It was a clean sweep for the skaters of AH Zaanlander in the 3000 meters during the National Championship distances. Irene Schouten took gold, while her teammates Marijke Groenewoud and Elise Dul finished second and third respectively.
It immediately led to a remarkable statement from their coach Jillert Anema, who recorded his girls’ tribute on Friday with his phone. “A video for our sponsors,” De Fries explained. According to him, the AH Zaanlander skaters, who all qualified for the 3000 meters at the World Championship distances, can also compete in the team pursuit with three in February in Calgary.
Irene Schouten, who became Dutch champion for the third time in the 3 kilometers in Thialf in Heerenveen, had to laugh at her coach’s suggestion. “Of course Jillert says that, haha,” said the North Holland woman, who won gold with a time of 3.56.78. We train on it every week and are a good train. But with Joy (Beune from the Groningen Team IKO, ed.) we are also on a good train. The advantage is that the three of us at AH Zaanlander can always train for the team pursuit. But Joy also has a nice stroke. We have already shown that Marijke (Groenewoud) and I can ride well with Beune.”
Defending champion Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong finished fifth
The opportunity to participate in the team pursuit with only AH Zaanlander skaters arises because, in addition to Schouten and Groenewoud, Dul also qualified for the World Distance Championships in February. After Groenewoud, who won silver in a personal record of 3.57.56, Dul (3.59.87) won the last World Cup ticket with her third place.
The skater from Oene referred Joy Beune of the Groningen Team IKO, who became Dutch champion in the 1500 meters on Thursday, to the thankless fourth place. Dul did this in a personal record, where Kjeld Nuis’ girlfriend did not arrive with her 3.59.29. There are also no World Cup and European Championship tickets for defending champion Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong, which are still distributed via a complicated matrix, for the 3000 meters. The 2021 world champion finished fifth in 4:01.11.
This is purely because of how we train
Schouten: “Joy is now going to the World Cup and so is Elisa. You can always appoint an extra (fourth, ed) driver for the team pursuit. That has not happened so far, but it could be.” In other words: national coach Rintje Ritsma can then determine the final composition of the team at a late stage at the World Cup.
The 31-year-old world and Olympic champion cannot remember ever standing on the podium with three teammates in long track speed skating: “Only once at the mass start, nothing else.” This season, Elisa Dul was told that she should focus more on longer distances, because that is where her opportunities lie. Now she just comes third. Nice to see. This is purely due to how we train, more based on size.”
It was certainly a special competition for Schouten, because the North Holland rider rode the National Championships on new irons. And she still has to get used to that. She has not yet dared to throw away her old shoes, on which she achieved all her great successes. Because you never know if she might ever need them again. But they are worn down to the thread and damaged by rust.
It takes a lot of getting used to
“I ran out of old irons,” said the new champion. “They have worn off a lot over the years. It was actually no longer possible. With my new irons I am half an inch higher in one go and they steer differently. It takes a lot of getting used to. I should have switched sooner, but it took a long time for the new irons to arrive from abroad. It felt okay with the old one. I drove that hard. I don’t know about this one yet.”
Former Emmen resident Kjeld Nuis (Reggeborgh) became Dutch champion in the 1500 meters for the fourth time. The 34-year-old Olympic champion won gold in 1.43.75. His teammates Patrick Roest and Wesly Dijs took silver and bronze with 1.44.38 and 1.44.45 respectively. The Groningers Marcel Bosker and Chris Huizinga did not compete for the medals, finishing ninth and twelfth respectively. This also applied to Remo Slotegraaf from Peize, who finished eleventh.
Femke Kok became Dutch champion in the 500 meters for the third time. The reigning world champion remained ahead of Jutta Leerdam and Marrit Fledderus in the rankings over two stages in Heerenveen.