Outside it was 20 degrees, inside the qualifying tournament for skaters for the first four world championships has started. The first distance in Heerenveen where World Cup tickets could be earned was the men’s 5,000 meters. And Patrick Roest won it.

Roest, who joined Reggeborgh from Jumbo-Visma this summer, was two tenths faster in a hot head-to-head duel than Jorrit Bergsma, who swapped the Zaanlander suit for Jumbo-Visma’s. Roest’s time was 11/6/71, Bergsma’s time was 11/6/91.

The fastest five of each distance this weekend in Thialf qualify for the first four World Cup races. In addition to Roest and Bergsma, tickets went to Beau Snellink, Marcel Bosker and Kars Jansman.

Check out this weekend’s ice skating program, all of which can be followed live on NOS.

The highlight of the five kilometers was the ride between Roest and Bergsma. Bergsma was 3.54 faster than Roest on NK distances last season, Roest was 2.36 faster than Bergsma on OCT and the difference in games was 3.87 in favor of Roest.

This time, Roest quickly opened a gap in a direct duel, but Bergsma started with two laps to go. Rust had just enough left to stay in front of him.

Snellink was number three in 6.19.37. In the final stage he defeated Kars Jansman, who seeded for the fifth time in 6.19.63 and also qualified for World Cup competition. Bosker, also transferred from Jumbo to Reggeborgh, finished fourth with a time of 6:19:40.

The new season

The first four World Cup competitions will be held in Stavanger and Heerenveen (in November) and twice in Calgary (in December). The fifth World Cup and the World Cup final will take place in Poland in February.

The starting cards for the European Championships All-Around and Sprint in Hamar, beginning of January, will be handed out in the NK at the end of December. The participants in the World Championship distances in early March in Heerenveen will be announced after the National Championship distances in early February.