He did not skate, but Thialf stadium cheered for local hero Sven Kramer (NED) one last time on Saturday. After having finished his racing career competing at his fifth Olympic Games in Beijing last month, the Dutch speed skating icon celebrated his farewell from the sport together with Ireen Wüst (NED). Before the celebrations off the ice, there was some spectacular competition on the ice. Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) managed to take 500m silver after a horror week, Kjeld Nuis (NED) made amends for missing the Olympic 1000m and Nils van der Poel (SWE) had his own farewell race in the 5000m.
The end of an era
The farewell of Kramer and Wüst, pictured below, marks the end of an era. “We’ve held on for quite a while didn’t we?”, Kramer joked after he had been decorated by Dutch King Willem Alexander, had one of the Thialf corners named after him and carried out a final lap of honor in his hometown stadium.
Joosep Martinson © International Skating Union
The Dutchman won a record nine World Allround Championships, 10 European Allround Championships, 21 World Single Distance titles and nine Olympic medals (4G, 2S, 3B).
Kramer entered international speed skating with a bronze medal at the World Allround Championships in 2005, and finished with a 16th place in the Mass Start in Beijing. His last season may not have been what he had dreamed of, but Kramer’s entire career is unmatched in the history of speed skating. He left the ice without regrets.
The now officially retired speed skater is going to focus on a role in the management of his trade team with coach Jac Orie, and he hopes that the younger generation will pick up on his legacy.
“The greatest example of arrogance is to think you’re irreplaceable,” he said. “What I’ll miss most, is preparing for the really important moments, when you know it has to happen, and there’s no excuse. That drive is nowhere else to be found in life. But I’m going to discover how things will be different.”
Worst preparation ever
Before Kramer and Wüst waved goodbye to the public and even before most skaters packed their blades to head off for Thialf on Saturday morning, Laurent Dubreuil (CAN), pictured below, was at the airport in Oslo. The Canadian World Cup leader in the 500m, had to withdraw from the ISU World Sprint Championships in Hamar because of a positive Covid-19 test last week, but had managed to get a negative test on Friday to become eligible for the World Cup final.
Joosep Martinson © International Skating Union
He looked back on last week and on his rollercoaster Saturday: “I was disappointed first, extremely surprised, because I had no symptoms. I raced really good on the first day of World Sprints. I felt like the Championship was mine, and that nobody could beat me, and then the only thing that could actually make me not win happened.”
Dubreuil came in fourth in the Olympic 500m, but the Hamar disappointment had been a bigger blow. He said: “That fourth place at the Olympics, I got three guys who beat me, that’s sport, but catching Covid during the World Championship, you can't do anything about it. That's the worst thing, you don't control it.”
Dubreuil was desperate to skate at the World Cup final in his beloved Heerenveen, where he would meet up with his wife and daughter, but he did not get a negative PCR test before Friday afternoon, only being able to catch a plane on Saturday morning.
“I got to the airport at 4AM, caught a flight at 6:30AM, landed at 8:45AM, waited for my bag for an hour and a half because my blades were in it. Then I got a shuttle bus over here. I got on the ice without warming up, warmed up a bit on ice and then an hour later I was racing.
“It was the worst preparation you can imagine, the worst of my career. And obviously it's not the best race of my career, but with the circumstances…it's the best race I've ever done. I would have been happy finishing 10th.”
Dubreuil eventually finished in 34.53 seconds to take silver. Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN) won in 34.38s and his compatriot Wataru Morishige took bronze in 34.53s.
Dubreuil retained his lead in the World Cup rankings with a 62 point gap over Shinhama, who’s in second. With Morishige close by in third, Dubreuil still has a fight on his hands to secure the World Cup in the final race on Sunday.
“I have 24 hours to recover and tomorrow I hopefully have one more good race in me,” he concluded.
Nuis makes amends
Dubreuil also raced the 1000m, but the Olympic silver medalist had emptied the tank already and finished 13th in 1 minute and 9.91 seconds. Kjeld Nuis won the distance in 1:08.05, making amends for having failed to qualify in this distance for the Olympic Games in Beijing, where he did manage to defend his 1500m title successfully.
Joosep Martinson © International Skating Union
“I did not skate a 1000m for a long time,” the Dutchman, above, said. “I thought, I’ll show them. I was really eager to win this 1000m, to show that I can be the best in this distance too.”
Olympic Champion Thomas Krol came in second in 1:08.24 and took the 1000m World Cup, while Hein Otterspeer (NED) completed a Dutch podium sweep in 1:08.70.
Van der Poel says goodbye with endurance World Cup
Nils van der Poel (SWE) finished the season and his career as a professional speed skater with an expected win in the 5000m. The 25-year-old Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion, who also added the World Allround title to his trophy cabinet last week, stopped the clock at 6 minutes and 8.81 seconds, with Bart Swings (BEL) taking silver in 6:15.12 and Davide Ghiotto (ITA) seizing bronze in 6:19.38.
Van der Poel, who has publicly shared his excruciating training schedule on the internet (https://www.howtoskate.se/), confirmed his decision to quit as a professional speed skater afterwards. He’ll continue as a hobby skater, he said. “We do have these 250 meter rinks and we'll race 300m to 10,000m meters, like an Allround program. And you get to choose the songs during your race, so you just choose the most annoying songs, so the other skater has to listen to it. That's really fun.” Furthermore the Swedish world record-holder in the 5000m and 10,000m will try to share his sports experiences.
Joosep Martinson © International Skating Union
“I'm going to try to get a little vacation, and then I'm going do some public speaking to begin with, I get a lot of requests. And then eventually I'll set a new goal and go for it, we'll see.”
What’s the most important thing he takes away from his speed skating career?
“It’s my life I think. I really got to know myself in a way I don't think I would have otherwise. I was forced to realize my weaknesses on this path towards the striving for perfection, and I think the secret to that is really love, caring for yourself and those around you. I think that's the biggest lesson.”
ISU World Cup Speed Skating Standings 500m Men
ISU World Cup Speed Skating Standings 1000m Men
ISU World Cup Speed Skating Standings 5000m Men
