Jumbo-Visma finds replacement for Nuis with sprinterN Ntab and Verbij | Right away

The ice skating team of Jumbo-Visma took over Dai Dai Ntab and Kai Verbij from Team Reggeborgh on Tuesday. The top sprinters are the successors of Kjeld Nuis, who only last week announced that he would move from Jumbo-Visma to Reggeborgh.

The 25-year-old Ntab won the national 500m title three times in six years under coach Gerard van Velde. The verbij, which is also old, has also been accompanied by Van Velde since 2014. The native of the South Dutch became sprint world champion in 2017 and world champion in the 1000 metres in 2019.

“The next two years are very important for my career,” says Ntab Website Jumbo-Visma about his transfer. “I feel that this transition will help me to become an absolute top sprinter.”

The Amsterdam native is still waiting for his first major international title. At the European Championships last season, he finished second in the 500 metres. At the World Championships a month later, he finished only 13th at the shortest distance.

Verbij will be reunited with his good friend and former team-mate Thomas Krol in Jumbo-Visma. The two-time European sprint champion had a somewhat disappointing winter with sixth place over 1000 meters at the World Championships and fourth place at the sprint world championships.

“It was a hectic week in which I had the unique opportunity to make a choice between the two top teams in Dutch figure skating. This was not an easy choice, because my current team has been very good for me over the years,” verbij said. “But I’m at an important point in my career and I want to learn more and win.”

Jumbo-Visma has twelve skaters under contract

At Jumbo-Visma, Ntab and Verbij fill the gap left by Jan Smeekens and Nuis. Smeekens retired after last season and Nuis announced last week that he will terminate his contract with Demos from Jac Orie and move to Reggeborgh.

Nuis hopes to improve his speed with van Velde’s team, but due to the departure of Verbij and Ntab to his old team, he will have to miss two fast sprinters in Reggeborgh.

Jumbo-Visma now includes Nun Ntab, Verbij, Sven Kramer, Patrick Roest, Thomas Krol, Hein Otterspeer, Kars Jansman, Chris Huizinga, Marcel Bosker, Antoinette de Jong, Carlijn Achtereekte and Joy Beune.

“I think it’s great that we were able to tie Dai Dai and Kai to our team,” Orie said. “Together with Hein Otterspeer and Thomas, we will have a strong sprint branch next season.”