The Olympic qualification tournament for speed skating will take place from December 26 to December 30, with daily races for both men and women across various distances.
Schaatsen.nl, Netherlands
The tournament schedule features one distance race per day for men and women, except for the 500 meters, which is held twice on the same day. The fastest time between the two 500-meter races determines the final result for that distance. Events such as the mass start and team pursuit will not be held during the tournament. Qualification spots for those events will be allocated to individually qualified skaters, potentially supplemented by others not qualified on their own merit.
To have a chance of qualifying for the Olympics, skaters must finish in the top three for the 500, 1000, 1500, 3000 (women), and 5000 meters (men). For the longer distances—the 5000 meters for women and 10,000 meters for men—the two best times will be considered. However, these rankings do not guarantee Olympic qualification by themselves. The final selection depends on the selection order, which has been detailed in an explanatory article.
After five days of competition, the top six skaters in the qualification matrix are almost certain to secure a spot, but some uncertainty remains regarding possible unforeseen circumstances or decisions by the selection committee, especially for team events. The official announcement of TeamNL’s long-track speed skating squad is expected by January 5.
Several skaters have already shown strong performances in this World Cup season, such as Jenning de Boo, Kjeld Nuis, Jorrit Bergsma, Femke Kok, Jutta Leerdam, and Joy Beune. During the qualification tournament, none of these skaters have a protected status and must compete to secure their place. The Olympic qualification tournament often produces surprising outcomes, reminiscent of past memorable moments like Esmee Visser’s moment of confusion in 2017 or Hein Otterspeer’s emotional reaction in 2021.
