Dutch women sweep board in skating allround world title fight

Dutch women swept the board at the world allround speed skating championships in Inzell, Germany this weekend, winning the gold, silver and bronze medals.

Joy Beune took the gold medal in her first appearance in the allround competition, which involves races over four distances – 500, 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 metres. Beune won all but the shortest race.

Marijke Groenewoud won the silver and Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong took bronze to complete the Dutch line-up. Japan’s Miho Takagi was also a favourite for the event but dropped out after the two sprint distances, citing exhaustion.

n the men’s competition, which involves the 500, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 metres,  Patrick Roest won the silver medal behind 19-year-old American Jordan Stolz. Norway’s Hallgeir Engebraten was in third place.

Roest took the title in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and the silver in 2022, the last time the event was held.

On Friday, in the sprint event, Jenning de Boo won silver behind China’s Ning Zhongyan while Femke Kok and Jutta Leerdam told silver and bronze in the women’s event after Takagi. The sprint title involves the 500 and 1,000 metres for both sexes.