The three-time Olympic speed skating champion and nine-time world champion Irene Schouten from the Netherlands is ending her career at the end of the season.
The 31-year-old announced her decision in a podcast on the Dutch TV station NOS. “After 15 years of high-performance sport, I want to do other things“, she said: “I’ve won everything I wanted to win – except the Elfstedentocht.”
The Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour) is an immensely popular long-distance race in the Netherlands over almost 200 km on natural ice. The weather-dependent race last took place in 1997.
Three gold medals at the World Cup
At the individual distance world championships in Calgary last week, Schouten was the most successful participant with three gold medals (3,000 m, team pursuit, mass start) and one silver medal (5,000 m). Only the Germans Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann and Anni Friesinger as well as Irene Wüst (Netherlands) have previously won three gold medals at an individual distance world championship.
At the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in 2022, Schouten won gold in the 3,000 m, 5,000 m and mass start, and bronze in the mass start in Pyeongchang in 2018.