Jenning de Boo set a track record for the 500 meters at the National Distance Championships in Heerenveen on Friday evening. With 33.98 seconds he broke the barrier of 34 seconds, which until recently was considered improbable for Thialf.
It was the first important race in the Olympic season and reigning world champion De Boo suffered a slight disappointment on the first circuit. He did not get further than 34.44 and a second place behind Sebas Diniz, who surprised with a personal best of 34.34. But in the second round, 21-year-old De Boo rode an astonishingly fast opening of 9.55 seconds and an equally astonishing lap.
“I don’t know what just happened to me,” he said after his race the NOS. “Isn’t it incredible?” The best time that his great competitor Jordan Stolz ever set in Thialf for the 500 meters is 34.10.
World record?
Pavel Kulizhnikov’s world record is still a lot sharper at 33.61, but that was set on the highland track of Salt Lake City. There, the sprint distance can usually be completed a few tenths of a second faster than on a lowland track.
There will be World Cup competitions in Salt Lake City in two weeks and if De Boo maintains his form, he can take a shot at that world record from 2019.
Marcel Bosker won his first individual Dutch distance title on Friday evening with his victory in the 5,000 meters, and Marijke Groenewoud was the strongest in the women’s 1,500 meters.
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