Merel Conijn will continue her speed skating career with the international team Novus, led by coach Johan de Wit who recently returned from Asia.
NOS Schaatsen, a Dutch news outlet, reports on the transition of Merel Conijn to Novus.
Conijn, who has competed for the AH-Zaanlander team over the past two years, earned an Olympic silver medal in the 5,000 meters at the Milan World Championships. She narrowly missed gold by 0.10 seconds to Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida. In 2025, she secured bronze medals in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meters at the World Championships.
At 24 years old, Conijn describes joining Novus as a return to her roots. She has known coach Johan de Wit since she was 17 and expresses full trust in him. Conijn has already worked with Novus staff members Daniel Greig and Thomas Geerdinck and appreciates the team’s values of trust, honesty, respect, and striving for victory. She acknowledges her positive experience with AH-Zaanlander and coach Jillert Anema but values her formative years with Team Worldstream, Novus’s forerunner.
Conijn’s last race with AH-Zaanlander was notable as she withdrew unexpectedly from the second distance at the Dutch Allround Championships. This surprised head coach Anema and was due to dissatisfaction with the Dutch skating federation’s decision to limit the number of women who could qualify for the World Allround Championships to three. As a favorite for the national title, Conijn saw no opportunity to qualify and chose not to compete.
Johan de Wit has previously coached successful skaters including Japan’s Miho Takagi, Olympic gold medalist in the 1,000 meters in 2022 who retired after the last season, and China’s Zhongyan Ning, who won Olympic gold in the 1,500 meters earlier this year. Ning will continue training under De Wit and join Novus.
The Novus team includes thirteen skaters representing five nationalities: the Netherlands, Japan, China, Belgium, and Estonia. De Wit takes over as head coach from Daniel Greig, who led the team since 2022. Michel Mulder was also part of the coaching staff until the last season. De Wit stated he wanted to continue with an international project but closer to home and is pleased that some athletes chose to follow him to Novus.
