Both the Dutch men and women climbed onto the podium on Friday after the team pursued the World Championship distances. They did it with a new tactic that they copied from other teams. After all, they have been surprisingly faster than Orange bands in recent weeks. This is why Dutch men and women are now pushing their fists on the back of their predecessor and changing positions as little as possible. So it brought no harm.

The men’s team, consisting of Patrick Rost, Marcel Bousker – a rooted skater from Drenthe – and great talent Bo Snellink, won the gold medal in Thialf in Heerenveen with a time of 3.41.42 minutes. Competitor Canada came second with a time of 3.41.71, while Russia took the bronze with a time of 3.42.66.

Other tactics

“We won because of a different tactic and because we are daring here,” said Busker, the Jumbo-Visma skater, who won his second World Cup gold medal. “We had no fear. We had nothing to lose and we can only win today. We succeeded.” The chase team, with Chris Hozinga of Garnewerd as a back-up, had to deal with Thursday’s setback due to the unexpected cancellation of permanent employee Sven Kramer. He suffers from many problems in his back.

“If Sven had participated, I would have trusted him a lot,” said son of former skiers Henriette van der Meer from Smelde and Ronald Bosker from Lubersum. “He was driving very fast in training, but he shot in the back. That’s bad for him, but if he’s good, he just has to do it.

Nothing to lose

According to Busker, the Netherlands had nothing to lose, as the race was different from usual due to Kramer’s sudden cancellation. “We drove in this configuration for the first time during training. Additionally, I was the first to start the race for the first time. I actually had no idea how to do it: how fast I should start and how I should feel the speed. Because I didn’t do it. That before .. You couldn’t become a world champion this way. But it did happen. It means there is more to it than that.

With the push style, Norway was significantly faster early during the World Cup than the Netherlands in the team’s portfolio, and this was less true for Canada. Now that the Netherlands has done the same, the two countries are defeated with their weapons. “We’ve been pressing for a week and a half last week and it went really well during training. In the race, it went a little less, because Patrick hit Poe a few times with his skating. So you have to train a little more for that then you can be a little more difficult.” .

An exciting journey

The trip against Canada was exciting. “On the way, I saw the Canadians were still ahead of us. So I shouted, ‘One full hit, one full hit, we have to give it all.’ I thought: We’ll be third, but it’s turned into gold. I wouldn’t have thought that. ”

After Bosker, Roest and Snellink see that Norway and Russia are no longer in their time at the last stage, the party can really start in the Central District. Hands raised to fist, performed dances of joy and happy team members congratulated each other deeply. It was the culmination of an achievement that came under difficult and extraordinary circumstances.

National coach

Because the team was forced not only without Kramer, but also without national coach Jan Copmans, who had been absent for some time due to sad special circumstances. So the skaters define the racing tactics themselves in an adult fashion. “We formed the team with the help of other coaches.”

The face of Patrick Roest, who surprisingly had to leave Swedish Niels van der Bohl winning on Thursday in the 5,000 meters, was happier. Roost, three-time world champion in all respects, was remarkable enough to win his first long distance world championships gold medal.

Prey to the Netherlands

The team hunt was also a prey for the Netherlands among women. Trio Irene, West, Antoinette de Jong and Irene Scoutin finished in the fourth and final race after six laps thanks to a strong final against Canada: 2.55.79 to 2.55.97. Russia won the bronze, registered at 2.59.35.

In the second World Cup, the Canadian national team beat the Netherlands by about one second. That is why push technology was also introduced to women. “We did it in one training session and went much faster,” Scotton said. “It took less energy,” West added. “We have to practice this some more.” Schoten: “You’re not used to one-handed skiing on someone else. If we trained more for it, it could be faster.” Wüst: That was good and gave confidence. Payment helps. The last time we didn’t do anything wrong without paying and we lost. We are on the right track. ”

Wust actually won her sixth gold in the Team Quest.