Invitation Cup: The Liu brothers and Lara van Ruijven in great shape

Skaters from around the world competed in the short track Invitation Cup this weekend in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

By Florence Gauthier

Photos: Bert van Lobenstein

The skaters competed on 500m, 1000m and 1500m on Saturday before racing a super final on each distances on Sunday. For the majority of these skaters, the competition was a preparation for the season but for some Dutch skaters it was their opportunity to qualify for the Fall World Cup events.

Liu brothers' domination

Throughout the competition, Liu Shaoang and his big brother Liu Shaolin Sándor exchanged first and second places in the A finals. The youngest won the 1500m with a time of 2:16.600 and the 1000m with a time of 1: 27.815. He was respectively 0.530 and 0.04 seconds ahead of his brother in these finals. On the other hand, it is in the 500m that the oldest of the two won, finishing ahead of Liu Shaoang by 0.122 second. In each of the three distances, the Dutch Sjinkie Knegt was always behind them, in third place.

It's with no surprise that either one of the Liu brothers finished on the first step of the podium in the super finals. In the 1500m and 1000m, the brother who was not in first place was in second. Only Stijn Desmet from Belgium was able to slip into second place, just ahead of Liu Shaoang, in the super final of the 500m.

Rather tight with the ladies

For the ladies, the results of the races were more sparse. Lara van Ruijven from the Netherlands stood out with 2 podiums (2nd in the 1500m and 1st in the 500m) and a second place in the 500m super final. Her teammate Suzanne Schulting managed to climb to the top of the podium in the 1000m and, in the super finals, she finished 2nd in the 1500m and 1st in the 1000m. Petra Jaszapati was the best Hungarian in the competition with a 2nd place in the 1000m. In addition, she finished 1st in the 1500m and 3rd in the 1000m in the super finals.

To complete the podiums, Sara Luca Bacskai (HUN) was third in the 1500m, Xandra Velzeboer (NED) third in the 500m and Rebeka Sziliczei-Nemet (HUN) third in the 1000m. Yara van Kerkhof (NED) finished 2nd in the 500m and 1st in the 500m super final. In the 1500m and in the super final of this same distance, Hanne Desmet (BEL) finished 1st and 3rd respectively.

Good results for Nicolas Perreault and Danaé Blais

For Canada, two athletes stood out : Danaé Blais in the ladies' competition and Nicolas Perreault in the men's races. Perreault finished 2nd in the B final of the 1500m with a better time than most of the skaters in the A final. In the super finals, the Sherbrooke skater made two personal bests. A time of 2:15.235 on 1500m and a 42.254 on 500m.

Danaé Blais managed to reach two A finals, in the 1500m and 1000m where she finished 4th in both distances. In the 500m, she finished 1st in the C final. Her best result was in the 1000m super final where she finished 2nd just behind Suzanne Schulting in the strongest race.

The Dutch federation also confirmed their Fall World Cup team at the end of the Invitation Cup. While Suzanne Schulting, Yara van Kerkhof and Sjinkie Knegt already had their spots the others had to qualify this weekend. Here's the team:

Men

Sjinkie Knegt

Daan Breeuwsma

Itzhak de Laat

Dylan Hoogerwerf

Dennis Visser

Friso Emons

Reserve

Jasper Brunsmann (Calgary only)

 

Women

Suzanne Schulting

Lara van Ruijven

Yara van Kerkhof

Rianne de Vries

Avalon Aardoom
Marijn Wiersma (Calgary only)

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