympic Oval. Later in the evening, Jorrit Bergsma won the team event mass start.
Jenning de Boo smashes the Dutch record at 500 meters and wins the World Cup in Salt Lake City
At the NOS De Boo said that the tenth place from a day earlier at the same 500 meters had made quite a difference. “I completely closed myself off on Saturday evening,” said De Boo. “I was completely down. That worked to my advantage today.” Then he made a finger gesture to show how small the difference was with the world record: “What will it be? Two centimeters? I’m so close.”
The Boo with its mouth full of teeth
De Boo’s preparation was disrupted by Kok’s world record. “I saw her and was speechless. I want that too, I thought. It was great for her, but hey, you still have to. It’s not nice that you still have to go on the track while she has been driving so hard.”
So there is a world record in the air that has been in Russian hands since March 2019. Next week there will be a new chance, during the second World Cup of this skating year. It is in Calgary, Canada. So also informed. De Boo: “I’ve driven a 33 there before. That has to happen again now. I hope to do crazy things there.” De Boo beat the American phenomenon Jordan Stolz on the final day. “It’s nice to chase someone. Now he has to hunt me again. I hope that in this way we can push each other to that world record.”
Poor performance by Dutch men in team pursuit
How difficult the Dutch men had this three-day event became especially clear in the team pursuit. In that event, TeamNL (3.40.03) was lost by the United States and Norway. The Americans even clocked a world record: 3.32.49. The Norwegians achieved a time of 3.35.20. The Netherlands came sixth because Italy fell. “Bad,” said Chris Huizinga, the Dutch captain. “We are also lucky that Italy falls.”
Dutch men are also not involved in team pursuit, a world record for the US
The poor performance of the Dutch trio raised a recurring question: who is the ideal third man for the team pursuit? In Salt Lake City, the unfit Marcel Bosker dropped out at the last minute, leaving the inexperienced Tjerk de Boer suddenly the final pawn. Last season, Joep Wennemars, Jorrit Bergsma and Bart Hoolwerf each had a try behind Beau Snellink (the middle of the three), but none of these guys turned out to be an asset.
Search for ideal third man
Huizinga: “We had hoped for Patrick Roest, but that is not possible yet. Marcel Bosker has a hard time pushing. So we are still looking for an ideal third man. This is a headache.”
So Tjerk de Boer hung up. “It went well during training, but I was really nervous today,” said the Frisian from Team AH Zaanlander. “That’s why it wasn’t a good ride. I didn’t support the men enough.”
Respond as an average Eredivisie football player
When asked whether Huizinga had any advice for national coach Rintje Ritsma for next week’s World Cup in Calgary, the Essent stayer responded like an average Premier League footballer at Studio Sport. “I have to look at the images again first. We’re going to sit down and think about it this week.”
Finally, there was something to cheer about for the men of TeamNL because Jordan Stolz was defeated once again. Jorrit Bergsma won the mass start.