Suzanne Schulting won the first 500 meters on Saturday at the World Cup competition in Almaty. The three-time Olympic champion was in a class of her own in the final. Selma Poutsma and Xandra Velzeboer crashed in Kazakhstan.
Schulting took the lead from the start and never relinquished first place. Poutsma rode second behind the Friezin for a while, but stumbled halfway through and thus stayed out of the medals. Partly because of this, Yara van Kerkhof finished third. Poland’s Natalia Maliszewska came in second.
For 25-year-old Schulting it is already her fifth World Cup victory of the season. Last week she won the 1,500 meters in Almaty, where two World Cup competitions are held in a row. In Montreal, she was the best in the 1,000 meters and 1,500 meters in October. In Salt Lake City she won gold in the kilometer.
Schulting can win even more gold medals in Almaty this weekend. The Friezin also runs the 1,000 meters in the Kazakh capital. The nominee for Sportswoman of the Year will not take part in the second 500 meters, which will be held on Sunday.
In the 1,500 meters, Xandra Velzeboer did not win the medals. The Dutch fell in an incident-rich final, in which only three short track skaters survived. Velzeboer was hit from behind by the American Kristen Santos-Griswold and then lost her balance in the bend, after which she landed hard in the boarding.
From a distance, Velzeboer saw that the German Anna Seidel, Gilli Kim from South Korea and Santos-Griswold also went down. The Canadian Courtney Sarault (gold), the Belgian Hanne Desmet (silver) and the South Korean Shim Suk-hee (bronze) were the only ones standing and distributed the medals. The referee looked at the images for a long time, but did not hand out any penalties.
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For the app users: tap on the video to view the images of Suzanne Schulting’s victory
De Laat is just short of bronze at 500 meters
Itzhak de Laat was just short of a bronze medal in the 500 meters. The Dutchman had to give in three hundredths of a second to the Kazakh number three Denis Nikisha and finished fourth.
Friso Emons also failed to win the medals in the 1,500 meters. The Dutchman finished in sixth place. For 24-year-old Emons, it was his second place in the final of the World Cup season. He previously finished fourth in Montreal.
In the final of the mixed relay, it also went completely wrong for the Netherlands. Two rounds before the end, Kay Huisman was overtaken by South Korean Shim Suk-hee, after which he crashed. For example, the Netherlands missed out on a medal. It is already the third time this season that someone from the Orange Quartet falls.
Immediately afterwards, the women’s relief also ended in a fiasco for the Netherlands. Van Kerkhof crashed in the semi-finals and in the remaining seventeen laps Van Kerkhof, Schulting, Velzeboer and Poutsma were unable to make up for the gap. This leaves the B final for the women, who are nominated in the Sports Team of the Year category.
The men did reach the A-final in Almaty. De Lat, Emons, Huisman and Sjinkie Knegt came second in their semi-final, which was enough for a place in the final. The final battle will take place on Sunday.
