Just about won everything there is to win, you have to tread all the steps of the international stages. And yet Kjeld Nuis needed an app from teammate Ireen Wüst on Wednesday morning to remind him how he could qualify for the Olympic 1,500 meters in Beijing 2022.
The 35-year-old veteran, who will appear in China in February at her fifth and final Winter Games, sent her three-year younger teammate a message via WhatsApp ten hours before the final distance of the OKT. In short, it was about the noble art of finishing.
“Ireen always crosses the line as if she still has three more laps to skate after that,” Nuis said. “She accelerates until the last centimeter, where I am always ready for the finish and end my race sliding. For the first time I have now driven to the finish.”
How did you like it? “Top!”
On the all-deciding skating mile, the difference between numbers 1 and 2 was determined by Wüst’s golden tip. With his hands behind his back during the straights, Nuis successively scored 23.25 – 25.42 – 26.48 – 28.70, good for a finishing time of 1.43.85. Krol came to 23.22 – 25.06 – 26.69 – 28.90 in the next stage. And with that he finally had to concede two-hundredths of a second.
View the summary of the 1,500 meters in the slideshow below, the reaction of Kjeld Nuis after the race and how Nuis celebrates the victory with his son:
