For the first time since the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, the Dutch speed skating team did not secure a medal in the men’s 5000-meter event, with their top athletes finishing outside the podium positions.
Schaatsen.nl, a Dutch skating news website, reported on the results and reactions following the event.
The Dutch delegation, historically strong in the men’s 5000-meter speed skating — a distance at which the Netherlands has won six Olympic gold medals — struggled to reach the podium at these Winter Games. Stijn van de Bunt, a debutant for Team IKO-X2O, was the highest placed Dutch male skater, finishing ninth with a time of 6:12.94. His teammates Chris Huizinga and Marcel Bosker finished seventh and eleventh, respectively, with Huizinga clocking 6:11.58.
Van de Bunt acknowledged that he may have pushed too hard at the start of his race, citing nervousness and eagerness as factors that affected his performance. “I went out too fast, with a 28.5-second first lap that wasn’t part of the race plan,” he said. Despite this, he expressed satisfaction with his technical performance and intends to focus on the upcoming ten-kilometer event.
The absence of Dutch medals in the men’s 5000 meters closed a notable chapter, while the women’s competition also saw no podium finishes for the Netherlands for the first time since the 2010 Vancouver Games in the three-kilometer event. Overall, the results suggest a shift in the traditionally dominant position Dutch speed skating holds in these long-distance races.
