5 skaters to watch in Pyeongchang

The Olympics are just around the corner and here are some of the long track skaters you need to watch in Pyeongchang.

Par Jackob Savard Photo: Schaats Foto's

Erin Jackson - USA

Erin Jackson is gonna make her international speed skating debut on ice at the Pyeongchang olympics. She’s an inline speed skating sprint specialist and started ice speed skating a couple of months ago. She had an awesome progression and was able to qualify for the 500m on the american olympic team with a time of 39.01 at the Pettit ice center in Milwaukee. She might not fight for a podium on her first international competition but with a little touch of olympic magic who knows? She’ll be racing the ladies' 500m on Sunday, February 18th.

Patrick Roest - NED

At 22 years of age, Patrick Roest will be making his Olympic debut in Pyeongchang. He’s specialized in allround competitions but is a strong 1500m skater. He qualified on this distance by beating his teammate the legendary Sven Kramer at the Dutch olympic selections. (learn more about it HERE) It will be interesting to see how Roest will do in the hardest distance of them all. He will race the men’s 1500m on Tuesday, February 13th.


Jorien Ter Mors - NED

Some of the skaters in this list might have switched from inline or short track to long track speed skating but Jorien ter Mors will be skating in both short track and long track at the Olympics! She’s gonna see a lot of action in Pyeongchang and it will be interesting to see how she’ll adapt on a day to day basis. You will be able to watch her skate in the long track ladies' 1000m and 500m on February 14 and February 18. She will also race in short track on the ladies 1500m and relay.

Denny Morrison - CAN

Denny Morrison will race in his fourth Olympics next week and he already has four olympic medals. Denny suffered a motorcycle accident and a stroke in the last few years but was still able to qualify on 1500m. He was constantly getting better results all year long on the distance and is currently tenth in the World cup standing on 1500m. He will race the men’s 1500m on February 13th and will most likely participate in the men’s team pursuit.

Olivier Jean - CAN

Olivier Jean will race in his third Olympic games in Pyeongchang but for the first time in long track speed skating! The 2012 short track 500m world champion and 2010 olympic champion in the relay is now training in the Netherlands for the mass start event. You can learn more about Olivier’s Dutch adventures in an article we shared with you last year. (Click HERE to read it) You can watch Olivier race the men’s mass start on February 24th.

Since the Olympic games are always full of great stories, our best advice would be to watch everything! The complete schedule for long track speed skating is availabe HERE.