Belgian skating is experiencing its heyday.
Hanne and Stijn Desmet acquire star status in short track speed skating, Bart Swings still sets the tone in long track speed skating and the very young Nina Pinzarrone (16) enchants the world of figure skating together with Loena Hendrickx.
“Belgium is one of the five countries that compete for medals of honor at the championships in all three disciplines,” says Corné Lepoeter, chairman of the Royal Belgian Speed Skating Federation (KBSF).
“This means that Belgium is slowly becoming a major skating country. We are delivering top performances,” Lepoeter concludes.
An example of this wealth is the first participation in 10 years of a Belgian men’s team pursuit team at the World Cup in Japan next weekend.
Bart Swings will compete with newcomers and roller-skating instructors Jason Suttels and Indra Médard: “The fact that they can train with Swings helps them enormously,” it also sounds hopeful.
All good signals. Only: Belgians still have to travel abroad to train due to a lack of top sports infrastructure.
“Sport Vlaanderen is aware of the problem and is working on new skating rinks in Herentals and Hasselt.”
A small side note: the tracks are not 400 meters long, which is crucial for training as a long-track skater.
“The construction of such a track is not on the agenda for the time being,” says Lepoeter. “But the sport is now strong and big enough to justify a 400-meter skating rink.”
2023-11-09 10:31:22
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