Pro ShotsFemke Kok
NOS Schaatsen•vandaag, 13:21
Femke Kok was completely ready for the new skating season. The world champion in the 500 meters said she had a “super good summer”, until a few weeks ago. After complaints of fatigue and headaches, she was told that she had the CMV virus.
“A big blow,” she says in Thialf, where the skating season starts later today with the World Cup qualifying tournament, where the first World Cup tickets of this season will be distributed.
Kok cannot participate in this because of the CMV virus, which is very similar to glandular fever.
Kok: “I really didn’t have any problems during the summer. I thought: let’s gowas really looking forward to the new season. Everything went so much better this summer. So then you’re looking forward to it even more.”
For Kok, all that hard work now feels “as if it was for nothing”. The first signs for the 24-year-old sprinter were complaints of fatigue. “The training sessions no longer went well and I did not recover well after training. And I never have that, I always recover very well.”
Repair
Her Reggeborgh team advised Kok to take a few days of rest. “And they said: have a blood test done, just to be sure. I then got more and more headaches and thought: something is wrong.”
Kok was soon told that her complaints were due to the CMV virus. Although she is relieved that she knew what was wrong, there was also unrest. “If you break your arm or leg, you know how long it will take before you can get back to it. In this case, you don’t know how long it will take. For some it is longer than for others. My blood values show that There hasn’t been much improvement yet.”
Kok has to watch the start of the skating season with a virus infection: ‘Big blow’
Kok doesn’t just give up and give up. “I don’t think that will benefit anyone. And, I also have to think this way: better now than next season.” Next year the skaters must qualify for the Milan Winter Olympics.
Christmas and New Year’s Eve
When Kok looks ahead very positively, she carefully thinks about the National Championship sprint between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. “It would be great if I achieved that. But you don’t know what is realistic. When I see how slow progress is going, it doesn’t offer much hope.”
In any case, she will watch the World Cup qualifying tournament from home. “I’m not going to watch from the stands, I’m not going to do that to myself, but I will peek on TV to see how things are going.”
