Netherlands at the 2018 Winter Olympics

The Netherlands competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, between 9 and 25 February 2018. Speed skater Jan Smeekens was appointed as flag bearer for the opening ceremony,[2] which was attended by King Willem Alexander, Queen Máxima and Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who also observed the sporting events that featured Dutch competitors.[3]

Netherlands at the
2018 Winter Olympics
IOC codeNED
NOCDutch Olympic Committee*
Dutch Sports Federation
Websitewww.nocnsf.nl/en
in Pyeongchang, South Korea
9–25 February 2018
Competitors33 (16 men and 17 women) in 4 sports
Flag bearer (opening)Jan Smeekens[1]
Flag bearer (closing)Ireen Wüst
Medals
Ranked 5th
Gold
8
Silver
6
Bronze
6
Total
20
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)

The goal for the Dutch team was to win fifteen medals, as declared by Chef de mission Jeroen Bijl;[4] they exceeded this goal by five medals, with a total of twenty, which placed the Netherlands fifth in the medal table. Most notably, the Dutch team dominated the individual speed skating events, winning seven of the ten gold medals awarded; they also won four medals in short track speed skating including their first ever gold medal in this discipline, won by Suzanne Schulting.

Highlights

Day 1

Netherlands made a podium sweep in the women's 3000 metres speed skating event – Carlijn Achtereekte won gold, Ireen Wüst won silver and Antoinette de Jong won bronze. Then a few minutes after the podium sweep, Sjinkie Knegt won the silver medal in the men's 1500 metres short track speed skating event.

Day 2

Sven Kramer won the gold medal in the men's 5000 metres speed skating event. Kramer became the first man ever to win a gold medal in the same speed skating event at three consecutive Winter Olympics.

Day 3

Netherlands took three of the top four places in the women's 1500 metres speed skating event; Ireen Wüst won the gold medal and Marrit Leenstra took bronze, only 0.01 seconds ahead of Lotte van Beek. On winning the gold medal, Wüst had succeeded in achieving gold medal wins at four consecutive Winter Olympics, exactly twelve years after winning her first gold medal in the 3000 metres in 2006.[5] With a total of ten medals, including five golds, Wüst became the best ever Olympic speed skater (male or female) and the seventh-best Winter Olympic athlete overall.[6]

Day 4

Olympic debutant Kjeld Nuis won the gold medal in the men's 1500 metres speed skating event. Patrick Roest, also an Olympic debutant, won the silver medal. Koen Verweij, one of the favorites for the win, disappointed with an eleventh place.[7] In short track speed skating, Yara van Kerkhof unexpectedly won the silver medal in the women's 500 metres event, benefiting from the disqualification of the Korean Choi Min-jeong after initially finishing in third.[8]

Medalists

Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors participating at the Games per sport/discipline.

Sport Men Women Total
Short track speed skating 5510
Skeleton 011
Snowboarding 1[a]23
Speed skating 101020
Total1617[b]33[b]

a Niek van der Velden was the only male snowboarder on the team, but did not compete due to a broken shoulder.
b Jorien ter Mors competed in both short track and long track speed skating (hence the totals appear to be one short).

Short track speed skating
Main articles: Short track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Short track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

According to the ISU Special Olympic Qualification Rankings, the Netherlands have qualified a full squad of five men and five women each.[9][10]

Athlete Event Heat Quarterfinal Semifinal Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Daan Breeuwsma 500 m 40.806 2 Q 40.677 2 Q 40.775 4 FB 40.835 7
1000 m 1:24.429 4 Did not advance
Dylan Hoogerwerf 500 m 40.657 2 Q 41.007 3 Did not advance
Sjinkie Knegt 500 m PEN Did not advance
1000 m 1:23.823 1 Q PEN Did not advance
1500 m 2:15.949 3 Q N/A 2:11.900 1 FA 2:10.555
Itzhak de Laat 1000 m 1:24.639 1 Q 1:24.423 3 Did not advance
1500 m 2:15.691 2 Q N/A 2:11.781 3 AA 2:12.362 6
Daan Breeuwsma
Sjinkie Knegt
Itzhak de Laat
Dennis Visser [c]		 5000 m relay N/A PEN Did not advance

c Dylan Hoogerwerf was also part of the relay team, but did not compete.

Women
Athlete Event Heat Quarterfinal Semifinal Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Yara van Kerkhof 500 m 43.430 2 Q 43.197 2 Q 43.192 1 FA 43.256
1000 m 1:43.364 2 Q 1:29.670 4 Did not advance
Jorien ter Mors 1500 m 2:28.587 2 Q N/A 2:34.385 1 FA 2:25.955 5
Lara van Ruijven 500 m 43.771 3 Did not advance
1000 m 1:30.896 1 Q 1:31.754 4 Did not advance
Suzanne Schulting 500 m DNF Did not advance
1000 m 1:29.519 1 Q 1:29.377 2 Q 1:30.949 1 FA 1:29.778
1500 m 2:27.730 1 Q N/A 2:34.632 4 FB 2:37.163 10
Yara van Kerkhof
Jorien ter Mors
Lara van Ruijven
Suzanne Schulting [d]		 3000 m relay N/A 4:05.977 3 FB 4:03.471 WR

d Rianne de Vries was also part of the relay team, but did not compete.

Key: AA = Advanced to medal round due to being impeded by another skater; DNF = Did not finish; FA = Qualified to medal round; FB = Qualified to consolation round; PEN = Penalty; Q = Qualified to next round; WR = World record

Skeleton
Main articles: Skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Based on the world rankings, the Netherlands qualified two sleds.[11] However, they elected to nominate only one athlete,[10] Kimberley Bos, who was the first Dutch skeleton athlete ever to qualify for the Olympics. Although Bos met the international qualification criteria by virtue of her performance during the World Cup skeleton 2017–18, in which she finished in 13th place overall, she was not initially selected because she did not meet the NOC*NSF's own requirement (a top-12 place). However, NOC*NSF argued that Russian athlete Jelena Nikitina should be eliminated from the World Cup classification, as she had been excluded by the IOC from participating in the Olympics. When this was agreed, Bos rose to 12th place on the clean list for the World Cup classification, thereby fulfilling the NOC*NSF requirement, and her nomination was secured.

Athlete Event Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Kimberley Bos Women's 52.33 8 52.26 7 51.99 6 52.01 7 3:28.59 8

Snowboarding
Main articles: Snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

Niek van der Velden was unable to compete because of a broken shoulder caused by a crash in the final training for the slopestyle.[12][13]

Cheryl Maas fell in both runs of the women's slopestyle, so she did not play an important role in the final. Strong winds during the final caused many of the athletes to fall; Maas called the conditions "irresponsible".[14][15]

Freestyle
Athlete Event Qualification Final
Run 1 Run 2 Best Rank Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Best Rank
Niek van der Velden Men's slopestyle Withdrew due to injury
Men's big air Withdrew due to injury
Cheryl Maas Women's slopestyle CAN[16] 31.71 35.30 CAN 35.30 23
Women's big air 65.00 44.75 65.00 20 Did not advance
Parallel
Athlete Event Qualification Round of 16 Quarterfinal Semifinal Final / BM
Time Rank Opposition
Time		 Opposition
Time		 Opposition
Time		 Opposition
Time		 Rank
Michelle Dekker Women's giant slalom 1:33.60 17 Did not advance

Speed skating
Main articles: Speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Qualification

The Dutch Olympic Committee selected the maximum allowed delegation of ten men and ten women, largely based on the results of the Olympic qualification tournament, held in December 2017. Kai Verbij was added for the 1000 metre event, because he was injured during the qualification race.

Men
Athlete Event Race
Time Rank
Jorrit Bergsma 10000 m 12:41.98
Jan Blokhuijsen 5000 m 6:14.75 7
Sven Kramer 5000 m 6:09.76 OR
10000 m 13:01.02 6
Ronald Mulder 500 m 34.839 7
Kjeld Nuis 1000 m 1:07.95
1500 m 1:44.01
Patrick Roest 1500 m 1:44.86
Jan Smeekens 500 m 34.930 10
Kai Verbij 500 m 34.90 9
1000 m 1:08.61 6
Koen Verweij 1000 m 1:09.14 9
1500 m 1:46.26 11
Bob de Vries 5000 m 6:22.26 15
Women
Athlete Event Race
Time Rank
Carlijn Achtereekte 3000 m 3:59.21
Lotte van Beek 1500 m 1:55.27 4
500 m 39.18 23
Anice Das 500 m 38.75 19
Antoinette de Jong 3000 m 4:00.02
Marrit Leenstra 1000 m 1:14.85 6
1500 m 1:55.26
Jorien ter Mors 500 m 37.539 6
1000 m 1:13.56 OR
Esmee Visser 5000 m 6:50.23
Annouk van der Weijden 5000 m 6:54.17 4
Ireen Wüst 1000 m 1:15.32 9
1500 m 1:54.35
3000 m 3:59.29
Mass start
Athlete Event Semifinal Final
Points Time Rank Points Time Rank
Sven Kramer Men's mass start 6 8:24.51 4 Q 0 8:13.95 16
Koen Verweij 5 8:44.90 5 Q 20 7:44.24
Irene Schouten Women's mass start 5 8:54.94 4 Q 20 8:33.02
Annouk van der Weijden 40 8:32.31 2 Q 0 8:42.19 14
Team pursuit
Athlete Event Quarterfinal Semifinal Final
Opposition
Time		 Rank Opposition
Time		 Rank Opposition
Time		 Rank
Jan Blokhuijsen
Sven Kramer
Koen Verweij
Patrick Roest		 Men's team pursuit  United States (USA)
W 3:40.03		 2 Q  Norway (NOR)
L 3:38.46		 2 FB  New Zealand (NZL)
W 3:38.40
Antoinette de Jong
Marrit Leenstra
Ireen Wüst
Lotte van Beek		 Women's team pursuit  South Korea (KOR)
W 2:55.61 OR		 1 Q  United States (USA)
W 3:00.41		 1 FA  Japan (JPN)
L 2:55.48

Key: FA = Qualified to gold medal round; FB = Qualified to bronze medal round; L = Lost; OR = Olympic record; Q = Qualified to next round; W = Won

References
  1. "Opening Ceremony Flagbearers - Olympic Winter Games, PyeongChang 2018" (PDF). olympic.org. International Olympic Committee (IOC). 9 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  2. "Smeekens wears flag at opening ceremony of winter games". www.nu.nl. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  3. "Royal couple and Prime Minister Rutte at opening ceremony Pyeongchang". NOS. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  4. "Chef de mission Bijl establishes the Team NL target of fifteen medals". www.nu.nl. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  5. "Masterful Wüst grabs gold at 1,500 meters". NOS. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  6. "Wüst in top ten best winter Olympians of all time". NOS. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  7. "Olympic title for Nuis in 1,500 meters, silver for Roest". NOS. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  8. "Van Kerkhof takes unexpected silver in 500 meters". NOS. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  9. "XXI II Olympic Winter Games 2018 PyeongChang: Qualified quota places Short Track Speed Skating". International Skating Union (ISU). 23 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  10. "Over PyeongChang 2018". TeamNL.org. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  11. "Quota Allocation PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games 2018 - Women's Skeleton - IBSF 14 January 2018" (PDF). www.ibsf.org. International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF). 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  12. "Bad start in the Netherlands: snowboarder Van der Velden falls out". NOS. 10 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  13. "End Play for snowboarder Van der Velden by break after fall". www.nu.nl. 10 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  14. "Maas: final slopestyle ruined by strong winds". NOS. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  15. "Snowboardster Maas plays a role in slopestyle finals due to falls". www.nu.nl. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  16. "Women's slopestyle qualification canceled". Reuters. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
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