For Rintje Ritsma, the World Championship distances (Thursday to Sunday in Heerenveen) are his first major test as national coach. The skating icon believes in a successful tournament, although in his first months he ran into the same obstacles as his predecessors.
In his first weeks as national coach, there were evenings when he lay in bed and thought: what have I started? “Everything came to me. Everything was new,” says Ritsma in conversation with NU.nl.
Suddenly he was behind his laptop all day long. He was drowning in paperwork. He needed to become familiar with the online environment where he can share video images and data from races and training sessions directly with his skaters.
And then he also started with a considerable backlog. Skating association KNSB only appointed him a few weeks before the start of the season as the new person with final responsibility for the team pursuit, mass start and team sprint. “Time was instantly my enemy.”
Nevertheless, Ritsma has not regretted his choice to trade in a job as an analyst at the NOS for what is perhaps the most difficult position in Dutch skating. “I really like it,” says the 52-year-old Frisian. “Not always when I’m working on my computer again; that’s a necessary evil. But when I’m on the ice and can think about team compositions and technical adjustments. That’s where my strength lies.”
The harvest after his first World Cup season: seven times gold, seven times silver and seven times bronze. Although this is mainly due to the mass start and the non-Olympic team sprint part. The Netherlands has not yet won a single time in the team pursuit this winter. “But I think it’s going very well,” says Ritsma. “I have high expectations for the World Cup. Also for the team pursuit.”
Team pursuit has been a concern for many years
Patrick Roest does not show the back of his tongue in a hotel in the woods just outside Heerenveen when asked for his opinion on the team pursuit. The leader of the Dutch team understands that no miracles can be expected from Ritsma in less than six months. And he wants to save his criticism for the evaluation that takes place after the season.
“We only have to conclude that things did not go as we wanted this winter,” says 27-year-old Roest. “We didn’t win anything with the men and were just on the podium twice. If you see which skaters we can use, then we just have to compete for gold. As long as that doesn’t work, we’re doing something wrong. Yes, it falls I’m sorry this is a repeat of stories we’ve heard before. I really hoped things would be better now.”
The team pursuit has been a concern for years at the KNSB. Dutch skaters are judged on their results in individual distances. In addition, the system of brand teams makes it difficult to schedule joint training sessions for the team units. In countries such as Norway, Canada and the United States, both problems do not play a role or play much less, as a result of which they have surpassed the Netherlands in the team pursuit.
The hope was that Ritsma, who formed the basis of the commercial teams with his Sanex team in 1995, could achieve more than his predecessors due to his status. “But actually nothing has really changed this season,” says Roest. “I had especially hoped that there would be more clarity about the joint training sessions. That really has to change if we want to take the last step with the team parts.”
Ritsma vond passeren Hollaar niet makkelijk
Bij de massastart komen zaterdag Bart Hoolwerf en voormalig wereldkampioen Jorrit Bergsma in actie. Dat betekent dat bondscoach Rintje Ritsma slecht nieuws had voor Louis Hollaar. De 24-jarige schaatser van Team Reggeborgh vormde bij de meeste wereldbekers een duo met ploegmaat Hoolwerf, maar is in Thialf reserve. “Ik vond het lastig om Louis te passeren”, zegt Ritsma. “Maar uiteindelijk vind ik Jorrit een completere schaatser.”
Ritsma sees the first winter as a learning season
Ritsma emphasizes that he sees his first five months as national coach “really as a learning year”. “That is also why we will evaluate extensively after the season with the teams and skaters. Then Patrick’s opinion will certainly come forward.”
In any case, the four-time world all-round champion plans to organize more joint training sessions for the team pursuit next season, also because he can now start it in the summer. “That is also necessary. In the past, the Netherlands could still win by training occasionally, but that time has definitely passed since the Beijing Games. Everyone is now pushing during the team pursuit and we will have to take that seriously, just like the other countries .”
According to Ritsma, because of the pushing tactics (the front skater is constantly pushed by the two other riders), he also made a change in the selection choices. He looks more at the best team than at the three best skaters. For the World Cup in Thialf, he therefore opts for Joy Beune instead of Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong for the women.
“We are really looking for riders who fit together well. At the World Cup in Poland three weeks ago, we saw that we could achieve a good result with three slightly lesser skaters on paper,” says Ritsma about Beune, Robin Groot and Elisa Dul , who finished second less than a second behind Canada.
With Irene Schouten and Marijke Groenewoud for Groot and Dul, the Netherlands will go for gold in the team pursuit on Friday in Heerenveen. Just as Ritsma will mainly be judged on the number of world titles in all team components. “Gold is always expected,” he says. “And that’s allowed. Because that’s what I want.”
Rel over snelle helmen
De Nederlandse schaatsers starten bij de WK afstanden op de teamonderdelen net als de concurrentie met een snelle helm. Het is het voorlopige slotstuk van een conflict tussen de KNSB en de internationale bond ISU. Volgens de Nederlanders reden zij dit seizoen met een legale helm, terwijl buitenlandse rijders een ‘illegaal’ (maar sneller) exemplaar gebruikten.
De ISU greep niet in, waardoor de KNSB voor de WK geen andere keuze zag dan toch van helm te wisselen. “Wij hebben daar als schaatsers ook op aangedrongen”, zegt Patrick Roest. “Als andere landen met een snelle helm mogen rijden, dan lijkt het me dat wij dat ook mogen.”
