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Double Dutch delight as Velzeboer & Schulting smash world records

The 21-year-old Xandra Velzeboer (NED) and her idol Suzanne Schulting (NED) lit up the first day of the ISU World Cup Short Track meet in Salt Lake City setting world records in the 500m and 1000m respectively.

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Xandra Velzeboer (NED) and Suzanne Schulting (NED) after their record-breaking skates © International Skating Union

The famously quick Utah Olympic Oval provided the perfect setting for the two in-form skaters to shatter the previous marks.

First up Velzeboer, described admiringly by rival Kristen Santos-Griswold (USA) as an “animal”, shaved a huge 0.520 seconds off the existing 500m world record, set on the same ice by Canada’s Kim Boutin in 2019.

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World record holder Xandra Velzeboer (NED) ©Dennis Kruikjswijk

“After last weekend (when she won 500m gold in the opening World Cup race in Montreal with a time of 42.123 seconds) I knew was kind of close and people were saying ‘ooh next weekend, Salt Lake City’. So, I was thinking about it,” Velzeboer admitted before going on to describe what it feels like to be the fastest woman on ice.

“It’s more later in the race when you’ve already accelerated, you feel the difference. You feel how much you glide, how early you are ready for the next corner. And of course, the pressure on the corner, which you need to be able to push against, that increases when you are going faster.”

Velzeboer had got the feel of the Utah Olympic Oval with a strong skate in both the opening 500m(1) heat and the quarter-finals of the mixed team 2000m relay. But there was one other key ingredient.

“Of course you can’t just skate on breakfast, it was bread,” Velzeboer replied with a laugh when asked what it was that had fuelled her record-breaking exploits in Friday afternoon’s 500m(2) heats.

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Xandra Velzeboer (NED) on her way to setting the women's 500m world record © International Skating Union

Bread or no bread compatriot Schulting was blown away.

“Xandra, her performance was insane,” the three-time Olympic champion said. “She beat the world record by half a second in the 500m, that is pretty good.”

Her own performance, taking 0.556 seconds off the 1000m world record she set at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, was pretty good too.

“I had a really great week and last week (she won both the individual 1000m and 1500m in Montreal) was awesome,” Schulting said. “I saw Hanne (Desmet, BEL), she was racing before me and her time was pretty fast, close to the world record and then I thought OK, that’s pretty close and I decided in the heat box ‘OK, I am going to go for it’.”

However, despite her coach “screaming” her lap times to her as she went round the Oval, Schulting was amusingly uncertain as to whether she had achieved her goal when she crossed the line.
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Suzanne Schulting (NED) after her record-breaking skate in the 1000m © International Skating Union

“I wasn’t sure what the world record was. I thought, ‘Oh is it 1:25.5 or 1:26.5’,” Schulting laughed.

It was 1:26.514 but now the world-leading time stands at a mighty impressive 1:25.958.

It was left to youngster Velzeboer to sum up for the Dutch pair just what setting a new world record truly feels like.  

“Of course our sport is about racing,” the reigning 500m world champion said. “But to know you are the fastest, really the fastest, that is cool.”

World Cup Classification - Men

Overall World Cup Classification

Men 500m

Men 1000m

Men 1500m

Men 5000m Relay

World Cup Classification - Women

Overall World Cup Classification

Women 500m

Women 1000m

Women 1500m

Women 3000m Relay

World Cup Classification – Mixed Relay

Mixed Relay

 

Where to watch

Viewers will be able to watch the Saturday and Sunday afternoon (local time) World Cup sessions via their national broadcaster/channel.

For countries where there are no broadcasters and for the qualification and repechage races, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list on the Where to watch webpage here.

 

ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series events 2022/23:

Oct 28 - 30, 2022                      Montréal /CAN 

Nov 04 - 06, 2022                     Salt Lake City /USA

Dec 09 - 11, 2022                     Almaty /KAZ 

Dec 16 - 18, 2022                     Almaty /KAZ 

Feb 03 - 05, 2023                     Dresden /GER 

Feb 10 - 12, 2023                     Dordrecht /NED 

 

About ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series

The ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2022. Launched in 1997/98, the Series usually consists of six events (four during an Olympic season) that take place in North America, Europe and Asia.

The competitions have a single distance character across nine distances (500, 1000 and 1500 meters for Women and Men, Women 3000 meters Team Relay, Men 5000 meters Team Relay and a Mixed Gender Relay over 2000 meters), and to mark its 25th anniversary, the series now also includes an Overall World Classification based on an accumulation of points from all individual distances which will determine a Combined Season Ranking and a Season Champion in the Women and Men categories. These Champions will be awarded with the new ISU World Cup Short Track Crystal Globe Trophy.

Each competition is held over three days (day 1 is dedicated to all Qualifying Rounds, days 2 and 3 consist of the last Qualifying Rounds followed by the World Cup sessions). For the Mixed Gender Relay Teams (2 Women & 2 Men), the Women 3000 meters Relay races and Men 5000 meters Relay races a maximum of four Skaters shall compete and must belong to the same ISU Member. For further information please visit isu.org.