After initially enjoying handball, Exterkate decided to return to speed skating due to the intense training and physical challenges she missed.
Schaatsen.nl, a Dutch sports news outlet, reports on her journey back to the ice.
Exterkate began her athletic career playing handball and found it enjoyable at first. However, she soon realized she missed the demanding and intense training that speed skating requires. “I liked handball at the start, but I quickly missed skating, with its hard, heavy, and intense training sessions where I could completely push myself,” she explained. This sense of physical challenge was something she did not find in the handball arena.
In 2024, facing ongoing issues with her knee, she contemplated returning to speed skating. Her parents advised her to give skating another chance. A year later, as they noticed her growing unhappiness, her parents offered her the opportunity to dedicate an entire season to speed skating.
Now 17 years old, Exterkate did not want to ease back into the sport. Accustomed to competing at the top of her age group, she aimed to re-enter at a high level. She took part in the National Junior Championships in January 2025 in Enschede, near her hometown of Delden, where she reconnected with her former coaches. She soon shared her ambitions and was introduced to Jan Coopmans, a former national coach who currently works as a talent coach with KNSB Talent Team Midden-Oost.
