Kjeld Nuis suffered a groin injury a day before the opening weekend of the skating season. Nuis will have an ultrasound at the hospital on Friday morning to show how serious his injury is.

The Olympic champion in the 1,500 meters has already retired from the 500 meters on Friday. He fears missing the full qualifying tournament for the first World Championships but is awaiting the result of the ultrasound.

“Like Inserting a Knitting Needle”

Nuis was doing a quick lap around Thialf’s ice on Thursday afternoon when he picked up his injury. “It felt like someone had stuck a knitting needle in it,” Reggeborgh’s driver described the stabbing pain.

Nuis couldn’t finish, slipped cautiously to the edge of the track and a little later left Thialf disillusioned.

Nuis’ favorite distance, the 1,500 meters, is on the program for Saturday. He is also one of the contenders for the 1,000 meters on Sunday.

However, the injury appears to end his first half of the season. At the qualifying tournament, the top five per distance qualify for the first four World Cups.

After two seasons in which he had a difficult start-up, last summer was carefree again for Nuis.

Two years ago he fell ill with Corona in preparation for the season, and last year he ended up in the hospital with an inflamed pericardium because of his Corona vaccination.

Nevertheless, he managed to extend his Olympic title over 1,500 meters in Beijing. Nuis closed the season in March with wins in the 1,000 and 1,500 meters at the World Cup finals in Thialf.