It was a busy Thursday in Groningen on the first day of the National Championships distances. 19-year-old Jenning de Boo surprisingly became Dutch champion in the 500 meters. Chris Huizinga and Marcel Bosker finished second and third in the 5000 meters. All earned tickets for the World Championship distances.
City player Jenning de Boo stayed ahead of his Reggeborgh teammate Janno Botman and defending champion Merijn Scheperkamp of Jumbo-Visma at the National Championship distances over two stages of the 500 meters. Sprinter De Boo, a former short tracker, set a personal record of 34.44 in the first 500 meters. In the final stage against Botman, the Groninger was again a lot faster than his competitors with 34.49 seconds. After riding the World Cups in the 1000 meters in Calgary, De Boo can at least prepare for the 500 meters at the World Cup distances.
“I have no idea where I got this from. It all still has to sink in,” De Boo said. “I thought my 1000 meters would be my best distance this season. I still have to see how Saturday goes, but this is a great start. I started the season with 35.8 on the 500 meters and am now at 34.4. That’s a nice jump. The progression is certainly there.” The title battle in the 500 meters was based on a classification of two stages. In addition to winning gold, De Boo also improved Michel Mulder’s national points record over two 500 meters.
Chris Huizinga from Garnwerd radiated satisfaction after completing the 5000 meters. The Jumbo-Visma skater won silver at the National Championships distances in a full Thialf in Heerenveen in 6.14.80 behind the once again unapproachable Patrick Roest (Team Reggeborgh), who became Dutch champion at this distance for the fifth time in 6.09.44. The bronze went to Marcel Bosker (6.15.64), the son of Henriët Bosker-van der Meer from Smilde and Ronald Bosker from Loppersum.
Huizinga’s goal was to at least finish second behind Roest and he succeeded. The Groninger did this in a lightning-fast ride, in which he set a personal record and declassified his direct opponent Jorrit Bergsma (seventh in 6.21.91). Although the latter had the excuse that the flu had really affected him last week. “It went well: the podium, a second place and the World Cup has been won,” said Huizinga, who is in any case very strong this season. For example, the Groninger was previously allowed to ride the 5000 meters during the World Cups based on his performance.
It remains to be seen whether Huizinga can also take action at the European Championship distances from 5 to 7 January in Thialf. For this purpose, the tickets are distributed differently via a complicated matrix and a maximum number of ten participants applies for men and women. The top three of the National Championships can participate in the World Championship distances (from February 15 to 18 in Calgary).
Huizinga: “We still have to wait and see about the European Championship with the matrix, but this is what I came for. I knew that beating Roest would be very difficult, but my goal was really second place.” The man from Garnwerd was not completely satisfied. “I actually started my attack too early, even though I had a sharp time of 6.14 on ice that wasn’t even that fast. I knew others would have trouble with that. But it was still a matter of sitting on the bench and seeing how the rest would do. Quite exciting.”
According to the 26-year-old Jumbo-Visma skater, his personal record can be even faster: “I slumped a bit in the last three laps and slowed down too quickly. So there’s more to it. I wanted to make it as difficult as possible for Patrick (Roest, ed.), but he is the world champion and the man to beat. He rode after me and knew what to ride. But I’m skating a PR here and have never ridden so well. I just can’t complain. Why is this season going so well? The way of skating and training is different. I’ve made some pretty big changes. Last year I trained more for the 1500 meters, but that didn’t work at all. I’m glad we’ve now found the right way.”
“There was some tension,” said Marcel Bosker. “I know that I can participate in the World Championship distances in the team pursuit and mass start, but for me the most important thing was qualifying for the 5000 meters in Calgary. That worked. Things had been going quite well for weeks and I was skating well. That gave me motivation to go for it.”
For the first time since 2013, the not yet fit Fries Bergsma does not qualify for the 5000 meters at the World Cup distances. The 37-year-old still has a chance to win a World Cup ticket on Saturday for his distance, the 10,000 meters. If that fails, the long track season of the Jumbo-Visma skater is over and he only has the marathons left. Groningen marathon rider Sjoerd den Hertog finished fifth in 6.19.59 during his debut at the National Championships.