The ice skating association KNSB and Thialf agreed on ice production in the summer. The Dutch top skaters will be able to train at the stadium in Heerenveen from 27 July.
Normally there is ice in Thialf at the beginning of the summer (around the end of June), but the stadium in Heerenveen is facing financial problems. This made it impossible to move the summer ice in time and the Dutch skaters have to move abroad to prepare for the winter.
It was feared that there would be no skating at all in Thialf this summer, but this will also be possible from 27 July. The ice remains throughout the winter season. According to KNSB, the rental price is significantly higher than in previous years.
“It is clear that we had to make sporting and financial concessions,” says Remy de Wit, technical director of KNSB. “We have done everything we can to get to a situation where our top athletes can prepare as well as possible for the new season. That was the maximum possible.”
Kramer criticized the way
Sven Kramer has recently sharply criticised the way things are going. De Fries van Jumbo-Visma called it “shameful” that his team had to move to Inzell on July 1, because no summer ice can be laid in the Netherlands. He also fears that it will have an impact on performance in winter.
According to Thialf director Marc Winters, it was simply impossible to serve as a training ground all summer long. “In today’s turbulent times, this was not a viable map on both sides. The common objective is to make structural arrangements for the ice in the summer months for the coming years.”
Jumbo Visma trainer Jac Orie is at least glad that there is now an agreement. “It’s good to see that a lot of hard work has been done behind the scenes to achieve this. In order to ensure the best possible preparation in the run-up to the 2022 Winter Olympics, I trust that we will all ensure that the summer ice is there from mid-June.”
The Dutch short trackers have to wait less time before they can train again in Thialf. The team of the Dutch coach Jeroen Otter will be back in the centre of the stadium in Heerenveen from 13 July.