Round up: November 3, 2017

By Carl Savard

Photo: Patrick Charbonneau

EVO Intercontinental Short Track Invitational

From October 27 to October 29, the Calgary olympic oval hosted the EVO Intercontinental Short Track  Invitational. While most skaters taking part in this competition were from Canada and the United-States, China, Austria, Australia, India, Belgium and Japan were also represented. For some skaters this was a way of adding a solid experience to their resume, for most canadian skaters this event was an opportunity to prepare for the Canadian open national qualifier taking place right now in Calgary.

On the women’s side, Courtney Sarault from Canada was impressive finishing the weekend with a win on 1500m in front of Chinese skaters Zheang Chutong and Li Xuang. Sarault also finished second on both the 500m and 1000m distances. The 500m was all canadian with Alyson Charles finishing first and Audrey Phaneuf finishing third while the 1000m final was won by China’s Gong Li with her teamate Jia Huiling finishing third.

On the men’s side, Canada’s Maxime Laoun won the gold on 1500m, finishing ahead of his friend Marc-Olivier Lemay. American skater Aaron Heo finished third. On 500m, it was Lemay’s turn to get the gold with Keil Hillis from Canada and Li Wenlong from China completing the podium. On the 1000m distance, Laoun gets his second victory of the weekend with China’s Zhang Tianyi finishing second and Keil Hillis third.

To see the final ranking click HERE.

The KPN Marathon Cup season is on!

With two events already competed and one coming this weekend, the 2017-2018 KPN Marathon Cup season is well on its way in the Netherlands. In the first one held in Amsterdam on October 21, the men’s race was won by the Dutch Evert Hoolwerf, who finished ahead of Belgium’s Bart Swings and Netherlands’ Crispijn Ariëns. On the women’s side, Lisa van der Geest won the race.  Carien Kleibeuker and Elma de Vries finished second and third.

In the second event held in Leeuwarden on October 28, Evert Hoolwerf once again claimed the victory. Crispijn Ariëns finished in second place this time around with Leander van der Geest finishing third. On the women's side Italian powerhouse Francesca Lollobrigida finished first ahead of Janneke Ensing and Aggie Walsma.

The sixteen events series will culminate in Amsterdam on March 3, 2018 with the KPN Cup final. You can follow these events or rewatch them on the Schaatsen.nl Youtube channel. Here are the dates of the upcoming events.

#03- November 04, 2017 in Heerenveen

#04- November 11, 2017 inUtrecht

#05- November 18,  2017 in Haarlem

#06- November 25, 2017 inHorn

#07- December 09, 2017 in Deventer

#08- December 16, 2017 in the Hague

#09- December 23, 2017 in Breda

#10- January 06, 2018 in Heerenveen

#11- January 13, 2018 in Alkmaar

#12- January 20, 2018 in Groningen

#13- February 09, 2018 in Enschede

#14- February 10, 2018 in Amsterdam

#15- February 17, 2018 in Tilburg