The Netherlands’ Suzanne Schulting, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in short track speed skating, qualified for the powerhouse Dutch World Cup team in long-track speed skating, though it is unclear if she will compete.
Schulting, 27, placed fourth in the 500m and the 1000m at the Dutch trials over the weekend, which was good enough to make the team for the first four World Cups.
The first stop is in two weeks in Nagano, Japan, but Schulting is still deciding her schedule as she returns from breaking her ankle at last March’s world championships in short track.
“If I want to do more long track, I have to see potential to win,” Schulting said, according to translations of Dutch reports.
Schulting has yet to race short track this season. She said it is easier for her to race long track than short track right now due to the ankle, but she hasn’t decided whether she will focus on long track for the entire 2024-25 season, according to Dutch broadcaster NOS.
The next short track World Tour event is in early December in Beijing, the week after the second long track World Cup of the season is held in the same city.
“On Monday we will see how the ankle develops, and then we will make a choice,” Schulting said, according to her Dutch team. “The fact that both competitions are taking place in Asia is quite useful for a possible choice.”
Schulting previously competed in long track at the 2021 World Championships, placing eighth in the 1000m and 14th in the 500m.
In short track, Schulting won Olympic 1000m titles in 2018 and 2022, won every race at the 2021 World Championships and has won the World Cup overall season title four times.
Italian Arianna Fontana, who owns a record 11 Olympic short track medals, has already said she wants to compete in both short track and long track at a home Olympics at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games.
Two skaters have competed in short track and long track at the same Olympics — Latvian Haralds Silovs in 2010 and Dutchwoman Jorien ter Mors in 2014 and 2018, each competing in both disciplines on the same day. Ter Mors won a medal in each discipline in 2018.
The Netherlands has won 147 total Winter Olympic medals, with 133 coming in long-track speed skating (the most of any nation in that sport) and nine in short track.
Some of the top Dutch long-track skaters are currently sidelined.
Kjeld Nuis, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, missed the trials for the early World Cups due to a groin injury. Patrick Roest, a three-time world allround champion, missed it after wisdom tooth extraction. Femke Kok, a two-time world 500m champion, is out with a viral infection. Joy Beune, a reigning world allround champion, made the team as runner-up in the 1500m, then withdrew from the rest of trials due to illness.
Dutch media reported that top skaters could still be given World Cup spots if they missed trials.
