All-round title for speed skater Huizinga, second World Cup ticket for Jansman

Chris Huizinga has become the national all-around champion in Thialf. The Jumbo-Visma skater successfully defended his leading position in the final distance, the 10,000 meters. Huizinga set a new personal record with a time of 12:56.92 minutes.

More exciting was the battle for second place, which was settled by Kars Jansman, who won the 10,000 meters in a personal best time of 12:51.05. He thus climbed to second place at the expense of Beau Snellink. Snellink had a lead of almost seven seconds to defend and finished fourth (13:10.72), just behind No. 3 Marwin Talsma: 13:10.01.

Chris Huizinga pakt overtuigend zijn eerste Nederlandse allroundtitel! 🏆 Kars Jansman verraste op de 10 kilometer. Na een fantastische rit ging hij Beau Snellink voorbij in het klassement. Met het goud en zilver plaatsen Huizinga en Jansman zich voor het WK Allround! pic.twitter.com/e81Xla92ti

— schaatsen.nl (@schaatsennl) February 25, 2024

Tickets for the World Cup all-around were up for grabs for the two best all-arounders. Patrick Roest, who was not on the ice in Heerenveen, had already secured his participation in the tournament, which starts in Inzell in just under two weeks. Huizinga and Jansman will accompany him.

Marcel Bosker, who was still in second place in the standings after two distances, withdrew on Sunday. He did so one day after telling NOS that he had mental problems. "On Wednesday I was still sitting at home moaning and didn't want to ride," he said. And then: "Today I'm mentally fine, but I don't know how it’ll be tomorrow."

Jansman was pleasantly surprised by his ticket to the World Cup. "Pretty incredible," said the Jumbo-Visma skater in front of the NOS camera. "I tried it ten years ago in the juniors with all-round races, but I had already given up hope. I thought: this is not for me," said Jansman, who focuses on longer distances and marathons. "I've developed in such a way that I can still race a classification. Jac (Orie, his coach) also often says that I can do it. I'm a bit more down to earth, but I also know that I sometimes run too conservatively."

Huizinga was still a little shocked by his teammate's time, although he also knew the margin was large. "That ten of Kars was exciting, yes. You do get a little nervous, but I did get the hang of it. I'm also riding ten seconds off my PR here. Then you drive home nicely," Huizinga told NOS. "I hope there is more to come. Racing a World Cup is always fun. But the 500 and 1500 meters need to be better to ride a good ranking."