NOS Skating•Sunday, 2:37 PM•Adjusted Sunday, 5:22 PM
Schouten wins last professional competition: marathon victory in Leeuwarden
Irene Schouten has won her last competition as a professional skater. The three-time Olympic champion was by far the best of the peloton at the last Marathon Cup competition of this season in Leeuwarden.
Esther Kiel came second, ahead of Elsemieke van Maaren. Van Maaren’s third place was enough for her to win the final ranking.
Holidays
“Now I’m going on holiday,” said 31-year-old Schouten afterwards. Recently, after the World Championships, where she won three world titles, she surprisingly announced that she would stop skating as a professional.
Schouten after last professional match: ‘If you do little, you will actually get in shape’
Schouten will no longer compete on the long track as a professional, but she will still leave a small window for marathon competitions: “I am quitting top sport. I may return as an amateur. If I feel like racing a marathon, I will do so. But I’ll see about that next year.”
Schouten felt good in Leeuwarden, despite all the festivities of the past period, she said. “I recovered from Thialf, but I still had to prepare for today. But it went well.”
Last week Irene Schouten was said goodbye in a full Thialf.
Big farewell for Schouten in Thialf: ‘I’m just silent about it’
After many competitions on natural ice in Sweden, the marathon peloton now had another go on the fast ice in Friesland. Classification leader Van Maaren was almost certain in advance that she would also win the final classification.
Only if Schouten were to take a three lap lead and Van Maaren were to ride outside the points, she could still lose her lead. That didn’t happen, Van Maaren sprinted to third place, just a few seconds behind Schouten.
