The Dutch passion for ice skating

In the Netherlands, ice skating is quite popular. As a recreational and traditional activity, even better if along the frozen canals (which is less and less frequent) but also as a sport, above all if we are talking about speed skating, the one in which you ride on 400-metre tracks and over distances of up to 10 kilometres. Speed ​​skating is also known as speed skating and his World Championships are currently underway in the Netherlands, in the Thialf of Heerenveen, an ice arena with over 12,000 seats.

As for skiing and other forms of locomotion on snow or ice, even for skating it is not clear who and when started doing it. According to some evidence, already in the prehistoric period animal bones were put underfoot to slip – therefore not really skating – on the ice, so as to be faster and make less effort.

In the Netherlands ice skating (whose Dutch name skate perhaps it has to do with the fact that bones were used to practice it) was already quite widespread in the Middle Ages, when the blades were mostly made of wood. In fact, it is believed that the first skates with iron blades only arrived around the fifteenth century. For the Dutch of that period, skates were often the most practical and fastest means of getting around the frozen canals in winter: before being leisure and sport, skating was still a necessity.

As well shown in many Dutch or Flemish paintings from a few centuries ago, however, it didn’t take long before skating also became fun, entertainment and sport.

Perhaps already in the very cold winter of 1740 the first version of the Elfstedentocht was organised, a legendary and eagerly awaited skating competition along almost 200 kilometers of frozen canals. The Elfstedentocht – whose name means “tour (tocht) of the eleven (elf) cities (steden) and whose first official edition was in 1909 – passes through eleven cities of Friesland, the province of the Netherlands where the enthusiasm for skating is even more intense. Also in Friesland, in Hindeloopen, there is the Ice Skating Museum.

Given that it needs several centimeters of ice to be held safely, the Elfstedentocht has only had 15 editions, the last one in 1997, and there are those who fear that, due to global warming, there will never be again another one. Also for this reason, for many Dutch it is a very important event: professional skaters say that winning it is worth more than any Olympic medal and some say many Dutch they would prefer attending an Elfstedentocht instead of seeing their national football team win the World Cup.

(Keystone Features/Getty Images)

Even without the Elfstedentocht, of which there have only been three editions in the last fifty years, when winter makes it possible, many Dutch still continue practicing the natural ice, skating on the natural ice of lakes or canals. For many it is an almost indispensable traditional pastime, so much so that in February 2021 they went there despite the stringent restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. In more sporting terms are also widespread, apart from the Elfstedentocht other activities of marathon skatinglong distance ice skating.

A frozen canal in 2009, near Rotterdam (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

In the Netherlands, where the population is about 17.5 million, skating is also very popular on artificial ice, both outdoors and indoors, on rinks that Despite the significant increase in energy costs have all reopened after the closures due to the pandemic. The VKN, the association of Dutch ice rinks looks after the interests of 21 piste ice arenas, eight of which with ring rinks for speed skating.

It is estimated that almost one in two Dutch people go ice skating at least once in a while. Members of the KNSB, the national federation founded in 1822, I am more than 40 thousand, affiliated to over 600 sports clubs, in a country where a few dozen athletes manage to make a living from skating, also thanks to the prizes awarded in various very popular national events. Jumbo-Visma, one of the strongest teams in road cycling, also has an equally strong team in speed skating, which includes the Dutch Jutta Leerdam, followed on Instagram by four million users.

(Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

With these premises, and as a result of important state investments made over the years, the Dutch are among the best in the world in various skating disciplines. The world records are Dutch distance traveled in one hour on natural ice (more than 32 for women and more than 36 for men) and is Dutch Cold Noise, winner of three Olympic gold medals, the speed record achieved on natural ice: in 2022 he managed to reach 103 kilometers per hour, skating on a Norwegian lake behind a rally car. In 2018 Nuis also won the Dutch sportsman of the year award, an award named after Jaap Eden, who was a world champion in track cycling and speed skating at the end of the 19th century, as well as a bandy player.

In indoor disciplines, the Dutch defend themselves well in short track, which is practiced on shorter tracks and is the sport, among others, of Arianna Fontana and Steven Bradbury (and in which the South Koreans often win, however). The Dutch, on the other hand, are clearly the best when it comes to speed skating or speed skating. In the history of the World Cup, which has existed since the 1980s, they have won more than twice as many gold medals as the United States, ranked second in the total medal table. In speed skating, the Netherlands are also first in the Olympic medal table: at the Winter Olympics they won, in this discipline alone, 6 gold medals, 4 bronzes and two silvers. At the last European Championships, the Netherlands did not leave even one gold to their opponents.

(Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

In short, the Netherlands are also the big favorites for the speed skating World Cup races underway these days in front of the home fans of the Thiafnamed after a character from Norse mythology, and is a historic venue for Dutch ice skating, as well as home to several world records set over the years.

Dutch domination seems to be able to last much longer, but there is no shortage of opponents. In the recent World Cup, which ended in Poland in February, several other countries achieved notable victories, including Italy thanks to David Ghiotto and Andrea Giovannini (both present at the World Cup, where Francesca Lollobrigida, who took a break after the Beijing Olympics, is not). In addition, eighteen-year-old American Jordan Stolz is making his way, of which they say big things.

– Read also: The Dutch can’t get their Elfstedentocht