Sep 18, 2023 at 1:56 PM Update: an hour ago
Suzanne Schulting hopes to skate her first competition of the season at the European Short Track Championships in Gdánsk, Poland, in January. The world star was only on the ice for the first time on Thursday, after she was forced to take it easy last summer.
“It’s going really well,” Schulting said on Monday in Heerenveen at the presentation of the Dutch short track team. “I have my last medical tests this week. I hope that the doctors will give me the green light to continue building again. With only one goal this season: the World Championships in Rotterdam Ahoy (March 15-17, ed.).”
Schulting announced in May that in the run-up to the new short track season, she would be given the opportunity to conduct her own preparation, separate from the national team. The multiple Olympic champion decided to do so after a “physically and mentally difficult year”.
The 25-year-old Dutch woman has won almost everything there is to win in recent years. Her honors list includes six Olympic medals (three of which are gold), ten world titles and seventeen European titles. But after the World Championships in March in Seoul, where she became three-time world champion, she said that “the tank is emptier than in other years”.
Suzanne Schulting has only just rejoined the national short track team. Photo: ANP
Schulting usually trained alone in the summer
After various medical examinations and discussions with the KNSB skating association and national coach Niels Kerstholt, the conclusion was that Schulting should take a moment to pause. She has trained differently and less in recent months and will therefore skip the first World Cups of the season.
“At the end of last season it was over. It was no longer possible,” Schulting said on Monday. “All the doctors advised me that I really needed to take some rest, so I did that last summer. It was nice to take some distance and focus on my recovery.”
“But it was also difficult. Because I have been used to constantly training at the highest level for years. If that is no longer possible and allowed because of your body, that is quite difficult.”
Schulting has been training in recent months, but mostly alone. “Because I wasn’t allowed to train much, I enjoyed the bike rides and strength training that I was allowed to do. But I also had to listen very carefully to my body.”
From next week, Schulting hopes to be able to train fully again, so that she will be fit in time for the European Championships in Gdánsk (January 12-14). “I don’t want to focus too much on results there yet. It is part of the process towards the World Cup. I want to be there again. And I now have six months to do that.”
How long will Schulting continue?
In recent months, Suzanne Schulting has been thinking about how long she wants to continue short track speed skating. “I’ll be 26 next week, which is already quite old,” she says with a smile. “I would love it if I could compete in my last Olympic Games at the age of 32.”
Schulting is referring to the 2030 Winter Games, for which no host city has yet been chosen. The next Winter Games will be in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in 2026.
Kerstholt sees Schulting ‘wake up’ again
The World Cup preparation really started last Thursday, when Schulting rejoined the ice training of the short track team in Thialf for the first time. “We still have to slow her down a bit,” says Kerstholt. “But you do see the lion wake up again.”
The national coach does not think it is strange that Schulting had to take a step back after so many years at the top. “There are many athletes who take it easy for a summer or an entire season. Because they know that they cannot just keep pushing. Suzanne always keeps pushing. And that is quite tough.”
Kerstholt expects that Schulting will have enough time to be good again at the World Cup. “There must be a lot to do in six months. Suzanne has also continued to train. Her strength does not suddenly disappear. From this point on we can build her up again. We just have to do it wisely.”
2023-09-18 13:10:59
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