Sport Navigator news

World Allround Championships Moscow

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

This weekend, the biggest allround tournament will be organised in Moscow: the World Allround Championships. Like every year, an exciting tournament, both for the women and men.

In the women's tournament, it will be interesting to see if Ireen Wust can get the title again, or that someone else will take the title this time. For the men, Russian Ivan Skobrev is the defending champion. Skobrev won the title in Calgary last season and is keen to win the title again in his home country! All Russian skating fans will be looking at him and maybe even Vladimir Poetin will be present during the tournament to see him race.

The tournament start on Saturday with the 500 meter for both women and men at 15.00 Russian time (12.00 Western Europe). Make sure you don't miss a single race!

World Sprint Championships start in Calgary

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Today, the first World Championships of this speed skating season will start on the Olympic Oval of Calgary, Canada. On Saturday and Sunday the sprinters will compete for this prestigious title, battling over twice a 500 meter and twice a 1000 meter. After the Essent ISU World Cup of last week, in Salt Lake City, it will be interesting to see who will win the title and if there will skated any world records.

Reigning champion for the men is Korean Kyu-Hyuk Lee, who won the sprint title for 4 times. He will be competing again this weekend and will as always be one of the skaters who can be on the podium, although his season was not that good until now. 'I am getting older, so I have to choose the right competitions. I can not race at my top level every race, but I want to be good here,' Lee said yesterday.

Follow the races on the ISU live stream from 20.00 Western Europe time!

European Championships ready to start in Budapest

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Today, the European Championships will start in the capital of Hungary, the beautiful city of Budapest. In a historical setting, the skaters will start their fight for the European title. This day, only the women compete, on the 500m and the 3000m. On Saturday they will race a 1500m, while the men start their tournament with a 500m and 5000m. On the final day, the 5000m for ladies, the 1500m and 10000m for men will decide who will be crowned as new European Champions!

Who will take over the crown of Ivan Skobrev, the Russian skater who can not compete because of injury? And will Martina Sablikova beat everyone again on an outdoor track? Make sure you follow it this weekend!

KIA Speed Skating Academy, 3 months after opening

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0200

After a major renovation of several months, on March 9, 2011, the KIA Speed Skating Academy officially opened its doors for the first time. The building was opened that Wednesday by ISU-President Ottavio Cinquanta, skating legend Dan Jansen and director of KIA Motors Netherlands Cor Baltus. The opening was a great success, with over 200 guests attending, including all "AmbassaDOORS" of the academy and Kyou-Hyuk Lee, top skater from Korea.
During the Essent ISU World Championships Single Distance we hosted the first visitors in the academy. None of them were speed skaters, but we hosted all the people who have made the academy possible, all rooms were booked. This select group of people could already experience what the international speed skaters will experience very soon.

Last year it was very busy in the academy, it was full of workers making sure that everything was ready in time for the grand opening. And that happened. After the official opening the building was almost empty and it was quiet in the KIA Speed Skating Academy, but that does not mean we actually took a break until now. In recent months we have been busy preparing for the first group of skaters who will be hosted in the academy. Jeremy Wotherspoon, the sprint coach, has moved into the academy and has been busy putting together a group. These speed skaters soon will stay in the academy. They will be the first speed skaters to train and live in the KIA Speed Skating Academy in Inzell.

Old hospital of Inzell becomes the KIA Speed Skating Academy

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0200

Just before the grand opening of the KIA Speed Skating Academy in Inzell the Dutch television, NOS, visited the academy and interviewed Jeremy Wotherspoon and Marnix Wieberdink. They made a special news item which was broadcasted during the program "Nieuwsuur" on prime-time of the evening the Kia Speed Skating Academy was opened.