Dutch short track speed skaters take first-ever world title on mixed relay | To skate

March 12, 2023 at 08:55

The Dutch short trackers wrote history on Sunday. Xandra Velzeboer, Suzanne Schulting, Teun Boer and Jens van ‘t Wout captured the very first world title in the mixed relay in Seoul.

Velzeboer made the decisive gap in the 2,000 meter race on her last turn in the final. Slot driver Van ‘t Wout kept the Chinese Lin Xiaojun well behind him in the last lap.

China skated to silver and the Italian quartet took bronze. Belgium came fourth and last in the final battle.

Schulting was spared in the semi-finals after her big disappointment in the 1,000 meters final. The three-time Olympic champion finished fifth and said afterwards that she was completely empty. In the final battle of the mixed relay, she was drafted again by national coach Niels Kerstholt. Boer was preferred to Itzhak de Laat.

Velzeboer comes through the success in the mixed relay on three world titles in Seoul. The 21-year-old from Culemborg won the 500 meters on Saturday and the 1,000 meters on Sunday. Schulting is twice gold. She was the best in the 1,500 meters on Saturday.

The mixed relay – with two women and two men in each team – was already held at the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, but was included in the world championships for the first time this week in South Korea. The Netherlands is also the reigning European champion.

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