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Bart Swings starts his tenth World Speed Skating Championships tonight. Our 33-year-old compatriot opens his World Championships on the super-fast track in Calgary, Canada, with the 5,000 meters, where he aspires to a medal, just like last year.
The World Championship distance skating starts at 8:30 PM Belgian time with the women’s 3,000 meters. There is also one compatriot: Sandrine Tas. The favorites are the Dutch Marijke Groenewoud and Irene Schouten and the Norwegian Ragne Wiklund.
At 9:41 PM it’s up to the men. They open with the 5,000 meters. Bart Swings surprisingly won bronze at the World Championships in Heerenveen last year and has once again turned the 5,000 meters into a goal. This season, Swings has delved even further into the training teachings of Nils van der Poel, the eccentric Swede who became world and Olympic champion in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters a few years ago and subsequently threw his revolutionary training schedule online. Our compatriot adopted a number of training methods from Van der Poel in the hope of getting closer to the world top in the 5,000 meters. That progression did not materialize during the season, but the goal was always this World Cup.
“At the European Championships there was still a gap with the rest in the 5,000 meters, but I think I can come close at the World Championships. Even though the competition is fierce, with Roest also the Dutch Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen who is skating very fast and rides on his home rink in Calgary. But I hope I can get through it. That 5,000 meters is the ideal distance to estimate how I am evolving as a skater.”
Swings will be the very last on the track, opposite the strong Norwegian Hallgeir Engebraten (bronze at the Olympic Games). The main favorites are the Dutchman Patrick Roest, the Dutch Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen and the Italian Davide Ghiotto.