TeamNL: after a good conversation with Sweden, focus again on competitions

According to a spokesperson, TeamNL had “a good conversation” with the Swedish Olympic team on Thursday morning about the strong criticism that skater Nils van der Poel expressed against the Dutch team. According to the Swede, he would try to influence ice master Mark Messer, in order to get the best possible ice for the Dutch skaters at the Games in Beijing.

According to the spokesperson for TeamNL, this has been discussed well with the Swedish colleagues. Both teams are now fully focused on the upcoming matches, TeamNL reports. Van der Poel is the favorite on Friday in the 10 kilometers. For the Netherlands, Jorrit Bergsma and Patrick Roest come into action at the longest distance.

Van der Poel made his statements on Wednesday during a press conference, where he was questioned about an article on the website skaken.nl, the news platform of the Dutch skating association KNSB. In it, sports scientist Sander van Ginkel, who is part of TeamNL and measures the ice temperature on the ice rink every day, told the Canadian ice master to always use that data. The Olympic champion in the 5000 meters from Sweden called this “corrupt”.