Young Dutch short-trackers step up with Olympic champions in Canada

Two young Dutch short-track skaters, 17-year-old Jesper Schmitz and 21-year-old Kiek Straathof, are racing and training with the national team on the World Tour in Canada. NOS Sport reports that both see it as the best education they could ask for, inside what Schmitz calls “the best short-track team in the world”.

What happened

According to NOS Sport, Schmitz and Straathof normally skate with their own Talent Team, a development squad below the senior national selection. This autumn both have been training with the senior squad. They have also been named for the World Tour races in Vancouver and Montreal. NOS Sport describes this as a “stage”, or extended placement, with the country’s leading skaters, and says it is a significant step in their development.

The timing gives that step extra weight. NOS Sport notes that the Dutch short-track team won gold medal after gold medal at the Olympic Games in Milan, and that the team made a strong start at the first World Tour event of the season in Vancouver.

Schmitz earned his place through the qualification races for the Canadian World Tour events. He told NOS Sport he was surprised to get the chance so early. “I thought ‘wow’, is this serious? This is the best short-track team in the world and I get to train and race with them. That is something to enjoy,” he said. In training he was even more surprised by how well he kept up. “I did not feel that the others were really better, and that surprised me. I found it hard to believe that I could keep up with the group so well.”

Straathof found the step up harder at first. “That took some getting used to in the beginning. Things are also a lot more serious with the national selection,” she told NOS Sport. “I noticed that at first I mostly skated at the back and could not make many moves, but now I can also battle and race, and that is really great.” She also told the broadcaster that it is “really nice to skate behind all those Olympic medallists”.

Both say they are learning by watching the experienced skaters. Straathof gave a specific example. “Here I can see on the ice how it should be done and how I want to do it. I am quite tall, for example, so I have to make sure I keep myself compact and build speed that way. It is good that I can watch how they do that.”

NOS Sport reports that the two do not often approach the team’s leading figures, Jens van ‘t Wout and Xandra Velzeboer, to ask for advice. “But they do give it now and then,” Schmitz said. He added that the national coaches, Niels Kerstholt and Haralds Silovs, “really observe well and look at where they can make me better. I mainly have to use these weeks to improve.”

Straathof already has a result to show for the trip. NOS Sport reports that last week she won a bronze medal as part of the relay team at the World Tour event in Vancouver. Schmitz has not yet reached the podium.

Why it matters if you live in the Netherlands

Short track is one of the sports in which the Netherlands is strongest internationally, and NOS Sport’s account of the Milan Olympics shows how much the national team has achieved recently. If you have moved here and are getting to know Dutch sport, this story shows how the national programme brings young skaters through. They come up through a Talent Team, earn places on the international circuit through qualification races, and then train alongside Olympic champions before they have established themselves.

For parents whose children skate, or are thinking about it, the article gives a picture of the route upwards. Schmitz is still a teenager and reached the World Tour through qualification. Straathof, at 21, has already won a relay medal at senior international level. Both still belong to the development squad. NOS Sport presents the move into the senior group as gradual: young skaters start at the back of the training group and learn by observation and feedback from coaches before they can race on equal terms.

For fans, the story names two skaters who may appear more often in Dutch short-track coverage in the coming seasons. NOS Sport, the sports service of the Dutch public broadcaster, is following the World Tour in Canada through its short-track reporting, including this piece by its short-track editor.

What to watch next

The immediate focus is the World Tour event in Montreal, the second stop of the Canadian swing. NOS Sport reports that Schmitz and Straathof are part of the Dutch line-up for these races. Watch whether Straathof adds to her relay bronze from Vancouver and whether Schmitz, who has not yet won a medal, can turn his strong training form into results in competition.

The longer question is whether the two can move permanently from the Talent Team into the senior selection. Schmitz was clear that the opportunity alone is not enough. “It is a team in which you can hopefully eventually become really good. But I do have to show it,” he told NOS Sport. NOS Sport adds that for skaters training in a selection at the very top of the world, future prizes are not out of reach.

The coaching staff will also play a part. According to Schmitz, Kerstholt and Silovs are watching closely for areas where he can improve, and he sees these weeks mainly as a chance to get better rather than a test he must pass straight away.

Source: NOS Sport