A look back at the 2019 International Invitation Cup

The World cup season is fastly approaching and some of the faces we will see compete this season skated at the International Invitation Cup in the Netherlands during the weekend.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Schaats Foto’s

A mix of established World cup skaters and younger athletes getting their first international feelings were in Heerenveen for the 2019 International Invitation Cup. Skaters from the Netherlands, Hungary, France, Canada and elsewhere took part in this competition which included a 1500m, a 500m, regular relays and a mixed relay. 

Schulting and de Laat 1500m winners

Dutch superstar and reigning overall world champion Suzanne Schulting won the 2019 Invitation cup 1500m finishing ahead of German Anna Seidel and French Tifany Huot-Marchand. After her great performance in Shanghai, it looks like Schulting is in great shape again this year! The men’s 1500m was won by Dutch skater Itzhak de Laat. His teammate Dylan Hoogerwerf finished second while Hungarian Cole Krueger took third place. 

Van Ruijven and Hoogerwerf at the top on 500m

The 2019 world champion on 500m Lara van Ruijven won the distance in Heerenveen last weekend. Just behind her was Olympic medalist Yara van Kerkhof also from the Netherlands who took second. Tifany Huot-Marchand collected her second third position of the weekend with a good race in the 500m final. After finishing second on 1500m behind his teammate de Laat, Dutch skater Dylan Hoogerwerf won the 500m distance beating de Laat who took second place. Belgian Stijn Desmet finished third. 

Dutch team win the relays

The men’s relay, the women’s relay and the mixed relay finals were all won by Dutch teams. France, Belgium and other Dutch teams also managed to get on relay podiums.

Canadian team at the Invitation Cup

Canada once again sent some young skaters to the Netherlands to give them the chance to gain experience on the international scene. The best Canadian skaters at the Invitation Cup were Kelian Quevillon (12th, 1500m), Matej Pederson (17th, 1500m), Megan Boudrias (10th, 1500m) and Brendan Yamada (5th, 500m). 

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