Hello managers,
As promised, I’m back again with some more skating
thoughts following the big World Championships weekend that most of us were
lucky enough to watch in person. I just heard earlier today that total attendance
for the four days was over 9000. That’s a super impressive crowd for a venue
that usually measures their daily World Cup attendance in the hundreds. Awed by
the incredible 10 medals posted by Canada, maybe a few more people fell in love
with the sport and continue to attend international racing at the Olympic Oval
(and, in the long run, maybe they’ll join this league. We’re one step closer to
global fantasy speed skating domination!)
I’ll start today with some general skating thoughts,
mostly about the upcoming World Allround and Sprint Championships. I’ll then
finish up with the
Injury and Free Agent Trackers.
Short, sweet, and
simple for today.
Irene Schouten niet op Daikin NK Allround
Irene Schouten has officially announced her retirement.
At first, there was some uncertainty if she would be attending World Allrounds
in Inzell to defend her World Allround Championship title from 2022. Unfortunately
for the managers who have her, she has decided to instead end her season (and
career) at the Daikin Marathon Cup Final in Leeuwarden. Sorry guys, but we don’t
count that one for points.
Dutch Favouritism
On a brighter note, Femke Kok and Joy Beune have been pre-selected
for World Sprints and Allrounds respectively. This was done based on their results
in Calgary where both became World Champions. I do find it curious that they don’t
seem to have extended the same advantage to Nuis who podiumed in the 1000m
behind two skaters who are likely to be absent from World Sprints. His result
was arguably comparable to Femke’s (hard to argue against the margin of Femke’s
win not being more impressive though). I wonder if this speaks to the current
depth of the women’s allround and sprint depth in the Netherlands compared to
their male sprinters.
What About the Rest of those Dutch
Bastards?
Dutch Allround and Sprint trials are this weekend
(Saturday and Sunday only). The final six spots at Worlds are up for grabs. Bar
any weird shenanigans, the following will get tickets to Worlds:
-Winner of the women’s allround competition (Antoinette
is the clear favourite here)
-Winner of the women’s sprints (likely Fledderus or
Grevelt, but there is a group of 2-3 girls nipping at their heels. I’ve got my
money on Grevelt)
-Top two in the men’s allround competition (Bosker is the
favourite despite not skating too well, with Huizinga likely 2
nd
.
Snellink could play spoiler, or honestly anyone could cause none of these guys
are very good)
-Top two in the men’s sprints (by far the largest competitive
field including Otterspeer, Verbij, Scheperkamp, Prins, Botman, Snel, Nuis, Wennemars,
Krol, and, if we’re lucky, Kai in ’t Veld)
Holy Fuck, Enough About the Dutch
Wait, wait, I have one more Dutch skater I want to
talk about. Bart Hoolwerf played hero during the champs mass start by helping
Livio Wenger back to his feet mid-race and then graciously allowing Wenger to
beat him onto the podium. It ain’t all sunshine and rainbows though. Hoolwerf
was also caught red handed making some pretty questionable cross-tracking moves
in the pack, as well as some casual body checks on skaters near the inner rope
(not just greasy but also dangerous there). To top it all off, he then accused
those skaters of being “motherfuckers” after the race. I’ll admit the guy is pretty
quick, but between his face and his personality I have a really hard time
liking him.
Kim-Krol-Kim: Fact or Theory?
The Kim-Krol-Kim Theory has stood the test of time for
years, and this year was no different. Kim Min-Sun just hit her first-ever
World Championships podium. And Krol? He got dusted at Dutch trials and missed
his first World Championships in six seasons. Prior to those six seasons, the
closest that KMS got to a podium was in 2014 when she got 4
th
in the
Junior Worlds 500m
as a Junior C
. Unsurprisingly, Thomas Krol didn’t even
qualify for any sort of World Championship events from 2013 to 2015. A decade
in and this
theory
is starting to look more like a
fact.
Canadian Joke
Jordan Belchos made it to World Champs through the good
grace of SSC somehow still liking him and decided to pay them back with a
dead-last performance in the men’s 5000m (more than a lap behind the podium –
let that sink in for a second). He only made the team because Graeme Fish fell
at World Cup 6, which was Canada’s skate-off event. Rules are rules, so Belchos
got to go to Worlds. By how did he get to that position in the first place? He
could have qualified his own spot at Worlds based off his World Cup rank, but
chose to turn down his spot at the fall World Cups to go to school. He then
could have got a time spot for Worlds at the Salt Lake City World Cup, but
decided that the school week was more important and so he flew in very last
minute and got his ass kicked (almost lost to Jake Weidemann (no offence Jake
<3)). For the either the Fall World Cups or SLC World Cup, SSC could have
put their foot down. Essentially, they are
paying
an athlete to go to
school (Sport Canada pays Belch’s tuition while also carding him) while they
cite budget struggles when severely cutting down the size of their World Cup
team. I think it’s time we stop encouraging athletes with two feet out the door
to stick around and take World Cup spots and national team carding from talented
developing athletes that are eagerly awaiting their time to shine with the national
skating program. If Belchos wants to stick around and is fully committed to
speed skating for Canada, I’ve got no problem with him taking spots on a team
that he has earned. But if his or SSC’s idea of full commitment is getting paid
to go to school and then embarrassing both himself and our program on the world
stage with one of the worst World Championships races that I’ve ever seen, then
I think it’s time to start rethinking the definition of “commitment”.
More on Jordan’s Performance
I’ll just toss one little comparable here that I think
paints a nice picture. Graeme Fish, who qualified the second 5000m at Worlds
for Canada, skated a 6.22,00 in the second half of his 10,000m race. Belchos
skated 6.36,60. Fish essentially skated back-to-back 5000m races and still would
have been about exactly half a lap ahead of Belchos. Who do YOU think should
have been skating that day?
More on Selecting Skaters for Worlds
Now, obviously I’m a bit salty about this whole thing.
One thing I do like as an outcome though is that SSC actually stuck to
following their own bulletin. They were worried about appeals, and rightfully
so. By their own rules, Belchos was the one that earned that spot and Belchos
rightfully got the nomination. As far as sticking to pre-decided rules goes, I
applaud SSC for actually following through on the rules they made. But now this
begs the question: what needs to change next year so that we can allow our
medal threats to compete and our shitters to stay home? I don’t have an easy
answer to this one, but I hope SSC is considering their options. Maybe not
hosting a trials event at a World Cup would be a start as this severely limits
any flexibility, such as offering skaters a re-skate. At the very least, SSC
has now shown they know how to read their own bulletins and, if we’re lucky,
maybe they’ll keep this trend alive next season.
More on Skaters Committing to Skatin, Depth, and the Future of Canadian Speed Skating
I’ve got one final thought on speed skating in Canada
before I get back on track with all the fantasy skating talk (yes, I do realize
I’ve drifted pretty far off the usual subjects, but I write whatever the hell I
want). I feel that SSC is scared that if they stop giving the Jordan Belchoses
of the program the benefit of the doubt, the program will regress because skaters
like Jordan have historically been some of the strongest skaters in their distances
(let’s not forget this is a guy with top 5 finishes at both the Olympics and World
Champs). I think a pretty quick look at this season shows how untrue this view
would be though. Let’s take a look at Isabelle Weidemann – I think we all agree
that she is an elite, world class skater and replacing her on the national team
would be a huge challenge. As a general statement, I agree with that. But let’s
also look at the facts: Izzy went home from World Cups early and Laura Hall
went out and earned a 3000m rank spot for Worlds. Izzy then turned down her
1500m at the Winter World Cups and Abigail McCluskey stepped up and qualified a
time spot for Worlds in the 1500m. I’m under no illusions that either of those
ladies were going to go and earn a silver medal in the 3000m (like Izzy did), but
I also think that the “huge” gaps between our top skaters and our up-and-comers
is a lot smaller than some of the heads over at SSC might think. Hell, just take
a quick look at the group of Canadians that skated onto a B Group podium at
World Cup 5 or 6: Abigail McCluskey 1500m and 3000m, Alison Desmarais 1000m and
1500m, Heather Carruthers 500m, Alexa Scott 1500m, Jake Weidemann mass start,
Yankun Zhao 500m. None of those skaters were at the fall World Cups and, had
they skated a full season, could easily have ended up as A Group skaters. Also,
that list isn’t even including the men’s B Group team pursuit win (skated by Max
Halyk, Hayden Mayeur, and Jake Weidemann), time spots earned by skaters like
Anders Johnson and Heather Carruthers, and a whole slew of other B Group Achievements.
Give these athletes the opportunity to race and they will perform. They might
not be threatening the podium this year, but what about next year? Or the 2026
Olympics? It’s time to either demand that the skaters with a foot or two out
the door fully commit to the team or simply trim the fat and let this fresh group
of young, capable skaters have their shot at international success.
Injury Tracker
Yekaterina Aydova –
Knee
problems have been plaguing her the past few weeks and seem to be causing her
some serious problems. She might be a shitter, but at least she now has an
excuse.
Irene Schouten –
As
mentioned above, it’s official: Schouten has been diagnosed with
wanting to
have a life
. This is less commonly called
retiring.
It’s sad that
we’ve now missed what was widely agreed to be the best chance at seeing the
women’s 5000m record fall, but I guess there is more to life than skating. We
wish Schouten all the best in her life after skating.
Nadezhda Morozova
–
The mysterious circumstances around Morozova’s sudden disappearance from
international racing is slowly becoming less murky. Remember when Kaja
disappeared for a bit last season? Remember when Ted took some World Cups off
last fall? Remember when Natalia Voronina retired? That’s right – the only
plausible reason that Morozova is missing is… she’s having a kid! She’s a ripe
25-year-old who just celebrated her 5-year wedding anniversary. On top of that,
the mean age of women at birth of their first child in Kazakhstan is 24.3
(according to UNECE 2005). The writing is on the wall.
Sverre Lunde Pedersen –
He
had a sinus infection during World Champs and thus pulled out of the 5000m,
making room for his teammate Kristian Ulekleiv. He skated well in the TP,
earning a silver medal. I fully expect him to be good to go by World Allrounds.
Francesca Lollobrigida –
The
greatest female Italian skater of all time has had her season ended premature
by a serious case of
trying-to-be-a-good-mom-itis.
Is it bad that I wish
this illness, or a variant of it, was contagious enough that Kjeld might catch
it?
The majority of the women’s mass start
field –
They all got beat at World Champs by someone that fell
like one lap in. That’s gotta hurt the ego quite a bit – when you get that big
of an advantage and you STILL get beat. Schouten is just better, and I know
worry for the rest of the field’s mental health.
Free Agent Tracker
With only one weekend of racing left, I’ve removed any
skaters from the tracker that are unlikely/very unlikely to go to World
Allrounds or Sprints. The following are not guaranteed to be going, but they at
least all have a chance.
Yang Binyu
–
This young Chinese skater easily hit triple digit points at World Champs,
finishing ahead of top-5 draft picks Leerdam and Wiklund. That’s pretty wild
for a skater who is a free agent in
all five pools
. This type of points
haul for an unpicked skater is unprecedented in this league. She can crush a
1500m, 3000m, and 5000m, meaning she could be worth a hell of a lot at World
Allrounds. The only risk? She’s Chinese, so who the fuck knows if she’ll
actually be there.
Daniele Di Stefano –
Like
Yang, Di Stefano swept up points at Worlds like it was no one’s business. Similarly,
the last leg of his season is also uncertain, though I imagine the Italian men’s
World Allround team will be Di Stefano, Malfatti, and Ghiotto.
Michele Malfatti –
If
you wanna pick up an Italian man and you don’t want Di Stefano, maybe you’ll be
lucky enough to snag this guy. He’s probably technically a worse allrounder, at
least after three distances, but his strong 5000m means he ultimately has a
much higher chance at cracking the top eight and making it into the 10,000m.
Malfatti is available in only one more pool.
Livio Wenger –
This
guy has had a crazy good season, cracking the 150 point barrier this past
weekend. Every single one of those points is from the mass start though, and Allrounds
doesn’t feature a mass start. Unlike some of the other mass start specialists
that were previously on the list, Wenger actually has a pretty good chance of
going to Allrounds. So, take him if you want, but maybe expect a points pace
reduction of roughly 100%.
Tim Prins –
He’s
young, he’s fast, he’s ugly, and he isn’t qualified for anything yet. But if
Prins shows up and gets top two at Dutch Sprints this weekend, He’ll likely be
a fairly respectable late-season free agent pick up. He’s only free in one
pool.
Marten Liiv –
No
expected such an un-aerodynamic square face to ever be fast. Expectations can
be wrong though, and Liiv has proven time and time again that he’s at least not
slow. He has a history of performing better at 500m/1000m combination events,
so if you’ve had your eye on him then this may be the weekend you take the
bait. He’s only free in one more pool.
Hendrik Dombek –
I
haven’t believed in this guy from the start of the season, but he’s earned Taylor
a very respectable 108 points so he can’t be that bad. His 500m is nothing specials
but his 1000m could be worth a bit in a weaker men’s 1000m field at sprints. This
German lad is still free in two pools.
Ellia Smeding –
To
be completely honest, I just wanted to add another women to this list since the
last few were all men. According to the skater rankings, Smeding is the highest
points earner that is still a free agent and who is likely going to World Sprints.
Thinking more about it now, she’s not that heinous of a pick considering how
week the 1000m sometimes is at the women’s World Sprints. She’s put up 71 points
in the 1000m this season and there’s no reason to think she won’t earn a bit
more at Worlds.
Bjorn Magnussen –
Thus
large studly Norwegian guy cracked the top 5 at Worlds and skated a national
record in the 500m. Considering Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen is still skating
and was somewhat recently an Olympic gold medalist and the distance, a World
Cup classification winner, as well as a World Sprint Champion, I think the
national record is a pretty incredible result. If Bjorn keeps this up, he’ll surely
be worth some solid points at World Sprints.
Ruining Tian –
Like
Bjorn, Ruining had a great 500m at Worlds. She was even closer to the podium
than he was AND she comparatively has a better 1000m. If she goes to World
Sprints, she’d be a significantly smarter pickup than most of the skaters on
this list.
Ryota Kojima –
Someone
called this guy one of the greatest Japanese sprinters of all time. A few weeks back, someone
also said this guy could get third at World Sprints. Actually, I think the same
idiot said both those things. I wonder who it was…
That’s a wrap for today. If you desperate to watch skating,
Dutch trials starts up at like 3am on Saturday morning. Otherwise, you best be
tuning in for World Sprint and Allround Championships which starts two weeks
from today. Racing for Worlds will be starting on a Thursday, so the deadline
to get you roster changes in will be 11:59 PM on Wednesday, March 6.
Also, I was far too lazy to go back and do any editing for this post. If it's full of spelling and grammatical errors, I apologize. As for the content and opinions, I know for a fact those are right.
Cheers,
Dad