Dutch skaters are chasing their first victory over the classic distance in the second World Cup weekend

• Sebastiaan Timmerman

  commentator/reporter NOS Sport

It took some getting used to for the skating nation of the Netherlands: in the first World Cup weekend of the season, the national team failed to win an individual distance. The Netherlands only won gold in the team pursuit (women) and the mass start (Marijke Groenewoud).

Starting tomorrow in Beijing, the skaters will get a new chance at the second World Cup of this winter.

View the World Cup program in Beijing here. The matches start every morning at 10am.

With eleven medals in their suitcases, the Dutch skaters made the journey from Nagano, Japan, to the Chinese capital. The score in the opening weekend was average compared to previous seasons, but the lack of a victory at a classic distance was noticeable.

The ‘Ice Ribbon’ has almost the same distances and components on the program as in Nagano, although this time the team sprint is held instead of the team pursuit and the mixed relay is missing.

The Netherlands will present the same selection in the impressive ice stadium where the Olympic Games were held in 2022 and which still makes a visible impression on the skaters. The walk to the center field has been featured in many social media videos in recent days.

The Dutch formation does not contain one man who managed to win a World Cup in 2024. Patrick Roest, who was victorious twice this calendar year, is at home with the after-effects of a extracted wisdom tooth.

Roest will only have the chance to compete with the world top after the New Year, because the World Cup cycle will not resume until the end of January in Calgary. Until then, the National Championships sprint and all-round (28-29 December) and the European Championships sprint and all-round (10-12 January) are on the programme.

In Beijing, Jordan Stolz will want to continue his gold hunt. The 20-year-old American won four times last week and is now undefeated in eight World Cup matches in a row.

And given the superiority with which Italian Davide Ghiotto won the 5,000 meters in Nagano, the best chances of victory lie with the Dutch women.

World traveler Jutta Leerdam will be more rested at the start of the 1,000 meters. Last week, after inadequate preparation, due to a stopover in the US for her friend Jake Paul’s boxing fight, she came close to Miho Takagi.

Over the shortest distance, Dione Voskamp stood out. She finished second in the 500 meters on Sunday, only six hundredths behind the American winner Erin Jackson and will have two chances in Beijing to equal or even improve on that performance.

Kjeld Nuis and Suzanne Schulting are back in the city where they achieved Olympic fame more than two years ago. Nuis won the 1,500 meters at the time and is the only Dutch reigning Olympic long track champion who is still active.

Schulting even won two gold medals nine kilometers further in the short track stadium and therefore has fond memories of her performance in Beijing.