Foreign skaters are still allowed to stay with Dutch teams

This article was last updated on June 27, 2023

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Foreign skaters are still allowed to stay with Dutch teams

Foreign top skaters with Dutch commercial teams may continue to train with their teams until the next Winter Games. The KNSB has adopted the controversial measure, which was announced in April, suspended until after the Games in Milan in 2026. After that, the subject will return to the agenda.

More than two months ago, Remy de Wit, technical director of the KNSB skating association, announced that foreign skaters will no longer be allowed to ride with Dutch commercial teams from the 2024/2025 season. The idea behind the measure was that Dutch talents would get an advantage by preventing non-Dutch skaters from benefiting too much from the good top sports facilities in our country. These were skaters who at a distance belong to the top eight in the world or top four in Europe.

The decision took care of the necessary anxiety in the skating world. Especially Team IKO, which employs two top skaters with the Belgian Bart Swings and the Estonian Marten Liiv, would be affected by the measure.

Coffee with De Wit

That is why Martin ten Hove, coach and co-founder of Team IKO, decided to make an appointment with De Wit for a cup of coffee.

“We had a very good conversation. Our interests are not the same. It’s about getting everyone in Team IKO to skate as fast as possible, he’s mainly concerned about the Dutch. All understanding, only we have a commercial model with sponsors. I am very happy that the KNSB has realized that this is also very important to us. Not only for Bart Swings as a skater, but also for the Dutch skaters who are in our team.”

According to Ten Hove, Dutch skaters benefit on a daily basis from an experienced rider such as Swings, the Olympic and world champion in the mass start, because talents can compete with him. It is also nice for skaters Joy Beune and Robin Groot to have a training partner like Swings at World Cups.

But there is also a financial component, explains Ten Hove. “We have a Belgian/Dutch main sponsor. Bart Swings is also an important figurehead for that. We all simply benefit from that. Dutch skating also benefits from that. It was a good conversation with Remy and I am very happy that they have decided not to keep this rule.”

‘Position has not changed’

Ten Hove, Swings and Liiv can now breathe easy, but De Wit’s idea is not completely gone. “This certainly does not mean that the discussion about non-Dutch riders who use our top sports facilities is off the table,” De Wit told schaatsen.nl. “And our position hasn’t changed either.” The technical director says he is not yet worried about the medal chances in 2026, but that is a different story for the Games of 2030.

Ten Hove is not losing any sleep over it for the time being. “It is their right to have this opinion, but I myself think that you should not change this rule after 2026,” says the skating coach, who can now build towards the next Games with his Dutch and foreign skaters. “We now have peace in the tent for the next three years and I am very happy with that.”